4 week old malte-poo

HELP!!!! SOMEONE SOLD US A FEMALE MALTE-POO CLAIMING SHE WAS 8 WEEKS OLD BUT YESTERDAY I TOOK HER TO THE VET BECAUSE SHE WAS HAVING REALLY BAD DIARREAH WITH SOME BLOOD IN IT SO I WAS SCARED OF PARVO...AT THE VET I LEARNED MY PUPPY LUCY IS NO MORE THAN 4 WEEKS OLD!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE SOMEONE COULD DO THIS!!!! THE SUPPPOSED BREEDER HAS CONVINIENTLY DISAPPEARED AND WON'T CALL US BACK. HER PARVO TEST CAME BACK NEGATIVE BUT THE VET HEARD A HEART MURMUR. i AM REALLY SCARED! IS THIS A COMMON THING WITH A PUPPY THIS YOUNG? i AM FEEDING HER A BLAND DIET THE VET RECOMMENDED OF RICE AND COTTAGE CHEESE AND DIARREAH IS GETTING BETTER. NOW IT IS LIKE A CHUNKY MUSTARD. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO KEEP HER HEALTHY???

 

Im not sure what to do with such a young puppy, other than feeding the way you are doing, keeping warm and out of harms way. If you do this for a couple of weeks the pup Im sure will be fine, just keep her really safe, she probably will be very attached to you. How small is she, is she really tiny or on the larger size. I have a maltipoo, she is on the big side at 8 weeks she already was 5 lbs, she is nearly 6 months now and 9 lbs.

 

I hope Lucy starts to feel better.

I have no advice on how to keep her healthy but you may want to seek legal action against the breeder. Arizona has a puppy lemon law stating that puppies cannot be sold under 8 weeks of age and by selling you a 4 week old puppy the breeder has violated this law. The breeder may be responsible to pay something towards the vet bills you have now or may have to incur in the future.

 

at 4 weeks she is 1lb. she is very tiny! How do I seek legal action?

 

I dont know about the legal action, maybe you could call the local animal control to 'point you in the right direction'.

As far as taking care of her, keep up with your vet, some people find it helps to keep a log of daily activities, eating drinking bathroom etc so if there is a problem and the vet has any questions you can give him/her the log. (I found this helpful when I was working at hospitals).

Continue feeding as the vet has instructed and once the stool is back to normal you will want to switch to regular food, Id use a good canned puppy food, the dry will probably be too hard for the pup right now unless you soak it warm water first. When you do switch, do it gradually, add a little canned to the rice and cottage cheese, a sudden change in diet can cause diarrhea and vomiting.

She should be eating at least every 2 hours. It would be a good idea to get some Karo Syrup, the dark one not the light, most stores sell it and it should be with the baking stuff. If the pup doesnt eat for a while there is a risk of 'low blood sugar' (hypoglycemia) , give a little Karo Syrup, (or Nutrical from the pet store/vets office) only needs to go on the gums or under the tongue as itll absorb and bring the blood sugar levels up, it wont do any harm if the blood sugar is normal. Signs to watch for with this is droopiness/lethargy, cold, pale gum colour, loss of appetite and its fatal if not taken care of. It can happen fast as well. Not trying to scare you and most puppies dont ever have a problem with it but its better to be prepared just in case. Heres some good info on it.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_to ... cemia.html

Also make sure the puppy is kept warm, a small crate would be ideal, a soft blanket and a cuddly toy as long as its not something the puppy can rip up and swallow. The crate, with it being closed in will keep it warmer than just a regular dog bed. Make sure its not too hot though, Ive known people to put in electric heating pads, puppies can chew through the wires though and they can overheat if there is no space to get off the pad, same with hot water bottles, if you use one make sure the puppy has an area off the hot water bottle and there is good ventilation.

And lastly just keep up with your vet over the next few weeks as youll need to start a vaccination series. Unfortunately with the puppy being so young it hasnt had chance to socialize adequately with other dogs and this 'could' be a problems further on (not always), its a tough situation because by taking the pup around other dogs to socialize her yourself runs the risk of contracting something like parvo. I would look into some puppy training classes now and start when her vaccines are finished (at about 4 months old).

Good luck.

 

THANK YOU DELAUK. THAT WAS HELPFUL. SHE HAS BEEN PLAYING WITH MY 1 1/2 YEAR OLD CHIHUAHUA AND THE VET SAID THIS WAS FINE. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?

 

Thats great, didnt occur to me to ask if you had another dog , whether its male or female, with the interaction your pup will learn some valuable canine social skills from your chihauha. The first 12 weeks of a puppies life is a major imprinting stage, everything they learn will stay with them for life (bad behaviours can be worked on´though), its up there with natural personality, genetics etc.

I found this article on parvo, it has some good info on how its spread and ways to prevent it as you can bring it in on your shoes or your other dog could bring it in....

http://www.k9coach.com/news_letter2.asp

I forgot to mention, about the heart murmur, obvioulsy this is something you need to keep up with your vet on and there are varying 'degrees' of it. I had a whippet that had a heart murmur, it was diagnosed on an initial check up when I adopted her at around 3 years old, she passed away about a year ago....she was almost 17 years old, she never had to be on any medication for it and had a happy active life. She didnt die from heart problems.

 

Any suggestions on what I should do with her when I go to work? I can take her to work with me but I have been told not to take her out at all. I have the rest of the week off but after Sunday, I can't take anymore time off.