Help with tiny puppy
 

Hi guys, I have a problem and someone suggested that some of you may be able to help me.

Lily is a ten week old puppy who only weighs 0.8 oz. She came to me two weeks ago having been in a situation where she was taken from her mother too early and wasn't being given enough to eat and was extremely malnourished. She also has a large open fontanel which will never completely close. At this time she is not showing signs of hydrocephalus but it is a possibility with her small size.

She is the pickiest eater I've ever dealt with and often has to be fed with a syringe. We feed her 2 cc's every two hours and give her nutri-cal ever hour. I have tried every type of dog food there is and even tried the recipe posted on here with the half and half, rice cereal, Karo, and baby food. She just isn't interested in food.

I have alot of experience with raising Yorkies but never one this small. My goal is to get her to at least 2lbs. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to put some weight on her? Does anyone have any experience with a puppy this small?

I'm grateful for any suggestions.

(The first two pictures are Lily at 8 weeks and the last one is Lily at 10 weeks with her little teddy bear)

Welcome to YT. I have a daughter that lives in Murfreesboro.

Good luck with your Tiny one.

Hi...I'm not a breeder so this may not make any sense but here goes. She is awful tiny and you are feeding her something every hour...are you sure she's being picky or is she just full all the time? I think I've read where others have said their babies don't eat as much when they're giving them Nutrical. We had a friend that got a malnurished Golden Retriver and they gave him Ensure...you might ask your vet if it would be o.k. for such a tiny one. Good luck with her...she's a doll! Riley has a sister that was either 8 or 11 ounces at 16 weeks...she was soooo tiny but a little firecracker!

I forgot to mention that we also give her 1.0 - 2.0 oz of a liquid supplement the vet gave us.

Hi again, JeanieK! Is your daughter on the board? I just love Murfreesboro. It use to be a small college town but is growing by leaps and bounds. It also seems to be a popular place for Yorkie lovers. You can't go out on a Saturday without seeing little yorkie faces in the cars that pass you on the street.

No my daughter is a cat person. She doesn't have dogs.

Have you tried anything other than dog food? Yogurt that has live cultures is very good for them - just make sure it doesn't have any artificial sweeteners and with a tiny pup, I'd also make sure it is full fat. Have you tried any boiled chicken diced into small pieces, or steamed sweet potato, rice, veggies, bananas? As she is so tiny, I would try everything and use whatever works. Human foods that are high quality can be very healthy for them. Good luck with your pup. She is really adorable!!

Hi My2boyz, nice name:D I refer to my 2 males as My Boys. You make a great point but it doesn't seem to have been a problem so far. I have taken her to three different vets and they all recommended the same thing. She is surprisingly active and is always running around and barking at you for attention not to mention her obsession with wrestling her teddy bear. I think that with her activity level, she burns up calories pretty quickly. I keep hoping to see a little round belly on her but have had no such luck. Her back and sides are just so bony. I had her tested for intestinal parasites but none were found. I suppose I shouldn't worry as much since she is so active, but these little ones are just so fragile. I'm really worried about what will happen if she doesn't get some weight on her.

Thanks LuvMySissy. You give great advice. You said exactly what the vet said! We have tried the yogurt, baby food, cottage cheese, gerber meat sticks, boiled chicken, green beans, and rice. I will have to try the sweet potato and banana. The problem is that she will eat something one time with excitement and gusto and then will never eat it again.

This seems like a dumb question, but do you cook the sweet potato? Boiled or Baked?

i don't know what your syringe feeding her but i noticed that my pup put on weight when i started feeding her innova evo, she used to be as skinny as a rail and didnt gain much weight from 5months to 8 months until i put her on this food.. perhaps get a sample bag from a pet store and then put it in a blender with water so you can syringe that into her or however your feeding her. good luck with your tiny girl

I tend to agree about every hour being too much. She is very tiny, and she just can't eat that often. Perhaps you should only try the nutrical a few times a day...

Breeder in your town..
 

There is a Yorkie Show breeder in your town.....if I am not mistaken....

I got both my girls from a lady who shows these dogs that lives in Murfreesboro. Your little girl is totally adorable. Just keep offering her all kinds of real food, and not so much of the Nutri-cal. Could be she's just getting too spoiled with it.

Thanks so much for everyone's suggestions. I have not tried the Innova but will add it my list of things to try. Right now she only gets fed with a syringe when all else fails. She needs to learn how to eat and a syringe will not teach her that. I may try and cut back on the nutri-cal if her vet thinks it is safe. Right now she gets a pea sized amount every hour. I really worry about hypoglycemia. I've dealt with that before and it can be a very scary thing. I tried to cut back the nutri-cal to every four hours but she became lethargic so I went back to every hour. I may try every two hours and see how she does.

Could anyone give me the name of the breeder in Murfreesboro? While I'm not looking to add any more Yorkies to the pack right now, I'm always interested in getting to know a reputable breeder nearby. Especially since both my mother and I take in rescues and I've found that breeders can be a great networking source when it comes to finding families for the poor guys.

LuvMySissy went offline so I'll help out for a second :) She recommended steaming the sweet potato.

When you steam veggies all of the nutrients stay in it...boiling tends to boil the good stuff out...that's why the water turns green when you boil green veggies. My boyz love bananas, apples and baby carrots but they're small so I cut them into small pieces for them. Also, the Innova EVO has a very high percentage of protein...almost double the amount that's recommended for Yorkies so please be careful with that food.


I know some people don't agree with feeding a raw diet but that's what I have my boyz on (Nature's Variety) and Jo is putting on some weight. Maybe that's an option for your little girl?

HUmmm...is it safe to feed the little guys raw food. Maybe some raw meet would be more desirable? Just a thought, but I don't know if that's safe for the little ones.
She is darling. It sounds like you are doing an excellent job of trying everything and taking very good care of her. Keep up the hard work and I hope you find I food that she can't get enough of!

Breeder in Murfreesboro
 

Is Brenda@ Starwood Yorkies......I do not know her personally, I have only spoken with her on the phone about a year ago.

Good luck......

What dog parks are you speaking about? I don't see many people with yorkies around here.....but, maybe because I don't go to the park. But, I will be at the dog show this weekend.

:D

I had a tiny puppy like this and the only way I could get him to eat was to change his diet almost every day. Now I know this is not the best way but the alternative was not good either. So I cooked for him, meat of some kind either steak, chicken, what ever I had and then some potatoes and carrots. It was not easy trying to find something that he liked and that he would eat. At 5 months he was finally up to 1 pound 6 oz.

It is very hard work, and I commend you for taking this on. Every day I worried about my boy, it never seems to stop. I wish you all the best, just keep trying and do what ever it takes to get her eating.

YoYo's favorite food was high fat vanilla yogurt, goats milk and a egg. I am sure it was not the best thing for him but it was something that he would always eat.

It sounds and looks to me like you are doing a great job! The added suggestions on here will be helpful. The pup is truly beautiful and I hope she lives a long, healthy, happy life. I'd ask the vet if she needs the Nutrical that often. I know it is a long process, but I bet she is absolutely darling to work with:)

Ceeby only weighed nine ounces when i brought him home. i thought many times he was going to die. Wouldn't eat anything. i kept on trying everything people on here and the vet suggested. Like your baby, he would eat something one time then not the next. i just kept at it and finally found cesears puppy food and he loved it. he still eats it for breakfast. A lot of people on here don't like cesears but i had a choice: feed cesears or lose my baby. most of these little ones will eat cesears when they won't eat anything else. I got so frustrated during that time. They said, give him this, fix him that. Well, it is hard to get boiled chicken and rice down when you have to force hiss mouth open. Good luck with your baby.

I actually steam the veggies I give the girls, sweet potatoe included. Also try some carrots and squash. They usually really like the "orange" foods.

This was past on to me by a well know breeder. I've passed on to several people and used it myself with great success.

Had a tiny in December top weight now is 3 pounds. She is great. What I did even though the mom had plenty of milk, I feed a Post Whelping Pudding. It is wonderful and the bitches love it too. I've never had problems with mom from it at all either. I give it to her up to 3 or 4 times a day. About 1/4 cup or heaping tablespoon in a small bowl. It seems to help all around. I also use the Nutra Drops a couple times a day on the puppy. Just a drop. Here is the recipe for the pudding.

Post Whelping Pudding

16 oz. water
1 pkg. Knox Gelatin
(micro. to disolve)
15 oz. can evap. milk
2 tabls. vanilla yogurt
2 egg yolks
2 tabls. white corn syrup
mix all ingred. in bowl let set in fridge
until thickens. Spoon out as needed.

Little baby
 

Hi,

I have a little guy just like yours. He was so small when he was born I was going crazy. I have never had such a small one before. He had a sister that was that small too, but I couldn't save her. All the others in the litter were normal size thankfully! He had hypoglycemia and went down a few times, thankfully I got to him in time. I started giving him 1 cc of dextrose water 3 times a day in a syringe. My husband used to laugh cause when he would see that syringe come out he would go crazy trying to get to it. hubby called him our little druggie. He too was very picky, so just had to change his food a lot. He is now 6 1/2 months old and finally got him to 2 lbs, yeaaaa!!!!!!! And the only food he really likes now is Science Diet dry puppy food. So hang in there, this too shall pass!!! As long as she is acting like a puppy should, just let her play for a short time and make her rest a while so her sugar doesn't drop. Neutracal is good, but she really doesn't need that much. Maybe like every 3 hours or so, cause too much of that isn't all that good for her either! Sounds like your doing everything you can. Let us know how she is. By the way, the picture I have is my little Pocket Rocket and he is now a real ball of fire!

She finally ate!!!
 

Thanks so much for everyone's suggestions! BTW, her weight is 8oz not 0.8 oz :embarasse

I am happy to report that Lily finally ate last night! She ate two whole tablespoons of food which is more than she has ever eaten in an entire day. She was so full that as soon as she had emptied the bowl, all she could do was lay down and roll over. (see Pic)

I tried the recipe with the half and half, baby food, baby cereal, and Karo again and this time she loved it! It's about time. I've been pulling my hair out worrying about this little one. The best part is that she ate this morning as well which she has never done. If she stops eating again, I will definitely try the sweet potato and post whelping pudding. Since she is eating on her own, her vet has okayed reducing her nutri-cal to every four hours which will make her happy since she hates it. We have always had to put it on the roof of her mouth because she would not lick it off our finger.

For those who have had puppies this small, how big did they get? I am hoping to get her to at least 2lbs but her vet thinks that I'm being overly optimistic.

Thanks again for all the great ideas! This board is truly a life saver. :thumbs up

Here is Lily right after she ate with her very full tummy. Look how big that belly is!

Congratulations and hurray for Lily!

O.k...now that you got her fat and sassy...can I have her?!? ;)

I am so glad she ate! She is such a little cutie. Glad you clarified about the .8 oz! I was going to ask.

For some variety email and ask for a sample of the Evanger food. They will send you a whole case free! It ought to last a LONG time with her, especially if you use to to mix in.

http://www.evangersdogfood.com/


Please keep us updated with pictures! She's a little doll!

I sent you a pm about Brenda smith, the lady I got my girls from and she put their pictures on her web site at http://www.starwoodyorkies.com Guess you didn't get it!

oh how SWEET is that !! She's just adorable and good job....I'm so glad she's eating. I agree this site can really help with situations like this - good work guys !!:thumbup:

Wonderful news!! I'm so glad she's ate so well :) It's so important to get these little ones to eat, especially at 8 oz! It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job, and keep up the good work :)

Fabulous that she ate for you - not once, but twice!!!! Hope she keeps it up!! That picture is absolutely adorable. What a little cutie pie (and you can see the full belly)!