puppy found on road side

Hello. I am new to the boards and looking for some advice. My name is Jess and I live in NC.

While looking at cars for my boyfriend today, we were approached by the salesman. He asked if we wanted a puppy. He had a blue pitbull pup that he was giving away. He claimed to have found it on the road on his way to work.

The pup was curled up in a ball on a cold cement floor. His skin was thick and bumpy. He was missing hair and had a HUGE belly. Tail wagging, he tried climbing in my lap and giving me kisses.

I swear, even when I'm not looking for them, animals in need find me.

The man told us the pup was 6 weeks old. How would he know, you ask? There were two pits in the back of the store, the female had nipples down to her knees. Instead of choking him and going in the back to find the other pups, I brought the small male home in a box.

So now what? He's too young for chemical mange treatments. I plan on taking a skin scrapping on monday to find out what type of mange it is.I gave him a bath and some dewormer. He's eating like a pig and went potty. there are a few areas that have a bit of infection going on. I put some antibiotic on them. He is not itching at all, but he looks terrible.

I know there are holistic alternatives to chemical treatments....has anyone tried them?

You need to take that puppy to a vet to have him checked out asap and have him diagnosed.

I'm going to assume that the puppy is wormy as well. need something to help him out.

Poor baby !!! Yes, please vet .

Poor guy, good thing you've got him now. However, and as much of a fan as I am of natural remedies, this guy needs to get to a vet ASAP...there's more going on than what you can deal with at home. He sounds very wormy, the hairloss could be from mange or just from extremly poor diet...though the skin condition is worrisome.

Good luck with him and let us know!

I have dewormed him. He was receintly dipped when I got him because he reaked of medication. He has been eating (soft holistic puppy food mixed with milk suppliment). I have been giving him vitimins also. He is not itching at all. There is no discharge from his nose, breathing sounds fine, eyes are clear and his gums are pink.
I will be doing scraping his skin tomorrow to see what I can find.
I have been applying a topical antibiotic to the few areas that had infected hair folicles.

He has plenty of energy and is playful. Right now he is confined to my study and the bathroom.

If he seems to be in any pain or shows signs of serious illness or injury, I will take him to the vet. Right now, I would not allow them to give him any toxic chemicals, nor do I think any vet would. He is too young.

Right now, my plan is to continue to stuff him full of healthy foods, treat any infections, bath him and rub him down with tea tree oil. I will wait two weeks from the time I got him to decide what chemicals should be introduced to his system.

I'm just don't like the idea of giving him is first shots, deworming him, and dipping him all at once. I think it's just too much.
I'm holding out on shots right now because 1) his immune system is already fighting a war and 2) I have no idea if or when his owner gave them to him.

I think this is the best plan, for the moment. Does anyone see any other bases I need to cover?

Before you put me on blast for not running to the vet...There is not much the vet could do that I can't at this point. If there are signs of any illness, other than his skin issues, I will take him the the clinic ASAP. I am comfortable and familar with treating ill animals and have plenty of supplies. Mostly I have worked on reptiles and small mammals and have not had to deal with mange yet.

how are YOU taking a skin scraping? this is something a vet should be doing, even as a rehabber i woudlnt rely on a home scraping for iding skin parisites...
secondly, teatree oil in large doses (as in essential oil) can cause more problems than its worth, its great in SMALL doses, in a high carrier (ie a shampoo) or extreemly diluted in a carrier oil, but any more than a few drops every few days can be toxic.

please take the time to get him to the vets, even if hes not showing sighns of illness right now...
just take him in, let the vet check him over do a fecal test to make sure your covering all the intestinal parisites and let them do the skin scraping to check for mange and pssible other problems.

at 6 weeks old he should be on his way to solid hard food, my chi pups are happily on dry high quality kibble by 7 weeks old.

theres no need as long as he wont be exposed to other dogs or taken out anywhere he could be exposed to get his shots NOW...
my chi pups dont even get their first round of shits untill 8 weeks old...

right now concentrate on getting him parasite free internally and externally and give him his first round of shots at 8-10 weeks of age, after the treatments...
if your vet ownt agree to this find another vet, there are many "holistic" vets that will be more than happy to help you treat this boy as chemical free as possible while still properly treating his conditions.

I am taking a skin scraping and doing his fecal because I have a degree in biological sciences and have worked in the medical field for the past 7 years. I am more comfortable behind the lense of my microscope than I am behind the wheel of my car.

I am using tea tree oil in a olive oil base...my Aunt's vet swears by it (I actually use it, too. It works great on your legs if you are like me and have sensitive skin that is prone to infected ingrown hairs after shaving) . I am only using it on the areas that seem dry.

My vet is comfortable with my ability to find and identify any bugs on or in an animal under my care. We have worked close together on the recovery of many rescues in the past. The only thing that he would like for me to do is put the pup on an antibiotic. I agree, it is a good idea.

I think the man that gave me the pup lied about the age. The pup has some teeth, but not many. I doubt he could handle hard food with his incisors.

My guess is the the guy pulled the pup from his mother when he showed signs of illness and dipped it. Then he realized he didn't have the time or patience to deal with a weak dog that wouldn't be good for fighting or as bait and dumped the poor thing. It sounds terrible, but dog fighting is a real problem around here. If you find someone that owns mutiple bullies, keeps them mean, backyard breeds, and denies ownership of any animal on his property in need of medical attention, you're probably dealing with a dog fighter.

I will keep you updated on his progress if you would like. I'm sure he'll respond nicely to antibiotics.

Honestly, I wanted support, ideas, and maybe to find someone who had been in a similar situation, not to be talked to like an irrasponsible child.

This site will help you determine the pups approx. age by tooth development...

http://www.aniwa.com/renvoie.asp?type=1&id=100338&cid=76866&com=1&animal=1&lang=2&session=18894195


You seem to have an excellent handle on things. My only thought would be to make sure the pup does not come into contact with anything that you haven't disinfected until it's had at least one set of shots and keep it limited to areas you KNOW are clear of any possible contaminants from other animals until after the full series of vaccinations are complete.

Please keep us updated, we always love hearing about the progress made. Pictures will be required at some point as well LOL.

Poor angel. Its a good thing these animals keep finding you Sounds like your taking excellent care of him Will you be keeping him? He sounds like a real sweetie! Good luck with your pup! and keep us updated!

That's such a sad description. Probably a belly full of round worms too. Yuppers vet trip and expense. Good for you for caring when nobody else was.
Nutrical gel was very helpful when i nursed my sick ones.

troop, i didnt know you were in the medical feind, unfortunatly ive seen many people whos dogs have severe skin issues they have been home treating because "it looks like mange" or "its just allergies" and causing more issues than its worth...
or people trying to treat a belly ful of worms with home remidies...

Sounds like you have a great hand on the whole thing, i do agree antibiotics would eb a big help.
Try using a mint essential oil, teatree and mint work very well as a combination antibacterial and soothing agent,

otherwise keep up what your doing, deworm, and treat for the mange first then focus on the shots later...

good luck, oh and pictures

Just wanted to give you all an update. Things are going well. There were no signs of any mange in his scrapings. For all I know the poor pup had a reaction to something he ate and the breeder, thinking it was mange, over treated him and only made the condition worse. I'm not planning on doing anything to treat his 'mange' skin condition other than keep him on a good diet and the antibiotics.

Just in the past week he has gotten bigger. I'm going to have adjust his medication !

His skin is looking so much better. It's smooth and soft. I'm just waiting for a few dry scabs to come off before I take pictures.

Thank you for the site, DryCreek. It seems he is about 5 weeks or so.

The plan for his treatment is now as follows...

Deworming on the 24th (depending on the fecal)
1st shots December 8th
2nd set December 29
3rd set January 19th
rabies vaccine and altered the first or second week of February

The original plan was to fix him up and adopt him out. I'll have to keep you updated about that, though. I caught my boyfriend cuddling with the pup and calling himself 'daddy'.

Glad I could help some

Scabs coming off eh? It's possible the pup had a skin infection then, ie juvenile dermatitis, if the scraping came up negative. The antibiotics would help clear that up.

Uh oh, LOL.

I'm glad to hear all is going well. Can't wait for those pics tho

I can not believe how big this puppy is getting. He's gained two pounds already! He's about 6 pounds at this point.
The man that 'found' him had a female pit in the back yard that had nipples to her knees...I think this is his mother...any ideas on what the father is?

These are from when he first came home...about day three.
In both of these pictures you can see that his left knee was coming over the toes when I first got him. I wrapped it up for a day and it was fine. I guess he just had a growth spurt and his joints needed a little support. I saw this rain coat at the dollar store and thought it'd make for some cute pictures.



I ordered an xs instead of an xl hoodie a few months ago... I'm glad I got some use out of it. Although, I'm sure the furry belly (my boyfriend's) would have been enough to keep him warm.

OMG, what a cutie LOL.

I just want to grab him and hug him and squeeze him and love him all up

And those ears, beautiful!

Unfortunately, without seeing the sire there's really no way to tell for sure though he certainly looks like an APBT pup. It is possible he is purebred. It's one of those things, you'll never know for sure considering where he came from.

Looks like your boyfriend has a new buddy LOL.

Cute puppy, thank you for helping him

Very cute puppy, and much thanks for taking him in.

Please do keep us updated, and I am sure no one ment to come on strongly at first. It's just that we are a group of dog lovers who care VERY strongly for any breed, be it pure bred or mutt. And because you were new, they wanted to make sure to tell you everything that should be done, just in case you didn't already know.



Very cute pup, and I do hope you keep him, I'd love to watch that cutie grow up.

Looks like a American Pure Bred Snuggler to me, lol!

Great work with him . . . I hope you don't separate those two

Well, Little pup found a new home. I found a vet tech to take him in. Her dog is about on his last leg and she had been looking for a fixer upper to take in.

I was getting attached. I had started calling him Pip and really didn't want to give him up. My only fears were that I have a male american bulldog that likes to think he is the boss. I was worried about having two male bullies in the house.

I'm lucky though, the girl lives right down the street from me and I get to see him whenever I want. I miss the feel of his head on my cheek while he sleeps. I miss his demanding yaps for food, to be picked up, to play...basically I miss Lil' Pip!

The only pictures she had seen of him were from when I first brought him home, so it was a suprise for her to see how great he looked when she came to pick him up.

Of course, the house is never empty for long. My boyfriend brought home a flea market buy...a cane corso/pit/something mix with an abnormal gait. I'll leave that to another post, though.

I'm glad the pup has a good home. Sounds like your boyfriend wants to help dogs he find at fleamarkets. I hope this pup is healthy.