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Depressed New Puppy

Bobby

Bobby

Well-known member
Hi,

This is my first visit to the forum. Last Monday myself and my finace took home a gorgeous blenheim puppy. He's 16 weeks old. We picked him up from a lovely lady who breeds cavs occassionally. We met his Mom in the lady's kitchen and the puppy, Bobby, was bounding around the place. Since we've taken him home however he's a different dog. He seems really depressed. He's constantly whining. He doesn't want to play with his toys. He spends a lot of time asleep. He doesn't have the energy of a puppy. Does anyone know what we should do? I feel so sorry for him.
 
Get him IMMEDIATELY to a vet... (y) A listless puppy may be very ill and they can go downhill, fatally, very fast.

If there's no medical issue -- puppies, like babies, DO sleep a lot at this age. They don't play all the time. Also, he has gone from being around his siblings and mother and is suddenly entirely alon, so that will be depressing for him until he settles into his new pattern of life. And puppies do whine -- a LOT!!! :lol:

I'd also recommend ordering one of Dr Ian Dunbar's books on puppies from Amazon as it is very useful to have a good general manual as it will answer lots of questions and make ll aspects of care easier. :)

PS If you went to a reputable show breeder, she will be there to offer advice and support for the life of your puppy. I would talk to her about this situation.
 
Well he's eating and pooping etc. Actually the main time he gets excited is when I show him food. I've made an appointment with the vet though. Thanks.
 
That's good! but he still should be checked if he is generally listless; that is not a good sign, so that's excellent that you've made an appointment. I'm sure some of our experienced breeder members will also offer helpful advice along with others with various puppy experiences. :) Also, your breeder should be the first port of call for advice and guidance and reassurance, too.
 
Thanks for all your help Karlin. I will call the breeder this evening. Regarding their toilet habits, how often should he be pooping? He goes alot! And his farts are extremely smelly. :eek: We feed him twice a day, using the pedigree chum puppy pouches but I wonder is this agreeing with him.
 
Did the breeder tell you what she was feeding him? He should be eating the same food for a few weeks at your house, and then gradually changed to a new food.

Oops, just noticed he's being fed twice a day. He needs to be fed 3 times a day. Normally they poop as many times as they eat. If he's pooping a lot he may be eating too big of a serving.
 
As I remember, we offered approximately 1/3 cup of dry food for each meal when our cavs were pups. At 6 months of age they can be offered two 1/2 cup servings, morning and evening.
 
The breeder gave us a big bag of the dry food she was using. However, he wouldn't eat it for us. That's why I bought him some wet puppy food in the supermarket and he loves this. He's pooping alot more that at each meal. I rang the vet and he said to bring him in today, so I've an appointment in an hour. He said a puppy shouldn't be listless.
 
Many puppies find the so called puppy foods too rich. Try mixing a little chopped up cooked chicken with the food he has been used to.
 
Oh I'm so glad the vet can fit him in today! Please let us know how it goes. These little babies always stay in my mind. :luv:
 
Will be watching this to see what the vet says, it is usual for a pup to be a bit quiet when he first moves away from his Momma and littermates, but they generally settle into their new homes and lives VERY quickly. You are doing the right thing to take him into the vet. The Pedigree feed is quite rich for a puppy, you might like to try giving him a half and half mix of wet feed and the dry complete feed his breeder gave you, then gradually reduce the amount of the wet feed over a few days until he is totally on dry feed, this is how I wean all of my litters anyway.

Anyway, see what the vet says and also lt us know what his breeder has to say as well, very gentle :hug: for Bobby :luv:
 
Firstly welcome to the board! icon_welcome! Do let us know how you get on at the vets. :xfngr: it's nothing serious.
 
How is Bobby this evening? Hope he's settling into his new home. You've done the right thing seeing the vet to make sure everything is ok. What did the vet say? I agree that a small amount of wet food mixed with a premium quality dry food would be good to get Bobby interested in his dry food again.
 
Just back from the vet. She said he has a virus. He doesn't have a temperature so she's hoping its not too serious. She gave him two shots of antibiotics. We have to bring him back in a week. However if he doesn't improve by tomorrow she said to call over the weekend. Poor pet also has conjunctivitis as well. We only have him 4 days! However on the upside, the difference in him is amazing since he got the shots. He's bounding around the place :dogwlk: Vet also gave us dry food for puppys and she said to avoid pedigree chum. Feel much happier now, but will have to watch him closely over the next few days.

The more worrying thing is his vaccinations are not up to date. We were so concerned when selecting the puppy about breeding lines and MVD etc that we didn't check the simple things such as parvo vac. He only got one shot last jan which is thus useless. The vet is quite concerned about it. So we can't take him outside until he gets well and gets his shots up to date.
She's hoping his virus isn't related.
 
Goodness i hope its not anything more serious than his dinner not agreeing with him. In reference to pedigree chum this dog food never agreed with my Sash and she got the skitts every time she ate it! What about butchers as there is more ruffage along with biscuits to ensure pups getin enough fibre! Or perhaps ceaser dog food that was always sash's fav with a handful of biscuits mixed through? Keep us up to date hun! Where foods concerned its all about trial and error!
 
I'd be right back in contact about this with the breeder- - that is appalling. If this is an IKC registered breeder and/or a show breeder, I would contact the IKC as well and the CKCS Club secretary and complain. That is totally unacceptable.

I hate to say this but I am not sure the breeder will know much or have done much about breeding for healthy hearts if they missed out on these basics (sadly, very few Irish breeders actually follow the MVD protocol and CARDIOLOGIST certify their breeding dogs as opposed to simply going to the vet -- which isn't adequate for health hearts. I have only met a tiny handful of Irish breeders who breed for healthy hearts (oh they all SAY they do -- but 99% cannot produce a cardiologist cert for the dogs). The tiny number who DO properly heart test would be superb breeders, so I am kind of doubting this one rally has done anything and is probably jus saying things. No responsible breeder would forget something as critical as puppy vaccinations.

As per my advice to Estelle, I'd consider taking the breeder to small claims court to cover these basic costs especially if she told you puppy shots were completed.

Parvo/distmeper is very, very serious -- so do follow your vet's advice; if you are even the tiniest bit concerned about him tomorrow get him in immediately. (y) I know we'll all have fingers crossed for you. :xfngr:
 
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