Malnourished

I posted in another area under good press or something about just adopting a very smart senior pit bull. He has been in dog shows, won plenty, and even has a medal of valor...so how his old owner could allow him to wither away is beyond me. he left his dog with his daughter who totally ignored him. I could count all of his ribs when i went to pick him up. Looking at old photos of him in shows or just around the house, he has changed dramatically.

He has only been in my home for a day and a half but I want to know what kinds of food I can give him that would make him gain his weight and muscle mass back.

He is still plenty strong, but the sight of him makes onlookers think I am the one abusing him when taking him for walks.

Please help.

 

there was another thread not long ago about a starved dog ..
it had alot of good information
could you post a pic of the dog

 

Thank you for taking charge of this dog. It saddens me when I see dogs that have given their all being mistreated. :mad: Yes, they are animals but so are we. My boy will live its life to the fullest regardless of his accomplishments or lack there of. I gave my word when he was given to me so it is set in stone. Again, thank you very much for choosing to take charge where there was little.

In regards to feed, well, I will not go into learning how to read feeds, etc, etc, etc. Here are some "inexpensive" suggestions: "Chicken Soup for the petlover" (about $30 per 35lbs...I believe), Canidae (not my cup of tea but will do @ $35), Nutro (Not in the top five but widely available). I have limited experience trying other feeds but these are some feeds that will help.

 

Get some VAL syrup and give the dog a couple tablespoons each day over food. It'll jump start the system. Also have had great success with calf starter, and crack an egg over the food once a day. I have also used flax seed oil.

The idea is to get rid of free radicals which are there from being malnourashed(sp), and to add protein for a building block to help gain muscle. I would also worm the dog pretty good, give it booster shots(7in1), and if you can afford it, go and get some chicken leg quarters. Liver is also good. It is deer season here and I am going to the meat packers and gona get all the liver from the deer that I can. Great for helping the blood.

 

redcell, two cups of goatmilk and raw meat. I use what ever is left from butchering or get the soon discard at the supermarket. to put on a dog. Got one last weekend hit her with this and she put on 10 pounds in 5 days. I could see her neck bones she was so pitiful. Ghost had one too and got him back into where he will live. Some times they get so poor that their organs start to shut down or do shut down then it is a gamble for their life. Worm him, Heart worm check, and put the fat to him along with protein to build muscle mass back. The goat milk will assist with kidney and renal failure. Good Luck and God's speed in recovering this dog.

 

#1 Make sure the dog doesn't have a medical condition!

#2 Take into account that the dog might be a fossil ( you didn't specify how old, but age can be a factor here )

#3 Read up on all the advise on this forum. Choose a high protein, healthy diet, with NO wheat or corn and make sure you feed the proper ammount.

#4 Post some pics, we like that stuff!

 

Thanks for all the advice guys.

First of all, he is almost eleven years old. He wasnt eating at first, then he would only eat out of our hand, then he would only eat table food. Then he threw up all the table food and got a case of diarrhea. (we learned our lesson there). I dont think his first owner (the one who actually took care of him) gave him table scraps.

He is healthy (as a dog can be when you can count all his ribs). He doesnt act as if anything is bothering him. He is very loving. He has tested us twice, but neither time did we let him imtimidate us, and he is doing great since then. I have a record of all his shots, so I know he is up to date on everything.

The main thing here is that I dont think he has eaten anything in at LEAST a month.

The pictures I have of him, he looks healthy only because I didnt want to take a picture of his 'bad side'. I mean, if you looked at pictures from before this girl got a hold of him, he is twice the size of these...As you can tell in his pictures, we need to do a little maintenance on him, lol. IE those NAILS!! The poor things got so long that they are starting to crack



I dont know if I am doing this right, but the only thing that I have of him where it shows how skinny he is, is a video clip on my cell phone. So bear with me while I TRY to post it up here...I dont know what wrongs with the video. The sounds in the background arent the sounds that go with this video. They are the ones that go with the video of us learning all the tricks that he can do, lol.

 

As far as being malnourished he has good muscle on his hind. My dog ribs show when he eats too. I don't think he is all that skinny.

 

After I watched the video, I saw how it looked. I can wrap my hands around his waist although it doesnt look like it here. He has been eating pretty good these past two days and drinking plenty so I hope before too long he will be a lot meatier. I will scan the pictures of him before in the dog shows and if it werent for the same white spots, he wouldnt even look like the same dog.