[YorkieLove77]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

It sounds as if they may only occasionally get food as they were likely living off their own birth layer of fat at first and now using muscle tissue for energy, which means the cardiac muscle, too. These dogs will die unless they can get sufficient food to live off without their body using its own muscle. Most of the time when a dog is starved as these are, they don't have sufficient water either as the owner just doesn't care about those things. Do dehydration could kill before starvation.

I once rescued a very tall 65 lb. grown Great Dane thought to be about 3 years old from the pound who had coccidiosis, showed all her vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, etc. AND - get this - she still had a medium large, long chain attached to a leather collar! Of course, times for dogs were different back then but still! The workers said they were sure she was going to die anytime so they just didn't bother to cut off that collar/chain when they got her the day before. I was so aghast I had to sit on my tongue with those workers for fear I wouldn't get her if I were nasty with them but even back then I had to sign a special form or two and do a lot of pleading to get her. She was scheduled for gas that evening.

A lot of good vet care, excellent food and nutrition, a lot of rehab and she was 110 lbs. when she went to her new forever home on a ranch. She was one lucky dog as the vet said she was hours from death when we came in. Besides caring for Tanker, I spent all my spare time cleaning and doing all of that stuff to the back yard. I think it was 3 years and a load of new soil, sod before I chanced another dog out there. I didn't know she had cocci when I got her and how it would affect other dogs I might get or I would have paused a bit longer before taking her! But I couldn't have seen and then left her there to die like that even if I had known. So you can save even the worst off dog from certain death when just in time.

What a wonderful thing you did! I applaud people like you because I can only imagine how much of an investment (emotionally, financially and time) it takes to rehab a dog on the brink of death.