emaciated dane? puppy- need feeding help

[Dylan1213]

My MIL found and emaciated Dane mix puppy in her front yard this morning. DH and I have decided to try to rehab him- we are taking him by the vet to be scanned for a chip and will set up an appt for a full once over.

The most immediate concern is that he is horrifically skinny. He has a little bit of tissue at the very top of his ribs but other than that there is no coverage on his ribs hips or vertabrae. Very little on his shoulders. Right now the food I have at home is Natural Balance Adult LID Lamb and rice. I have never fed an emaciated dog before. I know that with horses you have to becareful about re introducing food though, so i figured I would ask the experts.

Please help.

[Aly]

Same with dogs, a little at a time from what I know and build up his fluids. Dane's already have sensative stomachs.
Juicing some veggies and things in the mean time would be great as it won't be harsh on the stomach and it'll boost his energy up with all those vitamins. That is too sad though... I hope you get to keep him! The owners obviously don't deserve him!

[Dylan1213]

thanks... so should his food be softened for him too?

[Aly]

I would to be honest. I don't know what age he is but softening it a bit with some juice or broth would help. Also, cook some food for him like chicken breast and make sure to cut it into small pieces as danes have a bad habit of eating fast and just guliping whole chunks without chewing only to throw it up later. Try to get to the vets though as soon as possible.

[Dylan1213]

Vets office is definately in the works... its looking like the first to get him in though

[JTP]

For my starved/emaciated dane we mixed canned puppy food, and regular dry puppy food, plus for bonding reasons, I gave him all sorts of hotdog, and such treats.
Not as part of training, but just because I wanted him to put on weight, and to bond.

He went from 104 to 140 in a couple of months.
You can buy hotdogs by the 10 pound case for 11.00.

You can also look up something called Satin Balls, but watch the fat intake so as not to cause pancreatitus from too much fat.

Be patient, and do not try to cram all the weight on him at once. weight gain, and muscle will only happen so fast. Keep a lot of water available for him.
be sure to keep the garbage out of reach so as not to tempt the dog into eating something bad by accident, starved-hungry dogs will eat anything they can once they start eating

[Dylan1213]

Ok that's kinda what I was thinking so about 1/2 cup of food at a time sever times a day to start with? sound good?

[dobermom]

At regular feeding times(morning and evening) I would try to get him to eat 2-21/2 cups each meal. Depending on your work schedule i would feed 3/4-1 cup for lunch. Really try to feed small meals every couple hours. Its hard when your working but on your off days feed him more. You just dont want to feed him 5 cups in one meal.

I have never had any issues getting weight on a skinny dog, it really goes on quick.

[Dylan1213]

sorry, was too upset to update sooner. We found the dogs owner. also on closer inspection he is not a puppy, likely a dane whippet mix to account for size and build.
the owner went to MIL house to look for the dag the next day. MIL (sometimes I really love the woman) told him point blank "My son has your dog and I don't know if he will be returned due to the state we found him in" took the guys number and gave it to DH. DH called the guy about the dog and was informed that he has kidney and liver problems and sees the vet regularly and the vet is fine with his weight (when the dog is so undermuscled and weak that he can barely stand, if the vet thinks he is "fine" then the vet is a **** quack and shouldn't be owning animals much less telling other people if their animal is healthy or not) Unfortunately here, there is no ASPCA to turn him in at so we really haven't got a leg to stand on legally.

Made arrangments to meet the owners mother at the dog's vet's office the next morning with the stipulation that we want to see the records from the vet including a detailed plan to treat the kidney issue ( I will personally guarantee he has on, I never smelt any kind of urine that stinks like that, it smelt like it had been sitting for months, but it smelled that way as soon as it left his body) and his weight problem.

we get to the vet's office first and they show us the records. Turns out the dog hasn't been to the vet in over 4 YEARS. Guys mom shows up and proceeds to tell us that the dog has been this way his whole life (13.5 years) Sorry, but a dog this skinny would not be alive!!! that long. for reference, on the scale they use to assess horse body condition 1-10, 5 being perfect weight 10 being a heart attack in progress fat and 1 being death on 4 legs I would rate him about 1.5.


DH told the guys mom to send him back with the vet to get a check up or we would take the dog to our vet and would have him checked over and either rehab and rehome him or iff needed have him euthanised. (total bluff, so far as I am aware, here that would be considered theft our vet's backing or not)

she had him seen, so hopefully, now that the vet has actually seen him, he will be able to get the owner to deal with issues or allow the poor dog some dignity and let him go.

sorry if parts of this don't make sense, I am still pretty upset. I just don't understand how anyone can look at their pet, their family member, see that and not understand how very wrong it is.

[UnDun*]

Im sorry to hear the outcome. Makes ya wonder sometimes how a situation can go on and on like it did before someone notices. I mean, 13.5 years? Thats amazing. I doubt they ever walked the dog because if they did someone would have taken him away thats for sure.

You did what you could, and Im sorry you had to get involved (esp. mentally ). At least maybe this dog will have some peace now.

I feel bad this poor dog suffered for so long.