Help! Who knows about pit bull puppies??
 

We heard what sounded like a kitten crying outside our kitchen door this evening. When John went out he found a pit bull puppy that doesn't look very old at all. She's shaking and cold and scared. We are warming her up right now and we'll figure out tomorrow what to do to find her owners. Right now I don't even know if she's weaned. How can I tell?? Any advice for tonight?

Please help if you can. I don't know nuthin bout no pit bull puppies!! :confused:

Does she have teeth? try feeding her some soft food. They can actually be weaned at 3 weeks if necessary. I give my babies Baby rice cereal and canned goats milk.

Yes, she has a lot of teeth. I have some canned Wellness. Do you think that would be okay for tonight?

i think that it will definitly be better than ntohing- make sure to keep her as warm as possible- do you have a heated blanket??

What do Gizmo and Kandi think of her?

oh and of course- can we see a picture of her :)

Now that she's warmed up, she's actually moving around quite a bit with Kandi and Gizmo. She seems healthy.

I will be back in a little while with some photos. I have to go feed her now. Thanks!

Here's some photos of her
 

She ate a lot and now she's sleeping. She really liked the Wellness chicken and sweet potato we fed her.

I have a sad feeling that she may have been dumped here. I really hope not. :( I'll keep you updated.

oh poor sweet girl. She is SO lucky you found her- i can't even imagine what you could have woken up to. Good ears you guys have :)

oops, forgot the photos
 

Here you go.

oh my goodness- she is SO tiny! And what sad eyes! you might just have to put some pj's on that sweet girl. What a lucky lucky girl.

That's a great idea!! Thanks!

My vet had some pit bull mixes today when I was up there. They were 4 1/2 weeks and looked to be about the same size as the ones you posted. That one you have looks very young and looks to also be a mix. They really can be a nice dog if raised the right way

Thank you for this info. We really appreciate it. I just posted a found listing on Craig'slist and I'm going to put signs around our neighborhood tomorrow. On Monday, we'll take her up to the vet to see if they can identify her and tell us more about her. Maybe they can give us some more ideas for finding her owners.

I don't really know what else to do. Thanks everyone. YTers rock! :thumbup:

lol i guess you don't want a pitbull then eh?

Probably not a plan. She's really sweet, but we don't have a fenced yard. With Kandi and Gizmo it's not much of an issue. They are leashed anytime they are outside, but a larger dog would need more room and exercise.

My son and his new wife might be interested. I wonder how well she'd do with two cats? :rolleyes: OH! His birthday is on Monday.

I wonder how she would be as a birthday present? :p

lol put a pretty pink bow on her and bingo- you have a present :D

Judy, most likely, someone dumped them. The reason my vet had 5 4 1/2 week old pups, was someone brought the pregnant mother up there and wanted the vet to put her to sleep, because she was pregnant, and the owners couldn't afford to feed the mother and pups, my vet is only 25 years old, and she just didn't have the heart to put her to sleep, so she took her in and the next day, the mother dog had the pups. So, Dr Jordan has been taking care of the mother and pups and trying to find homes for all of them. She said I could bring one of the pups home today until time for her to nurse again, but, knew my hubby would kill me. These pups were small, but, yet were bigger than my 7 mos old biewer. They were adorable though.

Pitbull puppies are NO different then anyother puppies.
They need, food, warmth and love.
And trainign like any toher dog.
She may not be a pitt.
Could be a staffie or anytoher bully breed.
For the love of god go look for more puppies! She is definatly been dumped or has a stray momma. NObody can loose such a small puppy. They aent fast enogh to get away!

I wish i could tak eher in!

Way to go Judy!!!! I think that would be a great birthday present! You are so great Judy!:)

SO GLAD YOU TOOK HER IN AND YOUR NOT LIKE MOST OF THE WORLD AND THINK PITS ARE THE WORST DOGS EVER. WE HAVE ONE AND HE'S THE BIGGEST BABY OUT OF ALL THREE OF OUR DOGS. HE WILL LET OUR BABIES DO ANYTHING TO HIM. I GUESS WE WAS BLESSED WITH A LOVING PIT IT JUST DEPENDS ON HOW THEY WERE RAISED. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN THIS WORLD...:p

Oh Judy he is a cutie! I dont have any advice but wish you the best of luck with him

Yes! We looked right away and didn't find any other puppies or a mama. We were worried about that too. John doesn't think she's a stray because she had no fear of humans. She came right up to him. I do agree that she was probably dumped....what puppy that small could get away? But I want to give the owners the benefit of a doubt here.

She's eating like a horse!! :eek: We're keeping her in an xpen in my adult son's room. Gizmo and Kandi have been curious, but friendly. She looks healthy but her appetite suggests worms to me. Gizmo and Kandi are current on all of their shots and heartworm meds. Just FYI

Thanks, everyone! Your support means a lot to me. I don't think we did anything that other dog lovers wouldn't do. You know you would have done the same! lol!

Pitt Bulls can be sweet dogs. I really do think it mostly depends upon how they've been treated.

Don't her feet look small? Is there a small breed of bully-type breed dogs?

She's eating like there's no tomorrow, but her poop seems solid. My son says it has a really bad smell to it (as opposed to our yorkies).

She's really cute. I'm glad you found her and I hope she either gets a home soon or her owners come forward.

A pretty cute one! :p

American pit bull terrier owner here. I've owned them for going on 10 years now. Well, my family has anyway.

To the person who said pit bull puppies are the same as any other puppy: wrong, wrong, wrong. LOL You've obviously never had a pit bull puppy that was under three months old. ;)

When my sister took in Lilo (our American pit bull terrier) she was pregnant. She had the puppies (they looked A LOT like your puppy; so, I'm willing to bet that dog is purebred) a few weeks later. They were CRYBABIES if I've ever seen any. So, if she hasn't started crying yet; I'm warning you ahead of time. She might. Lilo's puppies spent ALL their time crying and crying and crying. And crying some more. They were the biggest babies. And, not much changes by the time they grow up. ;) That's why pit bulls make horrible outdoor dogs.

However, just like any other puppy, they need their nourishment. That puppy looks like she's about 4 1/2-5 weeks old. They can be weaned that young; but, it's very risky. My mom had to wean a pomeranian that young because her mom wouldn't feed her- and, when she grew up, the pomeranian was only 1 lb and had never really "developed" right. Some canned food is a start. That's how a lot of people wean puppies. With canned food or moist kibble. I'd get some puppy formula from your closest pet supermarket. I'd say Wal Mart, but I've heard bad things about their puppy formula. However, if that's your only option, it's better than nothing. There was one puppy that Lilo wouldn't nurse- my sister got some puppy formula and an eye drop to feed the puppy. A baby bottle with a SMALL hole works fine, too. I think they do make bottles for puppies and kittens, too. Though, I'm not sure where to find them.

Since you have small dogs; if you have no experience with pit bulls; I wouldn't recommend you keeping the dog for yourself. While, if raised around dogs, they can be friendly to other dogs. (Lilo especially loves small dogs) However, if a fight does start, they are usually the one to finish it. (though, rarely the one to start it) And, to an unexperienced owner- this can be quite the challenge. Is there a no-kill shelter nearby that takes pit bulls? A pit bull rescue in your area maybe? Just in case your son doesn't want a dog? If he does, though, I say- go for it. :)

PS To the people who said, it's all how you raise them. It isn't just how you raise them. Genetics and breeding DO play a big part in a dogs temperment. IE a poorly bred pit bull could show problems in the future. As could a poorly bred yorkshire terrier. Though, raising them properly does help- sometimes, you can't deny that some things can be inherited. Ever read Marley and Me? Remember that bound of energy that ran past them when they met the puppies? Remember how Marley grew up to be JUST like that? Even though they tried training him as good as they could? Any breed of dog could be the same way.

OMGosh! Thank you for your post!

First, crybaby....haha...I don't think that even describes it! Anytime she is confined to a given area and not being held, she cries and whines and sounds just pitiful. Luckily, we know to be firm, but darn it's tough. We can't hold her every minute, and we can't let her roam free since she's not yet potty trained at all. And they say yorkies are yappy dogs. Not even close to this little girl. :rolleyes:

My son can't take her, and while we have a rescue that takes rotties and pit bulls and other dogs that are hard to place, they are full and are not taking new surrenders. Our no-kill shelter is also full and they don't take pit bulls or pit bull mixes anyway. That leaves the local animal shelter. Bad idea.

I put up a "found" ad on Craigslist and Petfinder and signs around the neighborhood. In the meantime, we're just taking it slowly. She gets along well with Kandi and Gizmo but she play bites at them...sort of like tries to use them as chew toys. It's not aggressive, just annoying to them. And her accidents are confusing Kandi, so we may be back to square one with her potty training. So another reason to keep her confined to an Xpen even with all of the crying. It's stressfull, but we're making it. She is a real sweetie when someone is holding her.

We can't free feed her though because she doesn't seem to have a "stop" button when eating. She would eat too much too fast if we just let her eat on demand. She does eat hard food...she found Kandi and Gizmo's. :rolleyes:

Thank you for your support, I appreciate it.

I raised a orphaned litter of pit bull puppies that I got when they were 5 weeks old. I had 9 puppies along with my 4 lb Yorkie and my bull dog. They did just fine with the bulldog but they loved to pull the Yorkies hair. They are quick learners so began now with teaching the dog and you will be surprised how quick she will catch on.

My advice.....start crate training her now. Make her sleep in a crate at night. She will sleep all night long (I cover the crate with a blanket and mine all went to sleep without any problems). She should be getting 3 meals a day now and you should be able to work on her potty training. They are cryers when they are by themselves but if they are with other dogs or people they are not. Let her play with your dogs but maybe one at a time with you there. She will learn to be gentle if she is taught how to. Get her a PARVO shot immediately!!! Pit bulls are famous for getting Parvo and since she is not with her mom, there is no telling how well she was cared for. I had 6 of the 9 come down with Parvo and it is not a pretty picture. Neither were the 2 that we lost. Last thing, please be really careful where you place her at. Stay away from shelter's...some that say they won't put pits down actually do.

I still have one of the nine and she is the greatest dog that I have. She lives with a 3 lb Yorkie, a Maltese and my Bull dog and we don't have any problems but we don't take chance either. Never leave a pit bull unattended when they get bigger with any dog or child. They don't start the fights but they sure will finish one. They can be the sweetest dogs around....I know cause we just love our Lola to death.

Let me know if you need any help with anything or if you need help finding her a home. I will be going to BCS the first part of Feb so if you need me, Let me know.

Thank you too! I'm absorbing all of this. I'll let you know if I have any questions. I appreciate it all.

Update!
 

The little pit bull now has a forever home! :) Yay!! I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to find her a good home, but we did.

Thank you all for your support. Kandi and Gizmo are both a little relieved I think. She was just too much for them. They learned a lot from the visit though, so I think overall it was a good experience for us all.

Oh, I am so glad!! It was so good of you to take care of her like you did. You are a wonderful woman!