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Malnourished puppy

35K views 182 replies 53 participants last post by  Gilly1331 
#1 ·
We just bought a 3 month old GSD 4 days ago and she only weighed 3.6 pounds when I took her to the vet. We have been feeding her puppy food for large breeds to try to get her at a healthier weight. I took her 3 days later to vet and she weighed 3.8 pounds. Her right leg is a little bent, had X-rays and nothing wrong there, vet says she has no muscle to hold her weight so that's why that is happening. We are just concerned that she is so tiny for her age. Has anyone had a problem like this or any suggestions?
 
#66 ·
If my memory is correct, stud dogs only have to have a DNA profile on record with AKC if they have been used more than three times. If this puppy were from a first, second or third litter, I am pretty certain that there does not HAVE to be a DNA profile on record. After that, I think that there has to be one on file in order to register the litter.
 
#72 ·
That puppy's forehead markings are identical to a GSD though.

I'm thinking extreme runt.
It happened that we had a puppy, a Papillon mix, the mama gave birth to 3 puppies (this was in rescue some 8yrs. ago)
Two were normal sized - the father was a JRT. The puppies grew up to about 12-15lb., or so.
But one of the puppies barely weighed a pound at birth. His mother pushed him away but we managed to keep him going by bottle feeding. But only 4 weeks though.
It turned out he had hydrocephalus and lived just 4 weeks before we had to put him to sleep.
He had other health issues; a cleft palate as well (which is why mama rejected him). He was just over 1lb. when he passed, he never gained much at all.

The other situation I'm thinking of, the puppy was a GSD but was minute compared to the siblings. It did not grow along the lines of the other pups, either, and stayed very small, I'm not sure how long she lived, as I mentioned, I'd have to look it all up and right now that message board is down :(
 
#73 ·
I'm curious if there were any other litter mates with her at the pet store. If so, what did they look like?
 
#80 ·
My dog was 7.2 pounds at 13 weeks. Way undersized. She was ill though and malnourished. She is still very small but very much a pure bred and healthy now. She is 5 months and weighs 25 pounds.


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Yes, but that is still twice the size of OPs puppy, and your dog actually looks like a german shepherd and came from what was supposed to be a reputable breeder, as opposed to a petstore where who knows what she was sold breed wise since they come from mass breeding facilities.
 
#77 ·
I am going to the vet tomorrow and going to ask if she thinks that is her age, also got stool back and she has Giardia and who know how long she has had it. I just called the pet shop and they insist that she came in the same litter as 5 other siblings that were twice her age so I guess I will ask the vet all these questions and see what she has to say. Thanks everyone for the input and questions I should ask my vet. We are new at owning a puppy,but have 2 cats, and it is even harder with a special needs puppy, but she is getting plenty of love!


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#79 ·
As far as AKC papers go, AKC will register a litter if all the paperwork is correct. They don't inspect the litters, so as long as mom and dad are registered, of the same breed and everything is signed, the "breeder" gets the litter registration.
Now, I am not saying you don't have the correct paperwork. You got the paperwork for a GSD, like the littermates. However, its very possible the dog is not purebred, but the breeders went ahead and registered all the pups, thinking this one was just small or possibly knew it was not purebred.
We had a nice sweet older puppy come into the vet clinic. It immediately looked to me like a Sheltie Doxy cross. Short legs, long back, longer coat, but a beautiful sheltie head/ears. In talking to the people, they stated that they were sold this puppy at 8 weeks as a registered Doxy, had the AKC papers, etc. As it grew, they realized it was no way purebred. They talked to the breeder and she stated" this puppy came from a registered dam and a registered sire, both Doxys. She even sent photos of the mom and dad tied during the breeding,, the litter from birth, growing up, etc. Their puppy has some unique markings that were there from birth. Yep, this was a registered Doxy. Of course, you could see in the photos a nice sable sheltie in the background. .
So, the bought an 8 week old registered Doxy puppy that was in fact half Sheltie, the sheltie was an intact male that ran with the rest of the dogs. She was a puppy mill of sorts.So, they did get back their money and love their little dog.
Its very possible and I suspect,that this breeder let the GSD female get bred, or maybe didn't even realize it got bred by something else and this little puppy was from the registered female, born at the same time as the true GSD littermates and the breeder just registered the whole litter, thinking (or knowing it wasn't)it was purebred because it was black/tan like the rest of the litter, just smaller.
Not sure if you vet will be able to do much except helping you decide what this puppy is, if it isn't purebred. You will have to contact the pet shop and breeder with your doubts and push to find out if this puppy is indeed purebred and either small or has some genetic issues, or is a mix and you need to get your money back. At this point, the AKC papers show it is purebred, but unless you are able to DNA the whole litter and both parents to see if your pup is sharing the same DNA, not much you can do.
A DNA test can give mix results from just sending in your pups DNA, but the whole litter or at least testing a littermate or two and both parents will give you the true story.
 
#81 ·
keep all your vet documentation, I 'believe" in some states pet stores are responsible for paying vet bills for so many hours/days after purchase.

If the puppy has giardia, well that could be something THEY will have to pay treatment for..

Did you contact your local AC yet??
 
#83 ·
I did contact them and they said they do random inspections there and the only problem they had with them was they were changing puppies food right when they came in and was giving puppies diarrhea but the vet said that was normal. So I to.d them about my puppy and he said that is a civil matter and to file a complaint with BBB, which I did. So they weren't very helpful I told them I was concerned about the welfare of the other animals that were in there, and he said they inspect so that was I could do was tell them. She went to the vet today and has gained 1 pound in 4 days so that is good she is putting on weight and she has to see a surgeon about her leg on Monday and see if there is something wrong with her growth plates or put a stint on her cuz she can't really walk on the one. I asked my vet about what she thought about her not being GSD she said anything was possible but it was hard to say right now and she said that she more than likely is not dwarf but she may have a thyroid issue that is causing her growth to be delayed and she said she might not be 3 months but she said she is definitely more alert and active than a 4-5 week so not sure about that yet.


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#87 ·
The growth plate is difficult to detect a fracture in; when my son broke his at 13yrs. or so, the doctor couldn't actually see a fracture; he said that it's rather like a dinner plate that's all in pieces, anyway, so if there was indeed a fracture, and he didn't cast it, it could cause all that damage potentially, so my son was in a cast for 8 weeks that summer.

If that puppy was held and dropped, it may have limped a bit for a day or two and then seemed okay. If that's what's going on, it could have happened any number of ways.

I'm sorry you're dealing with all of this. It's hard enough being a new puppy parent without all this going on, too :(
 
#88 ·
Well she went in for surgery today. The vet said that one of her growth plates closed early causing one bone to continue to grow while the other one is not. He said that it was due to some traumatic injury probably at the pet shop because we didn't do it and he said it looks like it has been going on longer than we have had her. So hopefully she gets better soon and can lead a some what normal life!


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#89 ·
poor puppy:( Yeppie, I'd be taking that petstore to small claims court to atleast cover your vet bills.

She is very lucky to have you,,hope she comes thru surgery ok.
 
#91 ·
Ditto...call a/c with the vet report and they can view it themselves.
I figured this was what was going on...of course someone @ the pet store, either one of the people who work there, or a customer, injured that puppy.
 
#92 ·
She is having the X-rays right before she has the surgery so the vet can see exactly what he needs to do to fix the problem(s), it might be both legs now, which is very expensive. I looked into small claims court here and emailed an animal attorney to see what we would need to do or if she would be able to help. But I will have to wait until she is done with her surgery and the vet calls and lets me know exactly what he found. This surgery is 2400-4500 depending on if it is one leg or two. So we will definitely be pursuing some kind of legal action because this is not our fault, and the pet shop was negligent with her and then there is also the fact that a couple of the vets I have taken her to is pretty sure she is not purebred, and we paid for a purebred, so we will pursue that as well. She is a wonderful happy puppy and don't want to get rid of her and I am willing to do what it takes to fix her because I am not sure many people would. We just feel like we were frauded by them and will let them know.


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#93 ·
We just feel like we were frauded by them and will let them know.
I agree...but this is why it's so critical to not buy from pet stores. You can now educate others on how horrible it is.
Every time they take money out of people's pockets, they have more incentive to stay in business.
 
#96 ·
I feel so bad for you and her. She is blessed to have you. Poor puppy. I'm so glad that you will love her and take care of her. But definitely take action against the pet shop. She didn't deserve this and neither did you. I'm sorry that you are going through this.


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#98 ·
gatorbytes, don't you watch Judge Judy? :)))

I've seen lots of cases where sellers were made to pay for vet bills. No they usually don't get the purchase price of the animal back if they keep it, however, I would think in THIS case, IF the puppy is truly not a purebred, I'm sure they would get back "something" of the purchase price..

It isn't like they've had this puppy for a couple months, she's had issues the minute she came out of the petstore....
 
#99 ·
My husband even said if we could keep her, and then get an actual purebred GSD for free, since that is what we thought we were getting he would be fine with that, but he is in Japan for training for the Army, so I haven't been able to speak to him at all, so he doesn't even know about her surgery yet and the price, so he might feel different now!


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#100 ·
I wouldn't trust the petstore to 'give me' a purebred gsd at this point:(
 
#105 ·
I see your point, but I still think the OP has a really good case ..

My example would be, you go to the store and pay 500 bucks for a Vera Wang jacket, you get it home and find out it's not really Vera Wang..but I WANT that jacket:) Take em to court and may end up paying what the 'knock off' is worth vs the Vera Wang:)

I think it will be EASIER for them to go after a petstore and 'win' vs a breeder..I think the OP said the store owner had another store that was shut down? had problems? So it sounds like they aren't to ethical to begin with..

I dunno, you can't charge 1500 bucks, (just throwing out a number there), for a GSD and get it home and find out it's not a gsd..but who knows, Maybe she IS a gsd:))
 
#107 ·
I see your point, but I still think the OP has a really good case ..

My example would be, you go to the store and pay 500 bucks for a Vera Wang jacket, you get it home and find out it's not really Vera Wang..but I WANT that jacket:) Take em to court and may end up paying what the 'knock off' is worth vs the Vera Wang:)

I think it will be EASIER for them to go after a petstore and 'win' vs a breeder..I think the OP said the store owner had another store that was shut down? had problems? So it sounds like they aren't to ethical to begin with..

I dunno, you can't charge 1500 bucks, (just throwing out a number there), for a GSD and get it home and find out it's not a gsd..but who knows, Maybe she IS a gsd:))
Perhaps name the breeder in lawsuit too, then someone is going to pony up when both are at threat of being shut down, discovered, charged (hopefully):)...If the pet store has papers and sold the dog legally via receipt, then the breeder may be held accountable for misrepresentation.

I think that if anything that could come out of this, AT LEAST, have a puppy mill shut down. This cannot be walked away from, but still don't think they have much chance of recovery of expences.
 
#108 ·
Oh a judge can see that's not a GSD puppy.
Speaking of Judge Judy, a guy sued a "breeder" from Yakima, WA for selling him a "teacup" Chihuahua that was over 10lb.
JJ ruled in the guy's favor because it was clearly not a "teacup" dog, although we rescue these Chihuahuas all the time and they are likely purebred dogs, they just...aren't well-bred dogs of course!!

I think in this case, the pup's size would tell all.

Plus they'll get heartrending pics of the puppy in a cast, I'm sure...
 
#111 ·
still think it's a good case, especially with your vet saying it could take weeks to show up,,hope her surgery went well
 
#112 ·
Well she is home from surgery and doing well. She doesn't even need to wear the e collar because she doesn't even mess with her stitches which is very good. The vet said her after X-rays of her elbow look great compared to what they looked like prior. You wouldn't even be able to tell she had surgery since she is her normal self! I take her back next Thursday to get X-rays done again and get stitches removed. I just hope she has to only have the one surgery and not multiple.


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