Help, My 8 week old puppy won't eat! - Page 3

Thanks everyone!      Olive is cute as could be, she actually looks a little dehydrated in the close up though .I would get her in today if at all possible!!

Cute little fur-ball! How's she doing? jackie harris

One short little note.. don't forget enzymes.. if your puppy is thin , its best to make sure she can digest her food well. They sell many pro biotics and enzymes and pet food and feed stores, online and at the Vet's. GSDs can be low enzyme and over time it can cause IBS like symptoms. Better safe than sorry, especialy sence all kibble/canned food is cooked and no longer has working enzymes in it.

Good luck with your little girl , she is just so beautiful.

Whisper

Excellent point Kimmelot.  I'm a huge fan of enzymes and pro-biotics, for dog, horse, and man.

Hi,

I found your post in searching the internet for resolution of a similar concern with our newly acquired female GSD puppy. I understand this is an older discussion, but I felt inhibited about recreating the proverbial wheel, so to speak...

My son is 14-1/2 y.o. now, and at that age I acquired my first dog and companion for life to call my own (mine was a norwegian elkhound in about 1972 or 1973). He wanted a puppy very badly; a confidant, companion, non-judgemental protector to be his buddy; all of the reaosns I still believe every teen (at least those caring enough and responsible enough) should have a canine buddy..

My son's puppy came to us at about age 11 weeks, being born on July 15, 2010, and brought home three days ago.

All of the dogs looked lean. Reportedly, the mother is a relatively good eater, but the father (also owned by the same couple) is a two-year-old, and finisky as well.

Both mother and father are reportedly of German import lineage, though the mother is the only fully registered dog in the mating pair. The mother's reportedly been cleared by a qualified vet for breeding, hips, etc. Both were apparently well-socialized during our visit, and the breeder has raised GSD for ~17 years.

With two days+ under our belts with this dog, and having been a dog-oriented person all of my life (now over 50 years), I've been growing more and more worried about Sequoia ('Quoia' for short, also because of the hard consonant sound in the beginning of her name, in order to grab her attention). Her lack of appeatite, long, tall, lanky, lean stature may exagerate her leanness, but I worry that my son's first dog companion experience is one of up-hill challenges, with a potential for looming catastrophe.

This morning I hand-fed Quoia some premium lamb meal and rice puppy formula (ommitting the brand, unless others want to know, and not sure if it would violate forum rules to post it), mixed with unsalted roast beef bits, warm water, and a small amount of the probiotic adult lamb meal and rice food we feed our ten-year-old eccentric malamute.

Quoia was reportedly a finicky eater at the breeder's as well. Her preference was to steal the adult dog food (very similar to my malamute's food, which she also steals in small amounts), leaving me chuckling a time or two about the similarities in humans and dogs, and the desire to have something of someone else's, the grass being greener on the other side, or the standard pursuit of the 'forbidden fruit.' (Likewise, the m'loot likes to steal the puppy's chow as well; I suspect they both think they're pulling something over on the other.)

I took the pup to the vet's yesterday, day two at our home, mostly for a well-puppy check-up, and to foollow through on any of her remaining medical needs.

The vet didn't seem overly concerned, though he gave us a single dose of Drontan, and some stool stiffener, as well as the information about GSD being notorious picky eaters..

I have -not- given Quoia the stool stiffener, as I;'d be more concerned about initiating a human-caused constipation issue, and her stools (of which I took a sample to the vet) weren't truly soft, per se', but rather, had 'some' amount of notable mucous in them. And, like a puppy, many non-edibles seem suddenly edible.

I've appreciated -all- of the information in this specific thread/question. But the puppy originally in question by the original poster, frankly, looks fat in contrast to our pup. Granted, ours is of a standard coat, no long hair, and there's a 3-week difference in age, but ours is L-E-A-N in comparison.

Any additional advice beyond that already given would be greatly appreciated!

Sequoias Family,,,I would start your own thread,,I think you might get more replies that way...JMO...

                                          Deanna...: )

O.K. Thanks.

My intention in tagging onto this existing thread was to avoid littering the board with redundant issues/questions, but perhaps I'll cut and paste a modified version of my original post into a new thread, as you've advised.

Thanks again.