first off, welcome to YT!
Second, bless you for taking little Orphan Annie. do you have any pictures to share yet? we would love to see her.
now on to your questions
A) Your choice of dry dog food isn't as good as you think it is. I've actually never heard of it so i just looked up its ingredients. Look at the first ones. "
Ground rice, chicken meal, select whole grain corn, chicken fat (preserved with Vitamin E), dried beet pulp, chicken, flaxseed, chicken digest" Dogs are carnivores and Meat should be the first ingredient. In this case its the 6th. It comes behind corn and beet pulp which are big allergy causers in yorkies. Also, chicken digest??? EW i don't even want to know what that is. LOL
Go to this site
www.dogfoodanalysis.com and pick a 5 star food for seniors. A lot people here feed Canidae, Wellness, Chicken Soup, and Solid Gold. These are all excellent dry foods and they also have wet food varieties.
If you get her on a better wet and dry food you should see some improvement in her health and coat. Also since he has coat problems, you should get her some omega fatty acid supplements. Your vet can supply you with some, or you can get Salmon Oil and Vit E from a pet store or people store. I use Eicosaderm and purchased it off the internet. It is a liquid that has both the oil and vit e already mixed together and is easy to use.
You said she doesn't eat her dry food well. Is this because she just doesn't like it OR because she's having a hard time eating it? Have you checked her mouth for loose or rotting teeth? Since she's older and didn't come from the best living situation her teeth are probably horrible and weren't taken care of. They may be hurting her. Is there a lot of tartar on them? Do you notice a red line on her gums directly above her teeth? If so you might want to get her teeth checked by your vet.
b & d) I would think that she doesn't like the crate because she is just not use to it. If you want her to sleep in a crate then stick her in it and ignore ignore ignore all her crying. Any attention to her complaining will just encourage her to continue to do it. Another approach is to get her an expen. This is a larger enclosure that you can put in a corner of a room in your house. In this enclosure you can put a bed, her food and water, some toys, and a pee pad. Whenever you cannot watch her, even if its for 5 minutes, put her in the expen. This way if you walk away, she can't go somewhere else and potty where you don't want her to.
c) I'm not sure that her anal glands have anything to do with her whelping a lot of litters. Firstly i would get her spayed. I would also have your vet check her anal glands to see if they are full, impacted, or infected. Why do you think she has a problem with the glands? is she scooting or licking a lot?
You sound like you are very committed to making this work with her and i commend you already. Good luck with her and don't hesitate to ask more questions. Also, use the search engine to look thru the archives. Alot of these issues have been brought up before and you might find some other methods you would like to try. There is ALOT of great information on this site.
