New baby needs nursing

[BarksaLot]

We adopted a 2 year old, maybe lab mix/border collie. Looks a bit like Licorice, only she's short haired, she is as tall or taller than she was. Intro with Smokey was fine, he's not dog aggressive, neither is she. Name is April, which were debating changing. She was considered an outdoor dog by previous owner. She's skinny, low energy, bit of rash on chest, maybe food allergy. Shelter thought maybe they gave her a bit to eat now and then when they remembered the dog locked in the back yard.

So I've done home prepared food for years, but we stopped on the way home and bought a bag of Evo red meat kibble and the same in cans. Hadn't been home very long with her when she pooped a great big smelly and I mean huge 4-5 pieces - all the treats she'd eaten at our intro. Also first thing she did was to climb under a car on our back driveway. She seems to be shy, laid back calm.

So we need first aid to put on weight. Got a pot of white rice going on the stove now to make mushy rice if we get upset tummy from diet switch. Bill is grilling hamburgers, one slipped and fell through the grill, so I said maybe that one should be dog food.

So suggestions. What do you feed an underweight malnourished dog, which the shelter considers her to be, and us as well. I'm sure I'll do fine, but just racking my brain for Mommy care to kick in

[KatrinH]

An increased amount of potato helped my guy put weight on after loosing a bunch due to giardia. Oatmeal is also good. I have also heard of people adding fat (butter, lard, etc) to the dog's diet in larger numbers to gain weight.

Given that she is so malnourished I would slowly start and only slowly increase amount for her body to get used to and just go by what she tolerates best for now.

[BarksaLot]

Yeah, I was reading an old thread last night. It mentioned giving potato, and giving small amounts of food 5- 6 times a day. Puppy food was also mentioned as was feeding meat. Didn't think about puppy food when we bought the Evo, but we were concerned with possible allergies since she has a rash on her tummy. Who knows that might be from being made to stay outside. Shelter had put Frontline on her, so she could have had fleas. A bath will be in her near future. She did good last night, slept in an x pen. Had a small breakfast which she enjoyed. Sleeping now, definitely low energy. Just raises her head now and and then when the cat and other dog check her out. Having a bit of trouble with our old guy wanting to get nose to nose with her, even though it said she wasn't dog aggressive, we did eye a tiny lip raise and slight growl in response to Smokeys rudeness. Red Barn we went to has a scale, weighed her, surprised she was around 50 lbs. so now to try to figure out how much she should weigh. Smokey showing signs now of backing off, will go off and lay down.

[SherriA]

It may take them a bit to figure out their place WRT each other. I think its fair game for her to raise a lip and tell Smokey to back off if he's being rude, and good for her that it didn't come to more than that!

In addition to potato, oatmeal, pasta, etc (basically all the carbs you'd avoid if you were trying to lose weight!) we give extra fats when we're trying to get weight on dogs in the rescue. That could be fish oil, coconut oil, olive oil, etc. Fat has a lot more calories by volume than other things, so a small amount ups the kcal pretty quickly.

[BarksaLot]

Good to know. Poor dog not feeling good at all. Had her to the vet this morning. She was coughing a bit yesterday, but vet gave her antibiotic shot plus Clavamox - she still has a skin rash so the vet was hoping it would kill both problems. Now tonight she is really coughing, apparent she has kennel cough, we did blood work, so will hear about that tomorrow. It's been so hot today, with AC on we realized where she was lying it was blowing right on her, so corrected that. We are calling her Lady and it seems like she is responding, so we're glad to have the old name behind her like the neglect she suffered from. I set up an egg crate for her to lay in, Bill had to coax her on it - it was obvious she'd never had a bed to lay on, she curled up on it for quite a while till she got hot and went back to wood floor. She has put on a tiny bit of weight since she she went in the shelter, has an appetite, even jumped up at the counter to check out what was up there. Just needs TLC. Chased kitty for a bit this afternoon, but wiped her out for a long time after. She and the cat seem to get along, she doesn't appear to be cat aggressive either, just fun to chase after him when he runs off. The cat periodically will run circles all over the house like a pony, so once Lady starts feeling better, I bet she joins him in a gallop.

[BarksaLot]

Finally heard from the vet last night. She does have low thyroid, which this vet told us Monday was commonly seen in older over weight dogs. I told her of reading of malnourished dogs having low thyroid. I think this vet we saw is new and not too experienced. We just saw her because of the voucher LA county gives for an exam, think we need to see our holistic vet. She coughed all night, coughs when she wakes up - sounds like me in the morning clearing my throat. Have already fed her a couple meals today, last meal really brought on a hack attack, sort of wonder if dry kibble went down wrong, irritated her throat. I gave her a benedryl in breakfast, sort of wonder if that will add to her wiped out exhaustion. Oh, and add to it, she's also noise sensitive. People are shooting off fireworks now and then, she hears one and heads straight for the house if she's out in the yard. Monday might be fun. I'm starting to feel sleep deprived like with a new baby.

[BarksaLot]

Oh great, called the vet. Wants us to come in for chest x ray to make sure she's not going into pneumonia, if she is she wants to hospitalize her and nebulize her. Sounds expensive. Poor dog. She's had beginner obedience but see great potential with her she will walk by our side in the back yard off leash. Of course don't trust her off leash in the open.

[SherriA]

That cough sounds scary. The chest xray sounds like a good idea. Hope it's not pneumonia!

[BarksaLot]

Ok we're back. X Ray was clear, no pneumonia, yeah, lungs clear. Vet wasn't sure if it was kennel cough or allergy. We're even wondering if she was given up because the allergy thing. She hacked practically all the way to the vet, made a nervous ride. Vet was packed, had to circle the block, then ended up double parked, ,I ran in to tell them we were there, then we grabbed a spot of someone checking out. They had us wait in the car with the air running, and sent a tech out when the coast was clear to take her in for x Ray, then stash her in a room away from other dogs. She did the reverse sneeze and hacking so they got to see what was going on. She thought it was a mild bronchitis, so we got another antibiotic Baytril in addition to her Clavamox, cough suppressant, vasodilator. She's had a meal, gotten her meds, still hacking so can't wait for the meds to kick in. Hopefully we'll sleep tonight and so will she, so glad we took her in.

[emmas_mom]

I'm glad you took her in too! I'm assuming they ruled out heartworm? Symptoms of stage two are coughing and low energy, if I recall.
Aside from the cough, dogs who are malnourished and have been in shelters often present with low energy - they just need time to decompress and literally get their strength back.
Most of the "backyard/outdoor only" dogs I've seen come through rescue seem to have a penchant for either lying under cars or on top of picnic tables in their foster or adoptive homes!

[BarksaLot]

We haven't discussed heart worm. If she was an outdoor dog that would be a concern and doubt the previous owners took any steps to prevent it. We go back on the 11 th so will have to address that at her re check. That would sort of make sense the owner wrote they no longer had the capacity to take care of her if she had a heart worm diagnosis, although I saw a dog on Castaics Facebook page up for adoption that said it was heart worm positive, so I don't know if the shelter tests for that or how they knew that on that particular dog. She hasn't repeated the laying under the car, hopefully she's learned laying in the house is nicer. Would heart worm have shown up on the blood test? Will have to ask the vet.

[emmas_mom]

Heartworm, except in the early stages, can be detected by a blood test, but I'm not sure if it is routinely tested for in a general blood panel, or if the vet has to specifically request it. The test is for some specific proteins (heartworm protein) and the proteins don't show up until after the heartworm has been in the dog for over 6 or 7 months. I'd certainly talk to the vet about it, given the match on symptoms.

[BarksaLot]

Oh gah, heading back to the vet to test for heart worm. Mentioned the possibility of HW to vet, now she's concerned, especially since there was another dog at the shelter positive for HW, worried if they were kenneled nearby. So keep fingers $ paws crossed. She is such a sweetie. Gets along with the cat so well. We really stressed about HW last night, just made us sick. Then Bill read about animals in the wild living with it, but still....

[BarksaLot]

Test was negative! yeah. She is good riding in the car, but going to the vet 3 times this week, she didn't want to get in the car, had to be lifted in. So we didn't head straight there, made a short stop at the library for me to dash in and pick up a book I'd ordered. She's gained 1.5 lbs over 3 days (got her weight yesterday) after the vet drove to the beach to give her an outing, slept all the way. Either it's her low energy or a low prey drive - took her up to a large flock of gulls hanging out, which then flew off - she showed no interest in chasing - then we saw a large group of chipmunks, same thing, could care less. Just wanted to sniff bushes. But she is still sick with the kennel cough, seemed a little bored the other day with laying in the house, so probably did her goof to get out yesterday.

[SherriA]

Glad the HW test was negative!

She's a lucky girl to be getting such good care, probably for the first time in her life.

[BarksaLot]

She seems happy. Enjoying regular meals and has learned where to hang out for supper. We have yet to hear her bark. Funny thing is her paper said she was vocal. She would whine a bit when she was getting to know the cat. We wonder if she might have barked at her former owners asking for something to eat. We keep waiting for her to talk to us.