# Dehydrated/Under weight pup



## Megan Bays (Oct 10, 2008)

I have a Dutchie pup that is 7 weeks old. He is underweight, and was very dehydrated.

After spending the day at the vet's on fluids in TN (I live in WV) on the way home he was doing better. He was chasing us in parking lots when we took potty breaks, wagging his tail, and taking water, dextrose (sp?), and Hills A/D through a syringe better.

Before, he wasn't doing any of these things.

At the vet in TN he tested negative for parvo, and the fecal exams. The vet thought he had secondary to dehydration, or secondary to parasites (there were a couple of worms that came out of him).

From 6:00 yesteday evening up until now he has been getting 1 cc of dextrose every 2 hours, and 3 1/2 ccs of water. At 10:00 this morning I gave him 1 cc of Hill's A/D,with no problems. At around 12:00 Scott gave him too much Hill's A/D and he threw that up. Scott gave him too much on accident, he thought I said 1 syringe instead of 1 cc. 

He hasn't gotten significantly worse. He has been getting better little by little.

As soon as he will eat, I plan on giving him ground beef mushed w/ goat's milk. Right now he won't even look or sniff at food or water. Even though he isn't as badly as dehydrated, I've been thinking about giving him another pack of Sub Q fluids.

Any thoughts, help, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## Sue DiCero (Sep 2, 2006)

Did the breeder not do multiple wormings? I would let them know.

try turkey with the goat's milk - not as strong as the beef and then transition into the beef.


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## Megan Bays (Oct 10, 2008)

Yes the breeder did multiple wormings.

Thanks Sue I will try the turkey and goats milk.


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## Tanya Beka (Aug 12, 2008)

Why would the breeder let this pup go at 7 weeks, dehydrated and underweight??


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

How did you happen to get this pup, in this condition?

I've been there once with a litter of kittens who were abandoned by mom in a construction site, no food/water for several days. One didn't make it  but his three siblings pulled throughOK.

Check with the vet on what fluids, the amout you give is calculated by weight (maintenance dose) and amount of dehydration (+extra %). As I recal fluids are given over several days, as dehydration resolves gradually and you have to keep giving fluids b/c the animal excretes them. The animal can't drink enough quickly enough to replace what they've lost if dehydration is really severe. Your vet should know.

Sounds like you're doing good, of course you know that is not enough calories for a growing pup, but you are right not to over feed untill the pup can handle the amount. Depending on how bad off he is, he might not even poop for the first couple days. Look for SLOOOOOW progress, the first week or more, smaller meals more often. I don't know what is in A/D - but I'd look for the highest calorie most digestible food. Stay away from commercial puppy/kitten formula milk replacer stuff, I've never had anything do well on it. Raw is best - but as delicate as he sounds, not sure ground beef would be my first choice. It's best to start with something more bland, not so much fat... Ground chicken, ground turkey, perhaps?

Good luck, he will need it.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

PM is on the way...


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

No one can give you medical advice beyond your vet, but as a point of clarification, giving raw to a sick pup is not a good idea. Their natural defenses against the pathogens in the meat may not be there and if they end up with salmonellosis, that's really not going to help your situation. Homecooking or canned (to keep the % moisture in the food up) is indicated over raw. Hope the pup starts feeling better!


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## mike suttle (Feb 19, 2008)

Tanya Beka said:


> Why would the breeder let this pup go at 7 weeks, dehydrated and underweight??


Let me Chime in here before things get out of control:
I, Mike Suttle of Logan Haus Kennels was the breeder of this pup.
This was a normal healthy puppy until about 5 weeks old, the mother jumped straight into the air about 6' and landed on this puppies rear end, totally blowing his pelvis apart. he got a bad infection, stopped eating, stopped drinking, and of course lost a ton of weight and was in very bad shape.
I took him to the vet for an exam and my vet said...."put him to sleep"
I was actually going to put him down when Megan came to me and decided to take the puppy and give him a chance. 
The puppy was wormed at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and again the day she took him at about 6 1/2 weeks. I feed raw deer meat and beef and my puppies do have worms at times from all the raw meat, but they are wormed regularly.
I think megan will tell you that all of the other pups in the litter are fat and healthy. this puppy was/ is suffering from an injury, not neglect.
I am thankful to her for taking the time to give him a chance to make it. Both myself and my vet had decided to give up on him.
I really hope the puppy pulls out of it and turns out fine.
Hopefully this will stop alot of bad rumors before they start !!


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## mike suttle (Feb 19, 2008)

Sue DiCero said:


> Did the breeder not do multiple wormings? I would let them know.
> 
> try turkey with the goat's milk - not as strong as the beef and then transition into the beef.


Please read my post on this thread.


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## Megan Bays (Oct 10, 2008)

Hey Mike thanks for chiming in here.

I was in no way trying to make it sound bad on you, that's why I didn't say your name.

The other pups in the litter were all in excellent health and will be excellent dogs.

Mike is an excellent, guy and breeder. I plan on getting another pup out of one of his upcoming litters. Mike is the last person that would neglect one of his litters. 

I apologize if I've made it out to sound in any way as if Mike didnt care, as he does.

I was going to send you an email later today, but since you've posted on here...

He is moving a 100% better than when we picked him up. Last night on the way home, he was chasing Scott around the parking lots and wagging his little tail. He is still dehydrated but not near as bad. We're going to take him to our vet in the morning for x rays, and more fluids.

As long as we can keep him hydrated, and get him eating I think he's going to pull through.


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## Tracy Landis (Feb 5, 2009)

I saw these puppies a few times after they were born. Before the accident and after!! They were extremely healthy on all occasions that I saw them and it was a shame that the "mommy" jumped up and landed on the little guy. They were all the same size until that happened. Then it appeared that the little Dutchie just stopped growing. I assume from the infection. The last time I was there was right before Megan picked him up and he appeared fine then also, other than being quite a bit smaller than the other pups in the litter. Mike even made the comment that he seemed to finally be walking better.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Mike does a fantastic job with his litters and I love to watch them "grow up" at his house. He does great things for every breed that he whelps at his kennels, and is always thinking of new ways to advance them into police quality dogs. I love his creativity!!

I'm sure that the puppy was probably only dehydrated from his injury and not from any neglect on Mike's part. He is a very successful breeder, and I have several puppies and dogs from his kennel.

Megan, if you would like to email me, I have a few suggestions as to a great vet in this area, and some nutrition.


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## Sue DiCero (Sep 2, 2006)

Mike,

Thanks for the clarification. 

The reason I said to let the breeder know is so that the breeder can check what types of worms, check what worming meds and ensure that they are still working.


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## mike suttle (Feb 19, 2008)

Megan McCallister said:


> Hey Mike thanks for chiming in here.
> 
> I was in no way trying to make it sound bad on you, that's why I didn't say your name.
> 
> ...


Sounds great....The nice thing about pups that young is that there bones are still like rubber and they can heal incredibly fast. But I saw the injury happen (the female gets crazy when I approach the kennel and jumps into the air like a kangaroo) it was bad....very bad and even though he will likely heal just fine, i would never sell him to a customer because i would always fear the possibility of his hips developing wrong and giving him problems down the road. if he heals good then you will have yourself a SUPER free puppy !!


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Yes, thanks for the explanation, Mike! That's a terrible accident, poor pup! I hope he pulls through...


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## Terrasita Cuffie (Jun 8, 2008)

Hi:

Since he's so young, my vote w/ the vet monitoring is the Sub Q fluids a couple of times a day. I've also used Pedialyte. I'm not a fan of raw and puppies and that's not scientific also with a sick puppy his immune system isn't active enough not to pick up parasites and or deal with bacteria. But I would make this puppy's food for awhile [cooked ground turkey, rice, dab of yogurt] until he was back on the mend and then phase in a kibble. I'd want to know what type of worms [rounds, hooks, whips?] and talk to vet about the safety of deworming and rechecks. I'm also not a fan of science diet products. Until he was back on the mend, I'd keep the physical stress to a minimum. I would plan on this taking a couple of weeks. 

Terrasita


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## mike suttle (Feb 19, 2008)

Terrasita Cuffie said:


> Hi:
> 
> Since he's so young, my vote w/ the vet monitoring is the Sub Q fluids a couple of times a day. I've also used Pedialyte. I'm not a fan of raw and puppies and that's not scientific also with a sick puppy his immune system isn't active enough not to pick up parasites and or deal with bacteria. But I would make this puppy's food for awhile [cooked ground turkey, rice, dab of yogurt] until he was back on the mend and then phase in a kibble. I'd want to know what type of worms [rounds, hooks, whips?] and talk to vet about the safety of deworming and rechecks. I'm also not a fan of science diet products. Until he was back on the mend, I'd keep the physical stress to a minimum. I would plan on this taking a couple of weeks.
> 
> Terrasita


It is round worms, I worm them every two weeks, but in feeding them all the raw meat that I feed here everytime I worm them (I use Strongit-T) I always get a few worms out of them until they are about 8 weeks or so. I guess maybe the raw meat may be the cause for that, but I really like the way they do on the raw, so I plan to keep with it, mixed with kibble of course.
This is a tough little puppy with strong genes, so I think he may pull through it. Sounds like Megan is doing all she can, so lets keep our fingers crossed.


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## Tammy McDowell (Dec 4, 2006)

I would think your vet should have kept the pup at his office on fluids or at least sent you home w/ fluids to give subq w/ the dextrose.

I nursed a Parvo pup back to health several years ago and just recently nursed a dog w/ severe pneumonia as well and w/ both they needed fluids regularly. The pup was given fluids in small increments every 15 mins...no sleep those nights! 

If he is not feeling well I would crate him, he doesn't need to be running around even trying to play at this point, all energy needs to be used to heal.

For calories you may try purchasing something like NutraCal which is basically a high calorie paste that you can feed.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

mike suttle said:


> It is round worms, I worm them every two weeks, but in feeding them all the raw meat that I feed here everytime I worm them (I use Strongit-T) I always get a few worms out of them until they are about 8 weeks or so. I guess maybe the raw meat may be the cause for that, but I really like the way they do on the raw, so I plan to keep with it, mixed with kibble of course.
> This is a tough little puppy with strong genes, so I think he may pull through it. Sounds like Megan is doing all she can, so lets keep our fingers crossed.


 
Mike, I'm curious about how the raw is the cause of the round worm. Are you feeding right off the ground?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> Mike, I'm curious about how the raw is the cause of the round worm. ...



http://www.vet.uga.edu/VPP/animaldoc/worms/worms02.php

_QUOTE: Dogs get roundworms either from eating worm eggs off the ground or because the mother dog was infected and passed the worms to her puppies during her pregnancy._

They can also get them from ingesting poop from a dog with roundworms.


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## Sue DiCero (Sep 2, 2006)

We have never had an issue with raw and worms. We use Panacur and Drontal.


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## Terrasita Cuffie (Jun 8, 2008)

Some bitches are carriers [encysted]. I wouldn't think raw food would be the cause of the worms either; especially rounds. Several years ago I did random fecals on a couple of my herding dogs and low and behold they had hooks and whips. Did the other dogs and the fecal was negative. Since then, a couple of times a year, I do Drontal-plus. For the puppies, I do the mama dog as a precautionary measure before I breed her. With that, Nemex-2 has been effective with the litter. Just noticed in the local feed store that they are carrying Panacur granules in the packets [by weights] for dogs. BTW, how is the little guy doing. Now we'll be hitting you up for pictures. 

Terrasita


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