Will my puppy be okay?
 

I have a 14 week old Yorkie puppy names Louie who is at home all day in his pen while we're at work. Normally we have a friend in the area who comes over at noon and hangs out with him for an hour and lets him out and gives him a little food. This morning that friend just called me saying that he is very sick and can't even get out of bed. I called our backup but she is away for the holidays and is not home yet. We are new to the area so we don't have anyone else to call. He doesnt have any food in there but he ate this morning and he does have water attached to his crate. Is little Louie going to be okay in his crate all day? We left a little before 8am and we wont be home until 4pm.

I old go home during lunch. I would not leave him home that long with no food

I wouldn't, either. All that time is far too long for a 14 week old puppy to be left alone without food.....anything could happen.

Can you get home at lunchtime to check on him? Sally + Harry x

Do you have any family that could stop by quickly to at least let him out and put some food down? My husband always comes home at 12 everyday to let my two out and they are 2 and 4. I just don't like them being cooped up all day without a break.

To long for a little pup to be alone. If he is sick he should not be home alone at all and should be taken to the vet. Pups who don't eat every couple of hours can get hypoglycemia and if no one is there to see the symptoms it can cause death. You really need to get this pup to the vet if he can not get out of bed this is not good and I can not stress how important getting him to the vet is.

I agree that is too long for him to be without food

My wife is about 30 minutes away from home and was able to get home at lunch to give him a little food and let him outside really quick. All is well!

Lovetodream88, Louie is perfectly healthy. I was referring to my friend who normally lets Louie outside during the day when I said he was too sick to get out of bed. I'll let him know that he should take himself to the vet right away though!

I am glad she got home to hang with Louie:) I am sure he was thrilled to see her:D I hope your friend feels better;)

We both work too far away for us to have to run home during lunch more than a handful of times if our petsitter backs out last minute. We plan on having someone come once a day forever but if something comes up she can't keep going home at lunch if she wants to keep her job and I'm way too far away to get home during my lunch. Right now, as a puppy, we will do what we have to because we know he needs to eat at least 3 times a day and he cant hold "it" for more than a few hours max.

At what age would it be okay for us to leave him at home during an 8 hour work day if something were to come up and our sitter were not able to make it? i know it's not ideal and he may wet his crate even when full grown but when would he be healthy enough to go that long without getting let out? i dont forsee it happening more than a handful of times but I'm just curious. We could leave him some food for when he gets hungry if needed too. I would assume we would have to wait until he is at full weight and growth. He's only 3 pounds now and we expect him to be around 5 pounds.

He is a little too young not to have food down all day. I’m like you and work full time, same with DH- I bought Peanut at about 10 weeks. I left him from 8- about 5/6 when DH got home. He was left in his crate with food, water, pee pad, toys, and one of my PJ shirts, I also crumbled a couple of his treats in his food dish.

If I were you I would def leave him his dry food all day, before you leave work make sure he eats, then when you leave for work, leave him some dry- He should be fine..

How big is the crate you have? I bought a super large one for Peanut- It fits about a 30 lbs dog. I was able to make half the crate his pad and the other half his bed, food, water bottle ( I used a hamster water bottle), and a toy.. Nothing that he could choke on.

If you get the right set up, it will be easier for you to leave him at home for those 8 hours.. It is all about how you set him up.

LOL :thumbup:

I would get a ex pen and leave him in there. So he can have his pee pad on one side and you can food on the other side

If we ever have to leave him, I'll be sure to leave him in his x-pen with food and water, etc. We usually only put him in there if we leave the house for an hour or less. We used to put him in his crate in the morning when our sitter left at 1pm he would put him in his x-pen until we came home at 4. He then escaped one day and that was the end of that. Louie stands about 6-7 inches tall and somehow managed to climb out of a 3 foot tall x-pen!

Sounds like he is going to be a handful- Personally I love using the crate, I've always had good luck with it. To this day Peanut loves his crate. I have to drag him out in the morning to potty!! I also put him in bed with us, and the little terd will jump down and go lay in his crate after an hour or so!!

I think if you have the right set up, you can eventually leave him alone for an 8 hour day. For now, I would just leave food down for him at all times so that he can eat when he is hungry.

My two have a room to themselves and occasionally when my DH can't come home for lunch, they do fine. They just use their potty pads and nap. Have you tried potty pads with him?

:eyetearss

I'm sure he will appreciate that!

Ok I am sorry I misread or misunderstood glad the pup is ok.

I would pad train to a puppy pad so when your at work he as an option to go to the bathroom when he needs too. Also with pups they really need food and water down all the time.

Get an x-pen food, water, bed, potty pad all fit in it.

He said they have one but the pup can climb out of it.

I agree, an xpen where he can have access to food/water and a place to potty away from his food is great.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JStampler

Lovetodream88, Louie is perfectly healthy. I was referring to my friend who normally lets Louie outside during the day when I said he was too sick to get out of bed. I'll let him know that he should take himself to the vet right away though!


LOL!!!!!!!! :D. :D

If he is 3lbs at 14 weeks I'd bet he grows bigger than the 5 lbs you are planning on...more like 8 I would think...I'm just going by my baby who was 2.5 lbs at 12 weeks, but wasn't a good eater at the time because she was more timid than the puppies she was in with, so she should have been about 3 lbs at the time...She is now 10 pounds (yorkie poo)

Yorkie parents might know more than me.

That is a concern of mine, too, since Khaleesi is so athletic. I saw one x-pen with a mosquito net looking top that could be secured to the posts of the pen. I'll bet one could fabricate such a thing to fit an existing pen using mosquito net yardage, and then the babies couldn't climb out.

Thank you all for the great advice. We originally tried pad training him but he would literally drag his toys, blankets and even some food to the pads and lay on them and pee/poop on the floor where we originally set him up a nice little bed with fluffy blankets. He's a special one, thats for sure. He seems to do really well with going outside and I dont want to confuse him to make him think it's okay to go inside and outside. Do a lot of you have them trained to use pads inside and still take them outside when you are home?

As for the x-pen, I have the IRIS playpen for those who are familiar with it. I actually just found a nylon mesh material cover for it that has velcro straps to keep it tight. It's under $20 on amazon so I just got that. Hopefully we dont use it much and our sitter is reliable, but at least we can have peace of mind that he will be safe in there during the day if we need to and not be afraid that he got out and detroyed our house.

As for his size, the only reason I said I expect him to be about 5 pounds is because that's what the breeder said. The mom and dad were only 4 and 5 pounds so I didnt think he would be much bigger than them.

I am so glad that he is okay

Mine was pad trained but now goes outside but come to find out if he has to GO when aren't there or he does not get our attention in time then the mat at the door is far game... Thank goodness it is washable.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
This baby should NOT be without food all day long!!! Put him in an ex-pen, with pee pads on one end, and food and water on the other end with his bed.....There is too many things that can happen to people that are going to come and check on baby, .....just leave the baby with some food and water and a TV on for company. Then, if the pet sitter or friend cant get to the house, the baby is going to be fine. Get a cover for the top of the ex-pen so the baby cant climb out!