I have a 5 month old pd that hasn't grown or gained weight since May. Also has lost all hair on her underside and muzzel. Feed her puppy kibble mixed with prosobee formula,sweet potato baby food,fresh corn,sweet potato and dandelion greens. She doesn't eat much and sleeps all the time. Had a skin test that ruled out any parasites. Sleeps a lot but when awake doesn't seem lethargic. She only weighs about 168 grams. Any suggestions?

prairie dogs shed there coat twice a year, once at the end of summer and again after winter. So the hair loss is nothing out of the ordinary. And as far as the sleeping my prairie who is also around 5 months sleeps all the time too it seems like, but as soon as I take her out to play she is very energetic. And with the food you are feeding her she should be fattening up maybe she is just tired of all the treats try feeding her hay she is almost old enough to were that should be the majority of her diet. One thing my prairie dog loves though are the ox bow timothy pellets she would eat her self to death if she had an infinite supply. As soon as I give her some she begins eating until they are all gone and I always notice a significant weight gain immediately after

Thanks for the advise. I have been giving her an assortment of things just so she would eat. She really is just the size of a mouse right now and I'm scared she will just end up starving herself to death. I don't even think she has any fat on her. Her cage mate is the same age,about 6 times her size,full of energy and has a beautiful coat. The vet can't seem to pinpoint a problem but the whole idea of her not growing at all in two months is alarming. She really looks like she is a about 2 months old I will try this weekend to keep her just on hay and the prairie dog pup diet from Exotic Nutrition and see how she does. As far as her hair loss she is down to skin not even fuzz!

Your prairie dog is ill because she's suffering from malnutrition. She cannot eat puppy kibble -- that is meat based. Prairie dogs are primarily herbivores. You might as well feed a rabbit a steak. She needs prairie dog pellets (hay based), unlimited access to grass hay,

http://www.prairiedoglover.com/basicbabypdcare.htm

You also need to find a competent vet to access her teeth at this point as she may be suffering from malocclusion because of the lack of fiber in her diet. It's appalling that they didn't tell you to stop feeding her puppy food.

I was told at this age prairie dogs need the protein,but after 6 months of age to take her off of it. She really doesn't eat it anyway or the hay that is in her cage for that matter. Even the fresh veges or the baby food she doesn't go crazy for. She just seems like she has a lack of any sort of appetite.

Even if they need protein, they still need a PLANT based protein. Just like you wouldn't feed a growing puppy a diet consisting of nuts to get their protein, you shouldn't feed an herbivore a meat based protein source.

As I said she needs to see a competent vet because she's got some serious health issues going on and the vet you're taking her to doesn't seem to even realize what a correct diet is. Tooth problems due to malnutrition and lack of fiber are probably very likely at this point, but the longer she goes without treatment the more dire it becomes.

I've read to feed babies up to 6 months of age puppy food for added protein so I don't think that is the problem, as I'm sure you aren't feeding her solly puppy food. you might want to try separating the two and then maybe if you can get her to be more comfortable and bonded to you she may began to eat it sounds like the other prairie dog is just dominant over her I would strongly suggest caging them separately and seeing if she improves

I was thinking the same thing about separating them for a small amount of time as well. And yes they both are offered hay,sweet potato,corn,carrots,dandelion greens,oats and pd puppy pellets so their diet is complete. My vet on Long Island is the most reliable vet I know of from the circle of pd owners from here. I have had pd's and have been using the same vet for the past 8 years. The problem is there is just so little info on these guys and limited testing that sometimes there is no easy explanation. Maybe she is just a runt. There was another runt in the litter that she was in although that one is a bit bigger and doesn't have the extreme hair loss. What I neglected to mention earlier was both my pd and the other runt had a bout of edema at the end of May that lasted on and off through June. Tests were run on both and nothing came up. We, meaning the vet,myself and the other pd owner were chalking it up to a very bad allergy season in the North East and they had some sort of reaction to it.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot of good information on exotic animals and oftentimes poor information gets published. I can't imagine why anyone would advocate feeding an herbivore a diet rife with beef, chicken, or lamb.

I had the same problem with my male around the same age(now 1 1/2 years old). That went on for quite awhile. My female was gaining weight and getting bigger, but my male looked like he was malnutritioned. I took him to the vet and they did tests and he was fine. I was told he is probably just a "little guy". I was instructed to start giving him "Bunny Basics" every day in addition to his diet. Of course, my female couldn't stand it so she had to steal some from him . But now, he has gained his weight and filled out. In fact, it's now hard to tell them apart.

I got my PDs at about 5-6 months old and I fed them timothy hay immediately. I give them sweet potato occasionally and also, give them "ecotrition treats" made with seeds (no alfalfa). They love them. And the vet didn't have any negative comments about them.

But give it time...she will grow and fill out. But like I said, I was told to feed him "Bunny Basics" and he grew in no time.

Thanks but unfortunatly I had to put her to sleep on Tuesday. She went downhill fast. When the vet saw her he said she was most likely born with some congenital defect. She was just out of proportion,down to skin and bones regardless of all the syringe feeding I did. On that same day noticed little red spots on her paws(which were hairless) which he said were due to organ failure for she was loosing circulation in her extremities. What I negelected to mention in my previous thread was in May she had a bad case of edema which caused swelling in her chest and upper front legs. At that point the vet chalked it up to allergies being that the levels here in the north east were very bad this year. Another pup in the same litter had some swelling as well. The vet also said it could be something bigger bu there really wasn't anyway of telling at that point. Due to the major drought in Texas this year a lot of pups have been compromised this year. Mommy pd's just weren't getting adequate nutrition therefore their milk supplies were very low as well. This prairie dog was a love from day one and would of been a fantastic pet -I'm truly heartbroken