I recently adopted a male shepherd puppy and have been battling to get him to grow.  When I saw him at three weeks he seems small but some what normal.  I picked him up at 9 weeks and was shocked to see that he was only 5 pounds (siblings were in the 20's).  The breeder said he was the runt but I have raised dogs for 30 years and knew there was more wrong than being the runt.  I have had him for almost a painful month now.  We have been back and forth to the vet for treatment of parasites, and checks on his weight.  He is approximately 12 pounds now and I am exhausted.
I got this puppy because I lost my beloved shepherd Gus to cancer in January.  I have been feeding baby rice cereal, with baby chicken and sweet potato, with some no fat cottage cheese.  I also give him nutra-cal and recently added some second stage puppy infant food, which he doesn't like.  I went to the baby food because he seemed to immediately get diahrea on puppy food.  He is constantly trying to eat bits of wood and plants.  I see very little progress, he is so thin that I know if he gets sick he will have no reserves to survive on.
He has a sweet personality and I am trying to find out if there is anything else I can do to improve his survival.  Should I just be content with the little growth I am seeing?  He is now 3 months and approximately 12 pounds.

Two days have past, just came back from the vet, baby has lost a little over the precious pound that we gained the week before.  The doctor is now suspecting that it might be his pancreas, that he is not producing enzymes to digest his food.  He has ordered some powder that is a form of something like MSG.  I just want to cry, going on 5 weeks with very little sleep and a puppy that continues to fail.  His liver enzymes are also not good.  So if it is his liver that is bad I don't think there is much we can do to fight this.

so sorry to hear of your struggle to give this puppy life, csciara, it must be heartbreaking for you to see the poor baby trying to eat things he can't digest, especially after all you have been through. I hope you are getting some support from the breeder and hope you get a proper diagnosis soon--meanwhile don't forget to look after yourself, you need help from others now too. xxx

I am so sorry to hear of your problems, especially as you wanted a puppy to help you get over Gus and not cause you so many worries.

What does the breeder say about it?  Are you keeping them informed of all thats happening?

Will puppy eat a quality dried puppy food moistened? Perhaps with chicken or fish added to make it tastier?  What was he eating when you got him?

My own opinion, and it is not easy to say this, is to return him to the breeder and ask for your money back.  The stress/anxiety/heartache/cost you are experiencing/facing is not what you bought him for.  Has your vet given you any advice on this?  When I bought my first puppy, (many, many years ago now with no knowledge of puppy farmers), she had a very bad stomach infection and my vet suggested we return her as she may always have a problem.  We kept her and fortunately her problems never returned, although she did not have the nature of what I expected from the breed.  A hard lesson to learn, but a very valuable one.

In no way should this puppy left him/her weighing only 5k if his siblings were 4 times this amount.  I'm sure most breeders have had 'runts' but at 8 weeks it is sometimes hard to tell which pup it was as they generally pick up quite quickly, if they are going to make it.

I really hope you get other advice too and perhaps this new powder your vet has ordered will help.

Sounds like he could be a dwarf considering the breed? I have seen a few over the years. Sadly they seem to have short lives. http://www.dogstuff.info/dwarfism_lanting.html

Here's another link: http://www.videxgsd.com/DNA_test_pituitary_dwarfism.htm

I agree with Marianne.  Dwarfism was my first thought when I read your post.

And the breeder, if knowledgeable about the breed, would have recognised what had been bred in my opinion.

And the breeder, if knowledgeable about the breed, would have recognised what had been bred in my opinion.
And shouldn't have passed the problem on to anyone else! :(

> And shouldn't have passed the problem on to anyone else! :-(

Exactly!

Why did you still collect the pup csciara? I'm just really miffed, you've had dogs for 30 years you saw the size difference, yet you still took the pup, I would have walked away well probably run actually and found another breeder, I don't understand why you took the pup I really don't, it's like knowing there is something wrong but still taking it on and then scratching your head why?

I  hope and pray that he has nothing seriously wrong with him, only time will tell, but the signs are there that he is not normal for some reason.

My advice is to forget baby rice cereal and baby chicken and potatoes (are we talking actual baby food here - are you giving your dog human baby food?)

What you need is a good quality dry puppy food give him pieces from your hand as a treat or better still soaked in warm water, it will give your pup everything it needs once soaked mix with chicken, minced meat or white fish to make him eat it, then also offer chicken and rice, minced meat and rice or white fish and rice, along with scrambled egg made with goats milk, raw chicken wings and fresh meats. Raw tripe will also bulk him out. Get him off cereals he's a dog not a baby and if you are giving baby foods then please take him off those too.

He needs 4 small meals a day and plenty to drink, goats milk with an egg yolk will also do him the world of good.

I really have my fingers crossed he has nothing seriously wrong with him, all the very best.

What about epi (endoricine pancreatic insufciency) can a pup have this from birth ? What little I know about it it can be diagnosed quite easily and treated accordingly.
I totally agree with carrington steer away from baby foods and  feed him raw meat and/or use a good quality dog food. eg royal canin, jwb or similar
Good luck hope you win through

To be absolutely honest I am horrified that a breeder let such a puppy go to a new home.

If it was so obviously unthrifty the heartache should have been borne solely by them.

My first thoughts were dwarfism, which is linked with health issues in the breed and a short lifespan, but it sounds even worse than that.

I don't really know what to suggest, as I am sure you won't take him back to the breeder whose responsibility he should really have been.

Different when a puppy iwas normal at point of sale.

i have bought a pup after losing a dog suddenly , i have had dogs all my life and worked with them for a living  and in retrospect wouldn't have bought her had i been in the "right place" .
she had demodex as a pup,has got allergies to everything,dodgy immune system,dodgy hips and at 6 years old still greets my guests like a tornado despite all my traing efforts and not to mention how much i have given my vet over the years I do love her horrifically .so i understand y u bought this pup from breeder  despite the voices in the back of your mind.

I am with the other poster about the diet, i would feed a high quality puppy food ,if dry soaked in hot water to begin with ,scrambled egg made with goats milk and some cooked lamb mince do this and see if you get any further with  the pup .

I do hope it isn't something more longterm like dwarfism , fingers crossed for your puppy  

if dry soaked in hot water to begin with .

Just to point out never soak in hot water but warm :-) it takes a little longer to soak but hot water will 'kill' the vitamins in the dry food, so always make sure that boiled hot water has cooled to warm before adding to the food. :-)

Hope everyone can read this, to answer most of your replies, this woman that I got the puppy from would barely be qualified for the title breeder.  I didn't get to chat with her face to face until my second visit to pickup Jamie. Her home was in extremely poor condition and my friend and I wanted to get him out of there because I have no doubt that she knew this puppy was ill.  I think in fact that she was a bit off in the head.  I am stilling fighting to save my Gus I guess.  I wanted so much for the doctors to be wrong and for him to have survived, somehow I just want to make it all right by saving Jamie.  I really appreciate the advice about the food and would like to ask for more guidance here.  My vet said until he could get the right enzymes ordered to help Jamie digest or break down his food, he said give him food like baby human rice cereal that is already in a simple form.  He vomits up everything but nutra-cal.  So should I try puppy food that is soaked in warm water, do you think he might be able to keep that down?  The last advice the woman who sold Jamie to me gave when I told her I was going to have him vet checked, was, and this is a direct quote"well if you want to waste your money on a vet".  I wish you could see how sweet he is.  I have a little mixed breed that when Jamie is up to it they play like little monsters. Oh, I tried scrambled eggs, they didn't stay in his stomach.  The food comes back not digested. 
Also the vet suggested until we get the enzymes to use meat tenderizer on the cereal?  The compound of bromelain seems like it might not be a bad idea?
Thanks in advance for your help.

> My vet said until he could get the right enzymes ordered to help Jamie digest or break down his food

Pancreatic enzymes are normally stocked by vets, so this really does surprise me.  In very many years with dogs, I have had 2 that had pancreatitis, and was given enzymes on the day of diagnosis.  Has your vet just run out?  You wouldn't be the only client on his books that needed them.

If you want to try him on a good dry food without buying a large bag , I'd give Arden Grange a call , you could find the right number on their website.
There is a lady there ( I've forgotten her name ) who is good at advising what food will suit certain dogs with health problems , if you explain your problem to her she will send you some samples out.
Worth a try I think.
Your breeder sounds horrendous , I wouldn't be able to take him back , at least he has you now and your trying your best to work out his problems and give him a quality of life.
Good luck
xx

Oh csciara, bless your heart for 'saving' him you know what you did though hun you just gave the 'breeder' a reason to have another litter as the last one sold, this is where it all goes wrong, they continue to breed badly reared and unhealthy pups. You have to be tough and walk away and then go and see another litter with healthy well kept puppies. Will you do future pups a favour and ring the tax office and tell them the house is breeding at least that is another way to stop this breeder. Also the RSPCA may well be interested.

Well at least you know why he is not putting on weight if he brings his food straight back up undigested. I would wait for your vet to get the enzymes to you and then you can give him all the appropriate foods to fill him out. I hope that the poor babe pulls through. You must be devastated, if you ever get another pup, please walk away from such breeders.

At least Jamie has you to care for him, your doing your very best. :-)

Sorry to hear about your pup Jamie, and how you are struggling.  I am sure that this has been done but have they tested for kidney function?  Just a thought.

Hope that they manage to sort him out.

i had a similar experience with my pup, only 5kg at 10weeks, he an old english sheep dog.  didnt gain weight, no matter how much he ate, his poos were hourly and just slop.  my vet immediately suspected EPI and had him tested the next day.  its 3 blood tests, one is fasted for 12hrs (ctli)the results were back in about 3 days, it found his b12 was low and that he had had a really bad bout of some intestinal illness but no EPI, thank heavens.  he was put on antibiotics while waiting for the test results which helped his poo, until the results were back the vet said there was no point changing anything.  

EPI basically means there are no enzymes and the dog cannot digest food and is therefore starving to death.  its manageable, with prescribed enzymes, or you can purchase pig pancreas, they have the enzymes needed and apparently have great results. 

my dog is now 19weeks and 16kg, still small but thriving and is on a raw diet.

please have the blood test, it could save his life

some goodpoints here I too find it strange that you vet has not been able to prescribe for panceas problems unless he is still waiting for blood results.
If pup has not been tested for epi do mention it as I understand that it is very treatable and the change in a dog is amazing

Hi all, I have some good news.  First to respond to some of the questions, I live in a small farming community close to the Vermont border in New York.  Most of my neighbors are dairy cows and my vet is a real farm vet and probably treats all kinds of creatures during the day.  He did a blood test and Jamie's enzymes are off but not an alarming amount.  I used the meat tenderizor on some moistened puppy food and when I got back from work there were signs of a small amount of vomit but nothing like before.  So tonight I repeated and so far so good.  It usually takes about 4 hours before he gets sick but I am hopeful.  They should have the right enzymes for me to pick up tomorrow.  I wanted to thank every one for the helpful information.  We were up at 1:00am last night for a few hours so I am going to try and get to bed early tonight.  I will let you know how he makes out tomorrow.  Again, thank you!

Oh was their oil in the stool when the pup had pancreas problems?  We have some of that.

oily stools are one of the things you see. I can now understand why your vet mayn a little different from our uk town vets. Sounds like he is working hard at it and getting along the right track.

keep us up to date

Hi, so sorry to hear your problems.I had a dog with pancretitis and she was put on hills low cal tins dog food and did ok.A friend of mine rescued a german shepherd with the same problem and was told to feed him pigs pancreas raw .Also i was told the make DUCK has a food for this.Hope this helps