7 wk Pup Quit Eating - Page 1

Anyone with experience with this type situation?

Have a small litter here and they are now 7 weeks old and all were doing great  (10-14 lbs) and ready to leave in about a week. Late last week several in the litter developed sloppy stools and one having a watery diareah for close to 2 days. I attributed this to them putting everything in their mouths when they are outside in the yard (leaves, twigs, you name it). One pup is really food motivated and is 40% larger than the other pups at current age although he was not the largest at birth so I've started to feed him seperately and control his intake. But of the other pups one was getting bad diareah the consistancy of a chocolate malted for two more days. I continued seperating them until I thought I had the pup pinpointed that had the diareah and confirmed this by weighings everyday and he not only was not gaining, but in the last 4 days he has lost .5 lb.

After having the litter checked and then taking this specific pup back to the vet  the vet now has him on Endosorb with Grintamycin 5ccx4 and alsoAmoxicillin 100g x2

After 24 hours of isolation and measured food and water bowls he has only taken in .5cup water and .25cup food in the last 24 hours and the diareah not only is gone but he already has hard stools (Endosorb & lack of water?). I know I can't have determined the wrong pup cause other pups are all seperated now and stools are being observed and all having normal to slightly softer but formed stools.

Anyway my question here is, this pup is losing weight, this morning he has now lost nearly 1 pound. I need some help here or ideas to get him to eat. I can't wait any longer until he is "ready" to eat. His temp is perfect, he is not showing any signs of dehydration (vet check again yesterday) although urine is showing more concentrated color. Vet will be gone for a couple days with the Holiday now and I will be on my own and thought I'd post to see what help anyone knowledgeable might offer us, I am very concerned and HAVE to stop his weigh loss and lack of appetite.

thanks in advance

TRU

The only thing I can think of is Coccidiosis, but I would think the vet should have checked stool for it . http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2102&aid=727  Good luck!

Not to freak you out but have you actually seen this pup eat kibble and hold it down?  If it is with the others and it barfs the others will eat it for the pup.  If  he cant swallow, it may have megaesophagus

Canine Megaesophagus Education & Research Project

Oct 27, 2008

Provides information on the causes of congenital and idiopathic canine

, the clinical signs, risk factors and accompanying

BUT; any pup i know of will eat GREEN CANNED TRIPE from either Solid Gold or Merricks.  Can be found on the net, look for it in your area feed and holistic stores and get some.  

Coccidia, coccidia, coccidia or another parasite, especially given this is a repeat problem. Dogs and pups do not eat when their gut is not feeling well. Take care of the primary problem first.

In the meantime, offer things easy to digest, in small amounts, and wait. I would not go overboard and start dramatically changing diet. Nor would I worry too much about some major structural defect.

TRUgsds,

You mentioned going to the vet, what did the vet think was wrong?

Moon's.

maybe try mincing/grinding up some boiled chicken and mixing it with yogurt or kefir let it sit for an hour or so to sort of 'marinade'to allow the enzymes in the yogurt to act on the chicken as well as bring the yogurt to room temp; maybe add a bit of mashed pumpkin to the mix if all goes well. but as hodie says keep it simple and easy to digest. also feed some of the water the chicken was boiled in (even if you must use a syringe) to keep him well hydrated. you can even add some of the whey from the yogurt (the watery liquid you see when you first open a container of yogurt) to increase digestability maybe a ratio of 1 part whey to 4 parts chicken broth. (if there isn't enough whey floating on top feel free to pm me and i can tell you how to extract more if you don't already know how)

another thing you might want to look into - were they vaxed? maybe it's a reaction? pups are known to have a wide range of responses from no apparent reaction, to sluggish for a day or so, to far more severe; anyway it's something else to discuss with your vet. good luck and i hope he starts feeling better.

We had megaes in one of our puppys a couple of years ago, noticed it at 5 weeks,by 7 weeks she was half the size of her littermates.

Never once did she refuse to eat or have the runs,in fact she was ravenous just could'nt keep it down poor mite(heartbreaking condition) which still brings me to tears when i think of her, we finally called it a day when she was 9 weeks old.

This sounds nothing like what we experienced(thank god)  Just my opinion but dont think it's megseso

I would definitely get the pup off of kibble of any sort until it is eating regularly.  Boiled chicken, beef, rice. Try to keep whatever type of food that you feed this pup in its whole form meaning all of the water content intact. This will help keep the pup hydrated. It is one of the reasons that a raw diet works so well. There are really no chances of becoming dehydrated.

The above ideas about yogurt and canned whole pumpkin (not pie filling) are also excellent and recommended.

Not to be a stickler here, but, these are things that you should already know about if you are breeding dogs!

try corned beef and rice THEY CANT RESIST IT lol poor hot water over the corned beef and remove some fat as it might upset his tummy again

perhaps get a puppy multivitamin and crush it into his food / water

all the best

Did your vet leave an emergency contact? Is there an emergency veterinary clinic in your area? Coccidia and other bacteria and parasites are the most common cause of pups having runs and/or just not doing well. Take a stool sample to the local emergency clinic, tell them it's a 7 week old puppy and it is an emergency. The test is quick and you should have an answer fairly soon.