emaciated puppy

Question
This morning I found an emnaciated rottweiler male puppy (1 month?). Must have been discarded. Gave him small amount of water then brought him home and have just given him sugare water. Hardly licks...sometimes tries to vomit. Advice? Thasnks, Bob

Answer
Hi Bob,

Rather than sugar, try a few drops of corn syrup on the puppy's tongue.

This puppy needs to be treated by a veterinarian. Puppies this small do not just wander away from their homes, it was probably abandoned, which makes it likely that it has a known health problem.

If the puppy is severely dehydrated, it's actually a life threatening condition. To determine if the puppy is dehydrated grasp a fold of skin at the base of the neck and pull the skin upward, away from the puppy. In a normal state of hydration when you let go of the stretched fold of skin, it readily springs back into place. If, however, the skin fold does not snap back, but seems to dissipate in slow motion, that display of poor elasticity will only occur if the dog is dehydrated.

A puppy this small and weak may need to be fed from a bottle. You can try giving him frequent small drinks of Pedialyte. Do not give too much at a time, maybe 1/4 cup every 45 minutes. Do not hold the puppy on it's back while bottle feeding.

If the puppy is about 4 weeks old, you can try feeding it a thin gruel made by blending good-quality puppy food with a puppy's milk replacer-formula. You  may need to smear a little around it's mouth gently with a finger to get him started. Feed the puppy 4-5 times a day.
If you plan on keeping the puppy, gradually thicken the gruel until no milk substitute is used at about 6 weeks of age. At this time, the pups should be offered good-quality puppy food 3 times daily.

If you do not want to pay for a vet, surrender this puppy as soon as possible to your local animal shelter or humane association, where it will get the care it needs.
If you are going to give this puppy to an animal shelter, please take the time to find a "no kill animal shelter". You can look that online, or get back to me with your location, and I can find one for you.

Best of luck,
Patti