Accepted Answer

XXXXXXXXX: I have a lot of ideas about weight loss and I could go on and on. Usually weight loss that is not intentional (i.e. you didn't decrease his food) is a sign of a problem. Could be endocrine (diabetes, adrenal gland disease), could be infectious (urinary tract infection, gastrointestinal infection, parasites), could be organ problem (heart disease, pancreatitis, liver disease, kidney disease). The list is very long of things that can cause unintentional weight loss in a dog. With the complaint of weight loss (aside from the dark around his eyes), I'd schedule an appointment with your vet and bring a poop sample with you. If you can't afford an appointment, maybe you can just drop off a poop sample for analysis. If he has worms, your vet will prescribe deworming medication. It may not be so simple though and going for a physical exam would be the best thing for your little Dachshund. As far as the darkness around his eyes, that's a little more unusual and is hard for me to comment on. Sometimes a dog's eyes will become sunken when they lose weight and this may be causing him to have an appearance of darkness around his eyes. If the darkness around his eyes is really a problem in your view, the vet visit will also serve to evaluate this. I hope I've given you some useful answers to your question. Let me know if you have more thoughts about this. Best wishes.

Expert:	Dr. Angela
Pos. Feedback:	98.6 %
Accepts:	269
Answered:	4/25/2008

Veterinarian

8 years private practice in small animal and exotics