Hey everybody, its me again. I am rescuing a German Shepherd mix puppy who has suffered severe starvation. I've had him for 6 days now, on Purina Beneful Puppy from day 1, Hartz Vitamin Care tablet vitamins and cooked chicken livers since day 3. He's responding well, especially to the vitamins, but today he's sleeping a lot and maybe a little fooded out (he usually is hungry at 4 pm, and seemed a little reluctant for lunch). He's filled out beautifully now, but should I do anything nutritionally different? His body, for the first 5 days seemed to be trying to do everything at once! Fur grew out, paws got bigger all of a sudden, and something happened to his eyes. But at least his spine isn't showing and his ribs are fading! Please explain any suggestions with nutritional explanations, as this is totally new to me, and vet won't advise until I can persuade him to let me touch him let alone transport him.
So far, I've been feeding 2 cups puppy chow with 2 chicken livers and broth and one vitamin for breakfast and dinner, and one cup puppy chow for lunch with one chicken liver and broth. Thanks
Severe Starvation Recovery
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
All I can tell you is that anything made by Purina is very LOW quality food. There are many threads here under DIET that will explain in detail & you will find links explaining more details such as dogfoodproject.com Have a good read of everything and get that precious pup some better food.
I'm sure he will be normal soon, and he will come to trust you. KUDOS to you for saving his life
I'm sure he will be normal soon, and he will come to trust you. KUDOS to you for saving his life
Any animal that has been starved should be fed little and often, split the daily food into 6 and give him a portion every 2 hours, also you can add a teaspoon of bio yoghurt in one meal to help his digestive system.
Once he has adapted to food again, you can take a feed out, put the food into the other feeds and have a wider gap between feeds. keep doing this until he is eating normally.
Once he has adapted to food again, you can take a feed out, put the food into the other feeds and have a wider gap between feeds. keep doing this until he is eating normally.
[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/PIXIE.jpg][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/th_PIXIE.jpg[/img][/url]
I wouldnt give him liver every day, even cooked liver. Its full of vit A and you can overdose on it. Stick to the vitamin supplement for now.
I would get the best quality food possible, a grain free one. Split that into six small meals and just add live yoghurt.
Unless you want to go down the raw feeding route, I wouldnt go adding anything else because you risk unbalancing the diet and whilst a healthy dog will tolerate this for a while a starved dog wont.
If you DID want to go down the route of feeding a wide variety of raw meat, veg, some offal etc then I can recommend this and we can offer some insight into how some of us raw feed our dogs.
I would get the best quality food possible, a grain free one. Split that into six small meals and just add live yoghurt.
Unless you want to go down the raw feeding route, I wouldnt go adding anything else because you risk unbalancing the diet and whilst a healthy dog will tolerate this for a while a starved dog wont.
If you DID want to go down the route of feeding a wide variety of raw meat, veg, some offal etc then I can recommend this and we can offer some insight into how some of us raw feed our dogs.
Today is day 7. Isaiah has recovered to almost normal appearance. I had him on extra vitamin A precisely because I have serious concerns about the condition of his eyeballs. First of all, this came as a complete surprise. I didn't have any pets until this past week. I have not the faintest idea whats at issue with the Purina products, all I do know is that the pup was able to keep the precious food down from the first feeding and that his physical health has improved steadily so far.
Furthermore, his eyes were having problems from about day 3, which is why the livers. It has been a terrifying week. This situation is mercifully rare, thats the good news, but getting critical advice from a vet or anyone else was "Your guess is as good as mine". For the record, I'm a Christian, and a lot of people prayed for us. I began training Isaiah "Come" today with food treats. His emotional trauma is so deep that when he finally got close he was trembling in spite of himself and softly flinching. Grabbing him or trapping him to take him to a vet would have been disastrous.
I've done my best in an emergency, and I think I'm doing OK so far. The pup is safe, his health is improving steadily, and his stress is decreasing. I hope you all understand that in extreme starvation, which Isaiah was suffering, the body literally disintegrates, one internal organ at a time. I am sttill concerned about the puppy's eyesight, and will be logging off and going in search of answers online. That is the best I can do.
Furthermore, his eyes were having problems from about day 3, which is why the livers. It has been a terrifying week. This situation is mercifully rare, thats the good news, but getting critical advice from a vet or anyone else was "Your guess is as good as mine". For the record, I'm a Christian, and a lot of people prayed for us. I began training Isaiah "Come" today with food treats. His emotional trauma is so deep that when he finally got close he was trembling in spite of himself and softly flinching. Grabbing him or trapping him to take him to a vet would have been disastrous.
I've done my best in an emergency, and I think I'm doing OK so far. The pup is safe, his health is improving steadily, and his stress is decreasing. I hope you all understand that in extreme starvation, which Isaiah was suffering, the body literally disintegrates, one internal organ at a time. I am sttill concerned about the puppy's eyesight, and will be logging off and going in search of answers online. That is the best I can do.
For someone who hasn't had a dog before you are doing extremely well, many experienced dog owners wouldn't know what to do either 
I do have experience of starved horses and there isn't much difference appart from the size. 
You are doing right in letting him go at his pace, he will change to a friendly dog that loves stroking etc but in his time. I know of one case of a terrified dog, they couldn't get him into the house, winter was coming, this was in Canada, so they made him a lovely kennel in the garage. put insulation all round it with a cloth door he could push open and he was happy. The kitchen door was always open when someone was in the house. Towards the end of the winter he took his first step into the kitchen, a week later he was permanently in the house so these dogs can be turned round.
Please stay with us, we will help and support as much as we can and you can shout, scream etc when things are not going as well as you would want.
I do have experience of starved horses and there isn't much difference appart from the size. You are doing right in letting him go at his pace, he will change to a friendly dog that loves stroking etc but in his time. I know of one case of a terrified dog, they couldn't get him into the house, winter was coming, this was in Canada, so they made him a lovely kennel in the garage. put insulation all round it with a cloth door he could push open and he was happy. The kitchen door was always open when someone was in the house. Towards the end of the winter he took his first step into the kitchen, a week later he was permanently in the house so these dogs can be turned round.
Please stay with us, we will help and support as much as we can and you can shout, scream etc when things are not going as well as you would want.
[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/PIXIE.jpg][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/th_PIXIE.jpg[/img][/url]
To Mattie, thank you so much for the encouraging words. This is a highly unusual situation to say the least, but things really are going well. I am working carefully to restore the puppy's physical and emotional health, the poor animal is terrified of humans! He was out front just now doing a little exploring, then suddenly panicked (I was watching him from inside). He must have heard a neighbor talking, since there wasn't anything else out there.
To emmabeth, sorry I "snapped" at you, last week was extremely stressful. I was afraid of two things, first that the puppy would die from all the strain, and much worse that I would save his life only to have him go blind in both eyes. I started the livers because something happened and both eyes swelled and turned dark brown or black for about one day. That was why I started the chicken livers and vitamins. When I calmed down, I considered what you said, evaluated the animal's weight gain and seeming energy level, and cut from 2 vitamins per day to one. I'm feeding the remaining livers (they're almost gone) then I'll take a chance and stop that too. Isaiah's eyes are now clear with no discharge, and his weight looks good, something I attribute in part to youth and in part to prayer.
Everything I have done in these last 10 days has been emergency measures, and everything I have done to feed this puppy has proven effective for now. I looked up food issues online, and I see why you said what you said. All IO can say is I am doing my best with the budget I have to live on and with my understanding of how vitamins work and how food heals.
To emmabeth, sorry I "snapped" at you, last week was extremely stressful. I was afraid of two things, first that the puppy would die from all the strain, and much worse that I would save his life only to have him go blind in both eyes. I started the livers because something happened and both eyes swelled and turned dark brown or black for about one day. That was why I started the chicken livers and vitamins. When I calmed down, I considered what you said, evaluated the animal's weight gain and seeming energy level, and cut from 2 vitamins per day to one. I'm feeding the remaining livers (they're almost gone) then I'll take a chance and stop that too. Isaiah's eyes are now clear with no discharge, and his weight looks good, something I attribute in part to youth and in part to prayer.
Everything I have done in these last 10 days has been emergency measures, and everything I have done to feed this puppy has proven effective for now. I looked up food issues online, and I see why you said what you said. All IO can say is I am doing my best with the budget I have to live on and with my understanding of how vitamins work and how food heals.
Since she is feeling better she may be more willing to come to you. Take it slow, she needs to be able to trust. If it were me I would go with her into the yard. She is going to be fearful and if she can see you as a place of comfort she might come around. do you try to feed her from your hand? I would not run to her when she is fearful as to reinforce the fear with cooing and petting, just stand there with her and don't show emotion to her fear.
If you can get a leash on her, do that and clip her to you. The worst thing that can happen is that she becomes scared and runs into a car. Starvation and abuse sometimes takes a while to over come. From what I have been reading your doing a great job with her and she is lucky to be in your home. Just makes you want to track down the people or person who did this to her.
Update us on her progress.
If you can get a leash on her, do that and clip her to you. The worst thing that can happen is that she becomes scared and runs into a car. Starvation and abuse sometimes takes a while to over come. From what I have been reading your doing a great job with her and she is lucky to be in your home. Just makes you want to track down the people or person who did this to her.
Update us on her progress.
The best days are spent with my dogs.
