We got a new dog last night----Update, we put him down :( :(

[Vonkhan]

3 cheers for the lil' guy!

 

[trmiv]

I've tried that, along with mixing the dry with his current beef/chicken/rice/broth diet. The little shit just eats around the dry food and leaves it in the bowl. The funny thing is there was a few pieces of dry food apparently on the floor int he kitchen under the overhang of the cabinet, and when he was patrolling the kitchen yesterday he ate it. But if I offer him the exact same stuff in his bowl, he's not having it.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I've tried that, along with mixing the dry with his current beef/chicken/rice/broth diet. The little shit just eats around the dry food and leaves it in the bowl. The funny thing is there was a few pieces of dry food apparently on the floor int he kitchen under the overhang of the cabinet, and when he was patrolling the kitchen yesterday he ate it. But if I offer him the exact same stuff in his bowl, he's not having it.

you said that he would eat milk bones, try hand feeding him the kibble like it's a treat

 

[Gooberlx2]

Good job on recovering to the little guy.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: trmiv
I've tried that, along with mixing the dry with his current beef/chicken/rice/broth diet. The little shit just eats around the dry food and leaves it in the bowl. The funny thing is there was a few pieces of dry food apparently on the floor int he kitchen under the overhang of the cabinet, and when he was patrolling the kitchen yesterday he ate it. But if I offer him the exact same stuff in his bowl, he's not having it.

you said that he would eat milk bones, try hand feeding him the kibble like it's a treat

Well he won't eat those unless he "finds" them on the floor. There was one sitting on the floor from our other dog who didn't want it (she's still recovering as well), he happened upon it and ate it. If I offer him one he's not interested. Same thing with the dry food, he found some on the floor, and ate it, if I give it to him or put it in his bowl, I get the "what, no chicken?" look. Maybe I should just strategically hide his food around the house.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: trmiv

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: trmiv
I've tried that, along with mixing the dry with his current beef/chicken/rice/broth diet. The little shit just eats around the dry food and leaves it in the bowl. The funny thing is there was a few pieces of dry food apparently on the floor int he kitchen under the overhang of the cabinet, and when he was patrolling the kitchen yesterday he ate it. But if I offer him the exact same stuff in his bowl, he's not having it.

you said that he would eat milk bones, try hand feeding him the kibble like it's a treat

Well he won't eat those unless he "finds" them on the floor. There was one sitting on the floor from our other dog who didn't want it (she's still recovering as well), he happened upon it and ate it. If I offer him one he's not interested. Same thing with the dry food, he found some on the floor, and ate it, if I give it to him or put it in his bowl, I get the "what, no chicken?" look. Maybe I should just strategically hide his food around the house.

Well, if you knew that you could get chicken, would you eat hard bad tasting dogfood?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: trmiv
Well he won't eat those unless he "finds" them on the floor. There was one sitting on the floor from our other dog who didn't want it (she's still recovering as well), he happened upon it and ate it. If I offer him one he's not interested. Same thing with the dry food, he found some on the floor, and ate it, if I give it to him or put it in his bowl, I get the "what, no chicken?" look. Maybe I should just strategically hide his food around the house.

Yes, make it a fun game for him. Hopefully, he'll associate it as fun and love it.

 

[torpid]

I guess canned food is out of the question due to cost or something?

I assume the dog doesn't like either of the foods you've tried, right? I know canidae and felidae can be unappetizing for animals... I think they use a formula that's a lot different than many other "natural" brands like it.

 

[trmiv]

I don't want him on canned long term, he's a gulper so far, and Weim's are prone to Gastric Dilation-Torsion complex, so I want him on something he needs to chew instead of just swallow. I'm not opposed to using wet to get him to eat the dry though. He has eaten the canidae before he got sick, but now doesn't want if after being on the real food. I may pick up a different food to see if he likes that. Maybe some Innova or Wellness puppy food.

 

[BoomerD]

Ted, be cautious how much fat you give the pup. The last thing you need right now is for him to contract canine pancreatitis.

 

[trmiv]

He's only getting low-fat chicken and beef that has been boiled to remove the fat it does have, along with rice, so he shouldn't be getting too much fat. I've got a list of high quality dry foods (Orijen, Innova, Artemis, Merrick, Wellness, Solid Gold and some others) and I'm going to stop at a place on the way home and pickup the least expensive of these 5-star foods for him along with a few cans of wet and get him started on a switch to dry food.

It's fun now to have a puppy instead of a patient. 🙂 He's starting to show the typical puppy problems that need to be broken, such as barking at me while I prepare his food, chewing on what he can get his mouth on (he loves carpet textured things, and hard plastic), and having a few missing the puppy pad episodes.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I don't want him on canned long term, he's a gulper so far, and Weim's are prone to Gastric Dilation-Torsion complex, so I want him on something he needs to chew instead of just swallow. I'm not opposed to using wet to get him to eat the dry though. He has eaten the canidae before he got sick, but now doesn't want if after being on the real food. I may pick up a different food to see if he likes that. Maybe some Innova or Wellness puppy food.

You might want to look for a larger kibble then. Pets can still swallow whole dry food bits in many cases, and will do so. Maybe it's still slow enough eating to not cause the problem, though.

 

[silverpig]

Have you considered more of a raw meat diet? My parents go to the local meat packing plant and they have these frozen bricks you can buy. It's basically the trimmings/bones from the animals there, plus some vegetables, all ground up and then frozen into bricks. They take a brick out of the freezer, thaw it out, and give him half of one a day. It's not like regular wet food as it's chewy, and he loves it. You can get beef, pork, chicken, or lamb.

 

[torpid]

Hm... is raw food really a good idea for a dog that just got over a major illness? I have always read that it's only suitable for healthy, adult animals.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Have you considered more of a raw meat diet? My parents go to the local meat packing plant and they have these frozen bricks you can buy. It's basically the trimmings/bones from the animals there, plus some vegetables, all ground up and then frozen into bricks. They take a brick out of the freezer, thaw it out, and give him half of one a day. It's not like regular wet food as it's chewy, and he loves it. You can get beef, pork, chicken, or lamb.

Yea, it's a bit of a pain though. It's supposed to be really good for dogs. I think once he's past the puppy stage I will switch him to Innova Evo, which is supposed to be the next best thing to a raw diet. They don't recommend it for puppies though since the protein and calcium level are so high, so it has to wait.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: trmiv

Originally posted by: silverpig
Have you considered more of a raw meat diet? My parents go to the local meat packing plant and they have these frozen bricks you can buy. It's basically the trimmings/bones from the animals there, plus some vegetables, all ground up and then frozen into bricks. They take a brick out of the freezer, thaw it out, and give him half of one a day. It's not like regular wet food as it's chewy, and he loves it. You can get beef, pork, chicken, or lamb.

Yea, it's a bit of a pain though. It's supposed to be really good for dogs. I think once he's past the puppy stage I will switch him to Innova Evo, which is supposed to be the next best thing to a raw diet. They don't recommend it for puppies though since the protein and calcium level are so high, so it has to wait.

Yeah. I guess my information could be good for a little later.

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: torpid
Hm... is raw food really a good idea for a dog that just got over a major illness? I have always read that it's only suitable for healthy, adult animals.

No food vs raw food... not much of a question there

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: trmiv

Originally posted by: silverpig
Have you considered more of a raw meat diet? My parents go to the local meat packing plant and they have these frozen bricks you can buy. It's basically the trimmings/bones from the animals there, plus some vegetables, all ground up and then frozen into bricks. They take a brick out of the freezer, thaw it out, and give him half of one a day. It's not like regular wet food as it's chewy, and he loves it. You can get beef, pork, chicken, or lamb.

Yea, it's a bit of a pain though. It's supposed to be really good for dogs. I think once he's past the puppy stage I will switch him to Innova Evo, which is supposed to be the next best thing to a raw diet. They don't recommend it for puppies though since the protein and calcium level are so high, so it has to wait.

Yeah. I guess my information could be good for a little later.

No, the raw diet is supposed to be good for puppies too, but I've read that high protein dry diets like Innova Evo could be an issue for puppies. Good for adults though.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: Scouzer

Originally posted by: torpid
Hm... is raw food really a good idea for a dog that just got over a major illness? I have always read that it's only suitable for healthy, adult animals.

No food vs raw food... not much of a question there

You're right, because the real question is no food vs canned food vs homemade food vs raw food.

 

[trmiv]

My wife just called and said she caught the little guy digging into our other dog's food. He's ignored it for days, and suddenly he strolled by and decided to chow down. I guarantee he won't eat it if I offer it to him though.

 

[trmiv]

More sad news. Last night he began to get the sniffles and had snot coming out of his nose. During the night it got worse, and by this morning he had a lot of green/yellow snot. We scheduled a vet visit today, not wanting to take chances. The vet is almost 100% certain he has distemper. 🙁 The death rate for distemper is 75%, and since this little guy was so weak already, he's almost certain to die. The vet said that we can fight it, but the cost will be extremely high, and he still will have very low odds of survival and if he does make it will likely have permanent damage to his vision, nervous system and teeth. 🙁 I feel like I've been kicked in the gut. I'm still at work, but the thought of going home and seeing his little face is tearing me up. I can't believe this.

 

[darkxshade]

wow, this dog just can't seem to catch a break 🙁

 

[Ns1]

wow, you/teh dog have such shitty luck =(

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: trmiv
More sad news. Last night he began to get the sniffles and had snot coming out of his nose. During the night it got worse, and by this morning he had a lot of green/yellow snot. We scheduled a vet visit today, not wanting to take chances. The vet is almost 100% certain he has distemper. 🙁 The death rate for distemper is 75%, and since this little guy was so weak already, he's almost certain to die. The vet said that we can fight it, but the cost will be extremely high, and he still will have very low odds of survival and if he does make it will likely have permanent damage to his vision, nervous system and teeth. 🙁 I feel like I've been kicked in the gut. I'm still at work, but the thought of going home and seeing his little face is tearing me up. I can't believe this.

GD that sucks...

 

[trmiv]

We've also been told to separate him from our other dog to reduce the risk of her getting it, even though she has been vaccinated, the vet doesn't want to take the risk. He said there is still a chance this is not distemper, although it has all the symptoms, so he is paying himself to have lab work done on his blood to make sure. He said he has not seen a case in distemper in North Carolina for many many years, so that is the only positive that it may not be it. But all his symptoms point to it. 🙁 If it comes back that he has it we will have him put to sleep.