underfed yorkie to keep small
 

Hi, I am an owner of a one year old yorkie boy and my sister has also recently bought a little yorkie boy. He is about 4 months old but she is already regulating his diet because she wants him to stay tiny. I noticed many people practice the free feeding method. She also gets irritated when anyone brings up the feeding of her puppy, but I am concerned. He is a little guy and he has been losing weight instead of gaining weight with his vet visits. She feeds him science diet puppy small bites, the same thing i fed my yorkie. However, instead of feeding him the required 1/3-1/2 cup (around 120-180 pieces) a day, she only feeds him 30. He is clearly constantly hungry, but he shows no health problems. Other than not being very active he seems pretty healthy. Could this underfeeding cause him any health problems? If so I will definitely intervene, but if not, I would prefer to stay out of my sister's moods.

You need to step in now as this is abuse. I hate to say it, but your sister has no business owning any kind of dog if this is her mindset.

The pup need more food . This is abuse .

please please advise her to feed the puppy. poor little thing. it's one thing to do it to our selves but to do it to a puppy!!!!!!

This is sad - starving a dog intentionally is abuse. Ask her, what her vet says about her "diet " plan for the dog.

All of the above. This is abuse, he still may end up big and skinny. And if he doesn't get all the nutrients his growing body needs, he's going to end up having health problems in the future. His grown up size is determined by his genes, not the amount of food...Tell your sister that.

gggggrrrrrrrr!!!!
 

All of the above~!

Print this out, and let her see it. #1, there's already very little - if ANY - nutrition in Science Diet, so the pup is at at a disadvantage to begin with. #2, does she have children? Would she encourage starvation in them to maintain a certain size?!

I shouldn't have come in here, I knew I was going to be :mad:

ask her how she would feel if someone restricted her food to make her stay small?!!! they cannot feed themselves they depend on us! if she were to do that to a child it would be considered neglect and most likely she would/could have it taken away why should a helpless puppy be any different? shame on her poor dog !

Same here!!:mad:

Tell her that by starving the pooor thing all she is going to wind up with is the same size Yorkie just skinny. She may also give it other problems from nutritional defiiency. Brain cells in particular need FAT to develop. She may stunt the puppy's intelligence as well as weight. If having a tiny pet is that important to her, she needs to get a hamster and stop restricting this Yorkie.

Now, if 30 pieces of kibble was filling the little one and it was satisfied, then that would be different. I think there are days that mine eat that small of an amount, hard to tell as I free feed the kibble. But I am feeding quality kibble that packs more nutrition per piece and they also get treats, cottage cheese, and a tiny serving of canned food. I also think that my two Yorkies eat almost the same amount of food and the youngest is already larger.

How would she like it if her food was rashioned? Someone needs to interviene, now! Since you are aware of this cruel act I would suggest it be you. How in the name of god do you delibertly stare a puppy to death!
This is a simple case of animal abuse and she needs to be reported before that poor innocent animal dies!
There is a reason on each package for amount to be feed. A puppy need the right nutrition for strong bones and growth. Does she have any common sense at all? Sorry but this is soooooooo sad.


Carol & Buddy

My heart aches for this poor starving pup. Please do what it takes (cry, scream, get down on your hands and knees) to implore your sister to either feed the pup properly or give it up. Maybe you could convince her to discuss feeding with her vet..... or maybe you could talk her into joining YT and do some reading.

If she allows this baby's blood sugar level to drop too low, she might not have to worry about him staying small any more. Hypoglocemia claims many lives......

All I have to say is SHAME ON HER:mad: . I don't normally get into topics like this because it pisses me off to even know ppl do this but I just couldn't resist.

I agree with everyone here...you need to step in NOW. Sorry to sound so harsh but this is how I feel.

Please keep us updated.

Wow that is horrible. A growing pup needs all the nutrients they can get to grow those muscles, brain cells, organs and bones. You should ask her if she would do the same to a human child. That might make her think. Ask her if her need to have a small dog causes major health issues will be be able mentally and financially to deal with it. :(

I usually keep my mouth shut, but this is utterly distgusting!!! She would rather have the poor thing be hungry then have him get over a certain weight and size. She cares more about having a tiny dog then the puppies needs and health? This whole teacup, purse dog, desire for a gerbil sized dog thing has gone to far!:mad:If she wanted a naturally tiny yorkie thats one thing, but to starve an innocent puppy to "make" her own is appalling. None of us know her and can do nothing about it, but you can! Please intervene

This is a problem
 

This would be the same thing as giving a child only 1cracker a day to eat. Please help this poor guy out :(

I feel sick

I would let her see this thread

The first thing I would do is do some research on different dog foods. Sounds like you and your sister are just going with what the vet reccomended. Every vet I\'ve ever been to reccomends Science Diet but its really not a good food. Start looking at the ingredients, if corn is in the first four its a bad sign. For optimal health your dog should be on an organic food with no corn, no fillers, or by products. A few good brands of dog food that I can think of off the top of my head are: Timberwolf Organics, Canidae All life stages, Chicken Noodle Soupp for the puppy lovers soul, Nutro for sensitive stomaches, Merricks and if you can\'t find any of those locally, you can order them online. If you don\'t wish to order things online they do sell "Blue Buffalo" and Nutro at Petsmart, which I\'ve heard are decent foods and certainly much better than Science Diet, Purina, Eukanuba, Iams or any of those type of brands. I personally believe in free feeding, especially for a puppy. However, if your sister doesn\'t want to free feed just make sure she gives him enough food through out the day say 5-6 times. Then she can break up the meals so that they are smaller portions. Feeding him less will not make him smaller it will just make him malnurished. His bones wont grow properly, his organs wont develop right and in the ends she\'s going to end up with something that doesn\'t even resemble a yorkie. Some puppies will stay small and some grow bigger, its all a pre-destined thing and has nothing to do with how you feed them. If your sister is worried about him gettting "overweight" if he eats more, take him for a walk and play with him through out the day, that\'ll ensure he gets exercise and it\'ll be a healthy way to "maintain" a healthy weight instead of starving him. To me, it sounds like your sister needs to do some more research on yorkies and the importance of feeding them properly. Does she realize if she doesn\'t feed him enough he could go into a hypoglycemic shock and die?
Many people on here have had this happen to them...would your sister rather have no yorkie than one who might be a little bigger than her "purse ideal"
Sounds like she needs to do some soul searching to me and if I were her brother I\'d make sure he was fed more or I\'d call the authorities.

:goodpost:

I\'m sorry, but it\'s just absolutely ridiculous that she even thinks it\'s somewhat okay to starve her puppy. The fact is, if she continues to starve the puppy and give it only 20% - 25% of the required amount of food, the puppy will die... not stay small, but die.

If I were you, I would plead to her to start feeding the puppy - if she doesn\'t, I would be calling the authorities.

That is just absolutely disgusting that she would really think that not feeding a living animal is okay... just so it can stay small. I\'m so :mad: right now that I\'m sick.

Gosh, I\'m saddened to read this article. I belong to a local yorkie meetup and somone there was fostering a dog with the same situation where an owner did this to her yorkie to keep her small. To me, it\'s similar to anorexia that humans go thru, it destroys your body! That baby will be sick for the rest of his life. 30 kibbles is absolutely nothing. I think my little girl eats more than that per meal.

Can you take the dog and adopt him and perhaps she can either not have any dogs or if she insists, buy one that will truly remain small w/o starvation? I\'m sorry to say this b/c she is your sister but perhaps she shouldn\'t own a dog. Maybe a hamster?

That is just disgusting and abusive. If she keeps this up, the puppy will die of starvation, if not hypoglycemia. If she really wants something so small, please ask her to buy a guenia pig or a rabbit, those can be trained too. Please for the the sake of the pup, talk to your sister and tell her that if she starves the pup, it will DIE. I really can\'t believe how grown people are still so irresponsible, it makes me sick to my stomach. :mad: :mad: :mad:

No offense to you but your sister has a lose screw. The person who\'s a bigger idiot is the breeder that sold that poor puppy to her.:mad: I hope she doesn\'t plan to have kids.

UGHHH! That puppy needs an intervention - YOU!

Good for you for caring.

please take that puppy from her or educate her on the proper feeding. she\'s going to kill it.

This makes me sick. I have a yorkie that I wish would gain some weight. He recently lost weight and that makes me sad that someone would do this to a perfectly healthy one. I am trying everything to get him to gain weight.

Excellent post. :thumbup:

Please intervene and help this little puppy. It\'s so good of you to come here and post for advice and help -- at least this little guy has someone looking out for him. An intervention from you may very well save his life.

Bryana- You did the right thing by coming here to seek advice and suggestions. Please let us know the outcome and do not be afraid to post. I know it\'s intimidating and this is a very tough subject to discuss, but your sister needs help. Everyone here truly cares about the well-being of your babies. I\'ll pray for your family.

I agree. :thumbup: You did a GREAT thing by coming here for advice.

Please follow the advise of everybody here! It\'s very important to make your sister understand that she is hurting her dog. Nodoby here is trying to offend you or your sister, but when we see things like this, we get kinda desperate. Sometimes we see abuse cases but there is nothing we can do, but you can!!!! she is you sister, so make her understand that she is doing no good to her little yorkie.

I TOTALLY AGREE !

this is really REALLY mean and no dog should go hungry for a sick reason like that. If he\'s losing weight his body is NOT GETTING ENOUGH FOOD - Remind her anorexia is a serious and fatal disease and that\'s what she\'s forcing on him - What is wrong with people that looks of their dogs are more inportant than health ?? :mad:

I feel so so sorry for him...poor baby. :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

bryana - If you love dogs you\'ll step in - maybe bring her HERE and let her read - I don\'t want to talk bad about your sister but she needs a BIG reality check on her motives for even having a pet - - he must be suffering and that\'s just so cruel