Should I remove food and water at bedtime ?
 

I just rescued the most adorable little yorkie. He weighs 1.4 pounds at 12 weeks old, and this girl was selling him. I took one look at him and his eyes were glazed over, unable to focus. He could not barely wake up, and I knew something was very wrong. I pretty much just shoved the money at the girl and took the pup immediately to the vet.

The puppy who is now Gizmo was almost completely in a hypoglycemic coma. Just by the time I took him from the girl and went to the vet he had gone completely downhill. His little gums were pure white, but thankfully he came back negative for parvovirus which was a great relief to me. The vet than injected a powerful sugar shot which roused him awake a bit. I then took him home and for the first 24 hours gave him Caro syrup and nutrical. He finally started coming to and started eating and drinking.

This was 3 days ago and he is so amazing !!!!! You would never know he almost died and I am so relieved. I have been leaving food and water for him to have at will so he could get his strength back, and his gums are pink now and he's turned into a little lickamonster lol. I am so glad I was the one to go look at him, because I don't think anyone else would have taken him seeing how sick he was, and I truly believe that horrible girl would have just let little Gizmo die. But now you would never even guess he had gone through that.

So that's the story of how I came to have Gizmo, but now my question is..... How long should I let him have his food and water at will? Should I remove it at night before bedtime, now that he is acting normal and has pinked back up? This is my first yorkie and I have been devouring this forum for the last 2 days lol, but can't seem to find an answer for the situation.


I am still giving the nutrical and syrup around 4 to 5 times a day. I am also feeding him a rx food high in protein and fat to put some meat on his little bones as he was very malnourished.

You all are so wonderful here and I have gained a ton of great info.

Thanks o much in advance for any help :-)

Aw what a great story! Welcome to YT!! I’m so glad you were able to find him, rescue him, and save him. Sounds like you two were meant to be! I have a boy as well, I have had him since he was about 10 weeks. Let me tell you, the boys are the sweetest things. Everyday our bond grows closer and closer. He is such a lover, a snuggler, and he is part of my heart and soul. Get ready for a lifetime partner.

Is that him in your avatar? He is so cute!!

Honestly with his age and weight, I would leave his food water down.. Usually they don’t wake up in the middle of the night and eat or drink… but if Gizmo woke up thirsty or hungry it would be good for him to have that option.

Where do you have him sleeping? Are you training him on pads?

I would leave the food and water down and be sure to keep checking for symptoms of hypoglycemia in one so young and little. These little guys don't have a lot of reserves and can go down quickly and totally should they run low on fluids, glucose, etc., even at night.

Welcome to YT and congratulations on the new Yorkie.

I agree he probably would have died. It sounds like the girl would not have taken him to the vet. So sad.

Some people free feed puppies until they are around 10 months old while others will feed them at least 3 to 4 times a day. Since he hasn't had a chance to gain the weight he needs I would continue to free feed him for at least a few months. If he seems hungry at night he probably should have something to help him through the night for a while.

Did the vet check a stool sample while you were there? It is very likely that he has at least a couple of types of worms. He probably should not be wormed until he is up to his normal weight, he has been through a lot, but that needs to be checked out anyway. He does need a little more time to get healthy before having to deal with worming and shots that can be very stressful to a pup.

I hope he continues to do well for you.

If this is your only dog, I would leave the food available 24 hours for. It might slow down potty training a bit, but I'd rather deal with that versus another hypoglycemic episode.

As far as the nutrical goes, please make sure that after giving it you follow up with a high quality protein source (such as boiled chicken). Otherwise you run the risk of causing a rebound hypoglycemic episode.

:thumbup::thumbup:

I believe water should be available to all dogs at all times. It is essential for all vital organs. If a dogs drinks, it's because he needs the water. Better for the kidneys, liver, and urinary track in both pets and humans.

Congratulations on the new addition to your life. Best wishes for Gizmo!

Thanks everybody :-)

I was thinking the same thing and have been leaving him his food and water :-)

The vet did a fecal swab along with the parvovirus and apparently he had been wormed already. It came back negative. The vet told me I should go get the money back from the girl, and I told her that would never happen because I was not going to allow him to die.

I have set up a pet playpen in my living room because my hubby has allergies, but he is sleeping great through the night and it has plenty of puppy pads in it for him to potty.

That is him in my avatar :-) he is so super sweet xoxo. I have been shredding a bit of chicken breast and mix it with his food. I'm trying to switch him to the royal canine food like the vet told me too, but he's super smart already, he can separate out the dry food from the wet food in his mouth, then he has a little pile of soggy dry pieces next to his bowl lol. I may have to eventually just switch him if he doesn't stop that haha. During the day he stays up on the couch with me a lot and plays, naps, repeat :-) I keep a puppy pad at the end of the couch and he's really good about going over to it to potty. Another reason I got the playpen was I have 2 kitties, and their food is down all the time in the kitchen.

I have been checking his gums every morning when I get up and right before bed, and they are finally pink again. They were sooo white when I got him and went to the vet, but are now pink.

I agree with everyone else, food and water should be available 24/7, and withholding water does not aid in housebreaking. Having water available actually helps the bladder to gradually stretch and grow. So glad this little guy found a good home! Don't forget, Nutrical is mainly sugar and protein should be available because it will keep the blood sugar stable for much longer. With sugar you often get spikes, up and down, and you don't want that.

I have food/water out 24/7, and beyond the informative comments listed, I think it has a positive effect when several animals are concerned, to discourage greediness and hording. And, presents a less competitive atmosphere in the Pack.

Food becomes a non-issue.

Water should be left out all day. Night time - some dogs won't get up to drink. Can't hurt to leave it out though.

I'd feed 4-6 times a day because you know he is prone to hypo.
Free feeding kibble is completely fine, but with his history you need to make sure he is eating several times a day. It would be easier for me to keep tabs by meal feeding.

Depending on what the vet thinks about possible recurrence they may prefer that you get up every 2-4 hours and feed.

Nutrical is good stuff, but as said above it needs to be followed by quality food or it can lead to a crash. It is great for when the dog is actively hypo but regular meals are best otherwise.

Does anyone feed wet food as well as the dry? After I have had him since Thursday, I had been giving the rx wet food from the vet whenever he was hungry, then yesterday I gave it mixed with the dry food and he separates out the dry food and spits it out :-) last night for the first i me I left just the dry food and water, because I was leaving the wet food at night and noticed last night before bed his poo was a little runny and that scared me, so I didn't leave the wet food over night last night, just the dry. I've cut down the nutrical to 3 times a day along with a little chicken breast.

The first 24 to 36 hours we fed him hourly by spoon along with the Caro syrup, wet food and nutrical 5 times that fist day. Within 24 hours he really perked up. Now it's dry food at night with water, nutrical 3 times a day, all the dry food he wants and giving little spoonfuls of wet food as a treat. Does this sound ok? He's super hyper and playful, pouncing all over now. I love hearing his little rumble growl and barks lol.

I was so worried that first night and didnt know if he would make it. The vet had given him a very slim chance because he could not even be woken up from the time I got him from the girl to the time I got to the vet, which was only about 20 minutes. Now you would never know he went through that, he's so perky and playful now. I make sure to limit his playtime right now to about 30 minutes, then a nap because I want him to get stronger before I let him go completely crazy haha. He just got done playing and licking my whole face, and it's nap time :-)

You know what, I just realized I put his age down wrong, he's only 9 weeks old and was 1 lb 4 Ozs at the vets office Thursday when I got him.

My new yorkie won't eat
 

Thanks for the suggestions on here. I leave water out all day, as well as food.

Thanks so much for all the great suggestions and info everyone :-) its so nice to find a forum for yorkies, as I'm finding they are very different than other breeds xoxo

I wrote a long post about the timing of everything I've been doing , but it has not posted to this thread yet due to being a new member, or maybe I didn't post it right. If I missed the post button, I will rewrite it again later :-)

Many thanks again to all.

Yay !!!!!! I feel like such a proud mama right now :-) I got Gizmo to eat the dry food after playtime, by taking the advice here and adding a bit of warm water to it.

Thank you so much everyone xoxo

Bobbie

Hi! Welcome to YT! What a wonderful story, you are truly Gizmo's guardian angel! I love that he found you, so sweet! I am new to this online community as well and have found the support, advice, information all to be exceptional. I hope you find it as helpful here as I do! Lots of love to your little Gizmo, may you both share many happy moments together!

Awe thanks so much Bridgett :-)

He truly has stolen my heart and its like being a mommy all over again lol. I have one daughter and 2 grand daughters, and I know Ava and Amelia are going to fall in love. I have not let the grand babies meet him just yet. I'm still just letting him get cozy here, and he's doing a great job of it haha. My daughter has a baby maltipoo, about 3 months old so it will be really nice for Gizmo to have a friend close by to play with, as they only live a block from us :-) I'm waiting to get all of gizmos shots first though before they meet. I also have another friend right down the street that has a yorkie named Pasha, who I absolutely adore. Pasha was the one to inspire me on a yorkie :-) we own a town home down here right at the beach, so when he gets bigger he is just going to love going for walks at the beach, and we also have a little dog park at the end of our street too :-) I am so happy he has taken to eating his dry food. I was afraid he thought e had me too well trained that he would not eat it lol. He's just so amazing how smart he really is, I think he knows too that I saved him from dying because he just loves me up like crazy xoxo

He's very lucky to have found you...and it sounds like he's doing a lot better!!

9 weeks is awfully young. A lot of pups are still at home with their moms at 9 weeks old. A lot of breeders will hold them until a minimum of 12 weeks of age. I would definitely leave food and water out at night. Just like human babies, puppies that young eat more times a day than an older dog does.


Royal Canine makes a mouse that is easy for puppies to ingest. It comes in a white box, and it has 3 cans inside. It's made for puppies and mamma to get optimal nutrition. Petco, Petsmart and a lot of other pet stores carry it...and vets who carry prescription Royal Canine may carry it. I am guessing that the little guy isn't really capable of eating the dry food very well.

Yea he eats the royal canine but only if its moistened with water. He just started to accept it today lol. It's the yorkie royal canine that he is eating. I'm now just giving him the rx food from the vet as a treat, and then I give him the nutrical and then a little some chicken breast shredded after that a couple times a day.

He's doing amazing :-) he's not so happy about napping though, he doesn't know how sick he was, so I have to give him napping rules lol.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: Yes, water should always be available.

Best wishes with your new pup! :)

Yes, 9 weeks is very young for a small breed puppy like a Yorkie to be away from it's mom. When I read your original post I had noted you said he was 12 weeks and that was kind of surprising to me since people like that usually get rid of the pups as soon as they can.

Since he is that young you will keep up the close watch on him for a while. Sounds like your doing a great job. How is he doing with the dry food? Will he eat it without can food?

Welcome to YorkieTalk. I'm so glad you rescued the little guy. I wish you all the best.:)

We made the boiled chicken mistake and we are still paying for it! I now boil up a batch and freeze them.

The trick is to cut it in tiny chunks and then really really really scrunch it into the kibble. The taste gets all over the kibble and it's harder to separate. You have to use your hand and scrunch it together well.

Are you using the royal canine for yorkie? Maggie came home with royal canine for puppies and had no interest in it. I got the one specifically for yorkie, I think it was for yorkie puppies specifically. She liked it much more. The bag claims yorkie are fussy and it is formulated for them. Meanwhile, you are teaching him to expect that chicken, happened to us after Maggie had a digestive problem (coccidiosis?--I forget) and we had her on chicken and rice, then we added back in the dog food, but she wouldn't eat it plain any more.

I just give him the chicken separately kind of like a treat so he does not associate with his regular food. I am feeding him the yorkie puppy RC, I started today stopping the mixing of the wet prescription food from the vet, to adding just a little warm water to it, and he's doing great eating it now. About 3 times a day I am giving him the nutrical and then just a little really shredded up chicken breast, and time it for like when he goes potty on his pad or something see positive, because he likes the nutrical and I think he thinks its a treat haha.

My husband tonight gave him the RC by itself and after play time he went right in his playpen and started to eat it right up. So it seems he does like it, he just liked the wet food more lol. As soon as I took the wet food out of the equation though, his poops firmed right back up, so it seems that wet food from the vet was the culprit of that runny poo last night :-) that's probably why the vet wanted him off it within seven days, due to the richness of it.

He is doing amazing !!!! He's so playful and lovable, it's hard to tell he was that sick. His gums are a perfect pink now and his energy is boundless. The biggest problem now is getting him to nap :-) not really hehe, he just kind of complains to his self for 2 or 3 minutes, then curls up snuggled in his blankie with his little green stuffed squeaker toy and goes to sleep. He also sleeps perfectly through the night, and he does get up and eat and drink water but goes right back to sleep without a peep, he also goes potty :-) he also has not had one accident off the potty pads, whether out at playtime or in his playpen, he always goes in search of the potty pad, finds it and goes. He is just the most adorable little smarty pants, and I feel so blessed we found him in time xoxo

Thanks again for the great advice, I really love this place and everyone here has been wonderful for this previously stressed out new yorkie mommy :-)

Canned food has more nutrients in it. Putting water on dry kibble is good to be sure he's getting enough water. Sounds like you're doing a great job with him!