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Please Help! Greyhound Puppy Won't Eat Much


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Hi guys,

I have just gotten a greyhound puppy on Sunday and am having some problems with her eating.

She is 6 and a half weeks old and won't eat much at all. She was being fed on puppy pal and i gave this to her the first night, she ate some but not much.

I've offered her science diet and supercoat puppy dry mixed with warm water and watered down skim milk and will drink the milk solution but won't touch the dry food.

Tried her on advance puppy food and she ate it this morning but won't have a bar or it this afternoon.

I gave her a chicken neck with she did eat, but when I offered her another one she won't eat it.

She was vaccinated yesterday but seems in good spirits is drinking water and running around and does sleep a lot.

Her poo is also worrying me because it is like water. She was wormed Sunday and there was evidence of rather large worms sunday and monday but none today but it hasn't thickened up any. The vet said it should be ok in a few days but I am worried. She's only 2.5kgs.

Any help or suggestions would be muchly appreciated.

Thanks

Anne

Edited by Cheyenne_Fury
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Hi Anne,

Congratulations on the new puppy.

They can be a worry can't they? Perhaps the wormer upset her tummy and this is making her not want to eat, along with a new home and all. I would watch the watery poop though and keep in touch with the vet if you are worried at all, sounds like this girl doesn't have a lot of reserve.

Milk can be a bit of a problem, even skim milk as many dogs and cats are intolerant of the lactose, causing loose stools. There is a puppy milk, but I would encourge her to eat food rather than fill up on milk. Rather than keep trying different foods to see if she will eat it would probably be best if you stuck with what her breeder had been feeding her and then slowly changed over to your preferred diet later on when she is settled and doing well. I know it's difficult when one so young won't eat or will only eat one meal out of 3 or 4, and it's really hard when people tell you the pup will eat when it's hungry. I went through this with Bob right from day 1. I tried different foods starting from the not so expensive to the very expensive, I tried cooking for him, hand feeding him, puppy milk and nothing was going to entice him to eat what I thought he should. Finally we found that he had food intolerances and he is kept on a very simple diet with only a few ingredients; hasn't missed a meal for over two years. Sometimes too, we expect them to eat a lot more than they need. Dogs also learn pretty quickly how to manipulate us into obsessing about their food, and making us offer lots of different things to try to get them to eat. Not good.

Of course I want to add again, see your vet if you're at all concerned. Good luck with your new baby.

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I had a similar problem with Daegon when he was quite young, very very stubborn. And that's exactly what it was, he was just being stubborn. I tried lots of different things, but in the end what worked was giving him what I wanted him to eat at his meal times and then picking it up after 10-15 minutes, eaten or not. He soon learnt that not eating when I give it to him means he will go hungry ;)

It was a worry, because when they're young they seem to get so incredibly skinny so fast! He starved himself for 5 days and has been a fantastic eater since :laugh:

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Sounds like a stressed little puppy - which is normal...

As long as she is drinking and seems happy, I wouldn't worry too much...

One chicken neck for her size and age probably is okay, also with the fact that she had worms, yep give it a few days to start clearing up...

Mel xx

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Agree worns & the vacc can knock around a young pup.I would also stop the milk until the stools are firm.

Also agree with the comment stick to the diet recommend or one brand.

Greys get stressed quite easily so dont panic to much or over fuss even though its a baby be confidient & the pup will adapt too.Remember 6weeks is an age where it is still relying on its mum for confidience,it now has no one & is very young so it will take longer

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Thanks guys.

I think me being stressed stressed her out if that makes sense. Has been a very busy couple of days for the little girl and she is just so young and little.

Yeah the poor little girl had worms but haven't seen any sign of any today and will discontinue the milk for now.

I offered her the advanced puppy again but she turned her nose up at it so she had another chicken neck (mashed up) this afternoon after she woke from a sleep and then tonight for dinner she had roast chicken (I just happened to cook that for dinner) and some rice and she ate it all up which is good, I think too that I have to remember that she is so young and what may seem like a small amount will actually be enough to fill her up.

Thanks again guys :laugh:

Anne

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If it was one of ours with upset tummy & little out of works we would cook up chicken & potatoes(some use pumpkin)we dont use rice as we find our dogs react to it.

I would give her that for a few days & slowly add some dry food & slowly change from there

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Thanks Showdog will try the pumpkin or potato and see if she will eat that. I am just a bit worried about her because her stools are like water and there has been no change for the better, in fact it could be a bit worse because they are a bit more watery.

She is generally happy in herself, plays and runs with the other dogs, drinks plenty of water just a bit off her food, she did have 3 meals today though. Hopefully tomorrow sees a marked improvement, if not I will be calling the vet.

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WHERE ARE THE PICTURES!!!!! You cant say you have a greyhound puppy and NOT POST PICTURES!!!!!! Sheesh!!!!!

Seriously, congrats on the new babe, and i hope she picks up soon.

I would go with the above advice, re the puppy milk. Mabey she just isnt ready for 'big dog food' yet.

If it was me i would be putting her kibble in the puppy milk - at room temp or mabey a smidge warmer, and let it all get mushy. At least if she's drinking the puppy milk she is getting some goodness.

Oh, did i mention... WHERE ARE THE PICTURES?????

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Besides the pictures we need to know her name!

The greyhound pups I raised were all knocking back chicken wings by 6 weeks but they were settled here with me and had been regularly wormed. I would consider fasting her for 12 to 24 hours with only water to drink. Seems drastic I know but it was the only thing that worked for a 4 week old kitten I was raising once. And a 4 week old kitten is very tiny compared to a 6 week old grey pup. When your girls tummy has settled stick to what you want to feed her and if not eaten remove in 15 minutes and only very small amounts 4 times a day, then build on that.

Good luck, I'm sure everything will be fine

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The pups name is Zahra.

I am getting increasingly more worried about the fact that her poo is like water and have noticed some red colour (possibly blood) in it and she is groaning when going to the toilet. I will be on the phone to the vet straight away in the morning but I am very worried. :laugh:

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Thanks you guys ;)

Zahra went back to the vet this morning poor little love that she is. She has had an injection of antibotic and has some tablets to take at home and also some scourban to help with her diarrhea. The vet said it is very unlikely to be parvo as she is not vomitting etc. the most likely cause is the stress of leaving mum and coming to a new home and also a bad case of worms which has now been taken care of. The vet said she should improve within 12 hours but if there was no change to call them straight away and that she would have to go on an IV drip.

Fingers crossed we see that improvement and she'll be on the mend tomorrow. She's sleeping now but hasn't eaten anything so far today...

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Some probiotics may help the situation. My pup had Salmonella when i got him home, runny stools for ages with smal amounts of blood in it, and no amount of suggested food changes by the vet would fix the problem. The one thing from the vets that did help was the probiotics (good gut bacteria to help fight the bad stuff and obtain more nutrients from the food). They only thing that solved the problem for us was switching accross the BARF. Rice can sometimes help firm up the stools if they are too watery (need to be careful about dehydration). Definately see the vet again though.

Tim

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Anne it sounds as if the treatment above is going to do the trick. It's so worrying when they're sick isn't it? And extra b/c she's so little and you've only just met. Hang in there, she will feel better very soon. ;)

Try to keep her fluids up - offer her ice cubes if she's not drinking much...most pups can't resist ice!

I'll keep you and Zahra in my thoughts.

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Hi Peachie for photos please check out the photo board ;)

I'll keep an eye on her in the mean time and if things don't improve will call the vet tomorrow.

Cheyenne, i saw the pics in the photo section straight after i posted - she sure is a cutie, as is her brother.

I really hope you can work out what the problem is with this babe.

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