puppy not eating or drinking enough
 

I am having a problem. Bam bam is 13 weeks and 1 pound 2 ounces (has lost two ounces since i got him). I have had him since last friday. He is very tiny. I had to rush him to the vet on tuesday because he would not eat or drink all morning and it was 3pm and he was shaking uncontrolably. I had given him karo a hour before, and then nutra-cal. After 30 minutes and he didnt respond to the sugar intake the vet said to bring him in right away. By the time we got there he had stopped shaking. And the vet tested his blood sugar and it was fine. He said probably due to the nutra-cal. He was dehydrated though (had to have 30cc's of water put into his sides--he looked like a camel). He will not drink water if offered and I rarely see him drink water. Only about 3 times while hes been here--but he is peeing though so thats a good sign i guess? The vet cant tell why he wont eat. He said he doesnt think he has liver shunt because he looks to healthy and robust and liver shunt babies are normally skinnier. I had gone the previous friday to the vet because he wasnt eating and they gave me a special food to feed him. It worked for a day and a half, but then he even stopped eating that. He has been on nutracal every 2 hours for the past few days..and I offered him food a little after that to see if he will eat, but he only eats once in a while. In general he wont eat when I offer him and i always have food out. Today I gave him some chicken and he ate it three times today when i took him to his food area (a first!) but I dont think chicken by itself is a well rounded meal. I am feeding him 5 star food btw and have tried a few--hard and soft. I am just... at this point... very tired from lack of sleep and around the clock watchings... and hoping someone will tell me this is somehow normal and he will get better eventually. I would hate to have to deal with another hypo attack and he cant live off nutra-cal forever. :( I am probably going to take him in next week again if he doesnt improve. They said if I had to bring him in again they will have to do a full bloodworkup--even though it is painful for them when they are this small :(

Oh no. I'm so sorry! I know all of this is stressful. I also know there are lots of people on this site with experience in these areas, but they may be asleep right now.

Try a search for key words like "eat" and "hypoglycemia" and see what comes up. I just know this has been discussed a lot on here.

Hugs and hang in there. I'm sure some of our members with more experience will be able to help as soon as they see this thread.

Did your pup come from a breeder you trust? If so, I'm sure she would be glad to help as well.

How about just homecooking for maybe 4 or 5 days (not supplementing) to see if he eats consistently? If he does eat you can talk to a nutritionist about the needs of a puppy and how exactly to supplement in this case. Since you are feeding chicken anyway, you might as well at least balance the meal a little bit.

I would try mixing one ounce of boiled, boneless, skinless chicken breast with no seasonings, 88 grams (probably somewhere around 1/3 cup) carb (brown rice or sweet potato peeled and cooked or noodles), 60 grams (about 1/2 cup) cooked mixed veggies (peeled carrots or bell peppers or celery or squash) and 1 teaspoon oil (olive or canola). If he eats consistently and you want to do it long term, he NEEDS to be supplemented. I would probably give fruit as snacks. Maybe it will help the sugar issue (watermelon, peeled and cored apple, blueberries...).

When I first got Teddy he would not eat either, after the first week and visiting the vet 3 times, they decided to do blood work. His blood work came back and he had a severe infection. I had to syringe feed him baby food for 9 weeks (every 2 hours) until he finally started eating something on his own. Yes, we tried every food there was until we got him to eat. He eventually got rid of the infection after 4 different antibiotics and weekly vet visits. If you can get him to eat something, that is better than nothing. We had to put vitamins in the baby food per the vet in order to make sure he was getting everything that he needed.

My neighbor had a puppy that would not eat and the vet had her put a small amount of canned cat food in with their food and they ate.

I will give that search a try.. but I was wondering if there was something else wrong with him, as he is walking/running oddly (kind of bend to the right) and for the first few days he was rubbing up against the furniture in kind of a circle around the living room again and again.. they dr said to keep an eye out for this, but im hoping its just his way of trying to mark

I did inform the breeder that he was not eating earlier in the week and asked how much he had been eating with her and she said she did not know as she just kept food in the kennel with the other two pups. that was kind of frustrating... I also sent another super long email to her detailing how the situation has progressed poorly and that he has lost weight. When she didnt respond yesterday, or today so far, I have decided to come here for some help/advice

I will gather some things over the weekend (i do not have a lot of this stuff on hand in my house as I am on a very strick/limiting medical diet). I will try to cook something up, and give this a try. Unfortunately today he is not even touching the chicken. The evangers chicken casserol chicken dinner has all of these ingredients and it is pretty human grade, and he would only licky the gravy a bit. So I am doubtful

the vet tried the cat food thing. it did not work for long. I really hope bam bam does not have an infection. What were your dogs symptoms other than not eating? Was he lethargic?? Did he run around and play at all?

Honey, I would get this baby back to the vet and have them test him for Liver shunt. As scary as that sounds, in most cases, if treated early, it is possible to repair. The walking bent to the side and rubbing the furniture are some of the symptoms. Does your breeder warrant against liver shunt? I would see the vet again as soon as possible. I hope this isn't what it is, but like I said, the earlier you catch it, the less damage to the liver.

Do not wait long to take him back to the vet... He is very tiny and has to get some food, water in him. I hope there is nothing serious wrong with the health of your baby. It could be the whole transistion too. He maybe very stressed out. Keep food down for him 24/7. I know when I first brought Suzi home she did the same thing. However, during the night she ate ! I am sorry Your boy is having a hard time. Cheese, or yorgurt may work? He needs protein and I'd keep trying . He might be very picky on top of being scared.

I was just thinking this and I didn't realize these other symptoms were happening.

Your pup needs a bile acid test as soon as possible (hopefully tomorrow).
This would explain the symptoms.

If it is his liver, the protein could be making him feel horrible and he would associate that feeling with all food...

Oh, gosh. Is he "head pressing" too? I hate to say it - but I think you need to do bile acids asap, I really do.

One thing I can suggest for food, and it's not the healthiest, but it's not the worst thing: you know those baby "hot dogs" in jars for toddlers? Get those. When Marcel was at his very worst w/ his 2 bouts of Giardia and then post-giardia disaster and NO appetite at times (and under 2 pounds) - those little hot dogs were the ONLY things that were appetizing, period. You could mix in some canned potato or brown rice, supplement some calcium and you'd be okay for awhile until you get him stabilized.

Crystal (EllieMay) may have some good ideas too for homecooking.

Or maybe feed mostly carb until liver is ruled out? What do you think Crystal?

Yes, I agree.
How much does he weigh?

I would probably feed a small amount of egg white (maybe even less than one a day depending on weight). You could peel and boil sweet or regular potato and give those. Vegetables are ok and bit of watermelon and apple (no peeling). I would only do this for a couple days though (unless you have it balanced by a nutritionist).

Hopefully Yorkieluv will know how much egg white.

Absolutely no red meat of any kind and poultry isn't really a good idea right now either.

Maybe try forcing some potato for now?