Foster dog Help-- She won't eat

[Tazwell]

About 2 weeks ago, Somebody called Petsmart, where I work, and couldn't figure out what to do with this dog they found. Long story short, I ended up with this young (1 year, give or take...) female Husky. My friend took her home for me.

She's extremely, extremely thin, and had bad, watery diarrhea. We took her to the vet the next day, and they confirmed that she had tapeworms. They gave us deworming pills, we gave them to her. And some sort of pill with Ivermectin in it. When they were done, We took her back to the vet. She still had diarrhea, and she still had worms.

The vet said it was too early to deworm her again, so he gave us some antibiotics... We're working on that right now.

She seems to be feeling okay, she doesn't show any signs of sickness, and the diarrhea isn't that bad anymore. She's not lethargic or anything. The problem is that she won't eat.

She wouldn't eat anything when we got her, but she did eat a few bowls of dog food. Now we're giving her chicken and white rice, with a little cottage cheese. She's eating that okay.

Lastly, she did not have fleas when we got her, or not that we noticed. The day after we got her, the vet put frontline on her. I personally think it was too small of a dose. Now, I see flea dirt on her, and the people who have her claim that they saw fleas on them. So I believe she's got fleas.

What I'm thinking, is to give her capstar in a few days, and then the next day, put another dose of frontline on her. Does this sound good?

My problem is that this vet sucks. They really do. They don't help me at all... So I'll come here for advice. Any advice on care, diet, flea prevention, anything like that will help :)

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f317/Tazwell/Fosters/DSC00051.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f317/Tazwell/Fosters/DSC00079.jpg

[noludoru]

I'm confused as to what the problem is... you say she wont eat but she's eating dog foor and chicken and white rice? I'm sorry.. just a bit confused. No good advice for you on the capstar, I'm afraid. She's lovely.

[Tazwell]

Sorry, I thought about that after I posted... It's really the whole myriad of things that I have questions about.

But all she will eat is chicken and rice. She won't eat fish, she won't eat dog food, she won't eat hamburger. She'll eat 'Chewlotta' bones, and other chicken products only. This isn't healthy for her, I don't think. That also shows that she has some sort of underlying health issue that's ruining her appetite. That's the problem I'm trying to deal with... I apologize.

[showpug]

Has anyone checked for signs of a recent heat or possible spay scar?

Since no one knows the history on this girl, I would be careful what you are giving her etc. One of the first signs of pregnancy can be lack of appetite. Hopefully that is far from the case, but it is something to think about with a stray.

If you are concerned about worms, you can always buy Safeguard dewormer. It is the same as Panacur/Fenbendazole which is prescribed by vets. My vet is a big fan of this wormer because of how safe it is, even during pregnancy. It is a broad spectrum dewormer and is fine to give even if she was recently wormed with something else.

As far as fleas go...as long as she has fleas, she will continue to have tapeworms. They go hand in hand. Flea eggs cause tapes so when the dog grooms itself and licks a flea egg they get tapes. Do you have access to Advantage?

[SummerRiot]

lol I was about to add stuff but it looks like Showpug beat me to it! :)

Tapeworm comes from fleas so shes right, as long as she has fleas there will be tape worm.
You may even want to get a second opinoin from another vet in your area.

[Tazwell]

Yes, the vet thing really bothers me... But She's going to the vet through the rescue, and they use that one vet... Darn, I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for the info, though. She didn't have fleas after the first deworming, and the vet said it was too soon to deworm her again, so he gave her some antibiotics. Why, I don't know... But I don't want to load her up with stuff.

But you guys got me thinking, anyway, so I think maybe we'll take her to a different vet. They don't even tell me why they do things, it really bothers me.

[Tazwell]

Oh. I forgot to answer the questions!

No, I don't believe that she is spayed, the vet didn't bother checking, either.

I'll look into the Safeguard dewormer. Can you get it from places other than the vet?

[Sweet72947]

You can get some Dewormer from Petsmart, or if you have a feed store near you, they probably sell Dewormer that kills tapeworms. Make sure the bottle says "kills tapeworms" because most OTC dewormers just kill roundworms, whipworms and hookworms.

[noludoru]

I didn't mean to be rude, Tazwell... your post just confused me a bit, lol! That cleared it up.... I don't have any decent advice for you except maybe putting her on a homecooked or raw diet (and you should ask other people more experienced than me about that first). Good luck with her.

[Saintgirl]

Some dogs are simply picky eaters. You say that she will chicken and rice, chewlottas, etc, so my best advise to you is to STOP feeding treats!! I know that you are worried about her not eating, but giving her a chewlotta just to get her to eat is only going to prevent her from eating her next meal because she has filled up on treats, which taste better than her dinner! I have a husky cross, and she is a terribly picky eater. At one point we brought her to our vet because she had seemed to go off of her food. She was at a great weight, although many people thought she was too skinny, passed all blood tests etc, with flying colors! So we cut out all treats. Her food was put down for 15 minutes in the morning and then taken up until dinner time when she could have it for 15 more minutes. If she did not eat, she went without. In a matter of a couple days she began to eat her meals when she realized she wouldn't be snacking on tasty treats!
Other Husky people I have talked to have said that they have noticed spurts of their dogs going off of their food aswell for short times.

BTW, she is GORGEOUS!!!

[Sweet72947]

Other Husky people I have talked to have said that they have noticed spurts of their dogs going off of their food aswell for short times.


My mom's friend's husky went off her food, and they discovered that it was because she was killing and eating things in the yard.

[adojrts]

Have you tried offering her a raw diet? It is possible that that she isn't familiar with commerical dog food, especially if she had been a former sled dog.
Just a thought, I know its unlikely but who knows.............

Good luck with her

Lynn

[Tazwell]

You weren't being rude, noludoru! :)

Anyway, she's not getting any treats, Just her chicken/rice/dog food/cottage cheese meal. She gets fed twice a day, if she'll even eat that... She won't even eat treats. I gave her a chew-lotta bone the first time she went in her crate, and she actually liked it. That was the only one she ever got.

You can't really see it in the pictures, but she's got no fat what-so-ever. I can easily fit my hands around her waist, as if I were choking somebody. Her hip bones stick out horribly, she's only 30 lbs. We're just so worried about her gaining weight right now.

I talked to the vet today, and they advised me not to give her any dewormer, or anything yet. They told me to give her capstar now, wait another week, give her capstar again, and then frontline her again. They told me that the antibiotics were incase she had an internal infection, causing the diarrhea.


Thanks for all the help, all of you! Any more suggestions or help is greatly appreciated!