New Puppy Will Not Eat

[Lane1952]

Help! My new puppy will not eat. She weighs 1 1/2 lbs and was born on June 19. We brought her home on August 24 and she seemed normal but soon after she stopped eating and slept all the time. We took her to the vet and they checked her out and indicated she was perfectly healthy. We brought her back home and hand fed her but she seems to have not appetite. As she grew increasingly lethargic, we took her back to the vet and they indicated she was hypoglycemic. They put her on IV's and stabilized her. The dog has not been eating at the vet. I have to pick her up tomorrow and will have her at home and must figure out a way to get her over this issue. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I am a first time poster but a Yorkie owner for 16 years. We owned two girls and one of them passed away a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, this experience of the new puppy not eating has been very stressful and I need some advice from those of you who have been through this. What should I do and how long do you think it could take for the dog to have an appetite.

[babychanel]

Hi Im also new here and had a similar problem.I soon realized from other YTers, that bringing home such a tiny baby is not advisable until their older..When I bought my puppy home she started eating less than usual.My breeder told me she was a good eater and I knew it because I could see she had a big fat belly.After she came home she only ate a few kibbles and her belly was always flattened.I was so worried.After a few days she became accustomed to her new environment and she started to eat again.I also changed her food to something she liked better.I posted a thread it may be helpful.A member (drawlins27) gave me a good idea and it might work.Its a mixture she made to feed her tiny 8 ounce baby.scroll down and look for it.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93395

Dont worry,Im sure your baby will be fine.Make sure to keep us posted .

[Wylie's Mom]

Hello and welcome!

8 weeks old is VERY young to be bringing home such a wee one - and unfortunately, you're learning the hard way. Yorkies are VERY prone to hypoglycemia as pups, so please buy some Nutrical from Petsmart or somewhere and give it as soon as she shows signs of lethargy or low blood sugar.

If she is waking up w/ low blood sugar, you may want to give a bit before sleep and as soon as you/she wakes up, to avoid the nausea and all the other symptoms that go w/ it. You should feed her about every 4 hours until she seems to grow more stable (poss. until she is 3-4 mths old) w/ her sugar levels.

Hope she is feeling better today, please keep us updated!

[cariblonde]

I also have a tiny baby and went throught the same thing although gizzie was almost 5 months when i got her she only weighed 2 lbs her breeder would not let her go home until she was atleast 2 lbs. she wouldnt eat at first b/c going to a new home is stressfull she would just lay there and after a few days she just went limp so i put some light karo syrup on my finger and let her lick it off after doing that a few times she perked up. after about a week or two she started eating normal but i still have to wach her very carefully and give her syrup sometimes and she is a year old now still only weighs 2.7 so to make a long story short keep a very close eye on her, at any sign of distress give her syrup or nutrical and if all else fails try boiling liver and mixing it in her food she will eat that i promise!!(probably just pick the liver out keep us posted please

[ace611]

I had the same thing happen with Bella...now i already know what others are going to say so save it....(she was too young when you got her blah blah blah there was a story behind it anyway) i got her at 6 weeks and she weighed half a pound...the first couple days she ate softened food just fine but then she just stopped....we took her to the vet and he gave us nutrical and told us to feed her chicken or beef babyfood with a lil soft kibble mixed in....it worked AWESOME! she loved it and eventually we weaned her off of the baby food by putting more and more kibble in it...she eats fine to this day! she is now almost 10 months and weighs 5 lbs!

[Yorkieluv]

Also, you might want to offer a her water with a little bit of honey in it.

[chachi]

When Jewels was young and wasnt eating I gave her gerber chicken sticks

[drawlins27]

Is she not eating at all? I would try chicken, scrambled eggs, or the Gerber meat sticks for babys. You may also want to try rebound, this is a liquid diet supplement available at your vets office. It is made for puppies who lack appetite and dogs recovering from surgery and will give her a full days worth of nutrition. Some Wal-marts also carry something very similar to rebound, (sorry I can't remember the name) it is in the dog food aisle and looks like a juice box.

And please try the hypoglycemic recipe in the thread that Babychanel was kind enough to point you towards. I can honestly say that without this, my Lily would not have made it. If you absolutely have to, use a syringe to feed this to her. Also, since she is so young, you will need to feed her every few hours even during the night.

The big question is why isn't she eating. Has she had a bile acid test done? She could have liver shunt or MVD. If so, then eating actually makes her feel sick which could be why she has no appetite. Its a simple and inexpensive test and well worth it. Also, nutri-cal, karo, and the like are great but they have no real nutritional value and only cause a short term spike in her blood sugar. To maintain her blood sugar long term, she will need to eat.

[Lane1952]

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions and kind wishes. The puppy, Maggie, was 10 weeks old when we brought her home. For the past several days, the puppy has been at the vet and closely monitored. She was fed via IV and her condition deteriorated to the point that she was non responsive this afternoon. The vet believes that the dog had a liver shunt and thus was taking in the food that was forced but not receiving any nutritional value from it. After many tears and much thought, the decision was made today to put the dog down. Again, thanks for all the kind words and suggestions. At this point, we are trying to regroup but still certain that we want another Yorkie after 16 years with our loving pup, Tillie, who passed away a couple of weeks ago.

[Yorkieluv]

Are you saying you are having the pup put down? or that you put down the one that was 16 years old? A liver shunt is not a death sentence...Have you had bloodwork run and have you done bile acid testing on the pup? Lack of appetite to that extreme could be indicative of a liver problem.

[babychanel]

oh my god Im so sorry for your loss.I can imagine what you must be going through.I also lost a dog myself and There are no words to describe the pain.Did you get this dog from a breeder?Usually they give you a health guarantee for genetic problems.Hopefully that is the case and you may be able to get another puppy.I wish you the best hope you find the path that leads your heart to healing.

[drawlins27]

I think that she has already been PTS