new puppy not eating sleeping a lot

floydiandays

Hello all, I have a new male puppy. Mostly rott with a bit of german shepherd from the mom. It was a rescue pup that came to me a bit skinny but no social problems.

What I am noticing is that he only eats once a night. Doesn't eat during the day time at all. I have all day with him too as I don't start work until 5pm which at that time my girlfriend gets off at 5pm. At night he eats about 1/2-3/4 cup of wet or dry food. He poops every night and pees all day long. He is still pretty skinny.

Also he plays a little bit but not a whole lot. There's a brief period where he was in the backyard between the time I leave and my girlfriend arrives. As I was leaving, Thor was playing with his rope toy a little and howling with the rope in his mouth. We have had him about 4 days now. I dont know when he was taken from his mother but I got him at 7 weeks so probably too early.

Also I still need to get him to the vet and has had first shots and dewormer. Just looking for best tips until I can get to vet in a few days.

He doesn't take treats as praise after he potty's. So I've just been praising him with petting, etc.
Any other questions i will try to answer as I am at work for the next 7 hours.Thanks!

agility collie mom

Taking him to the vet is your best bet. Your vet will give you a diagnosis and treat your pup appropriately. In the mean time do not expose your puppy to other dogs or puppies. No walks outside potty in the yard. Rotties and their mixes have a higher incident of infection by the parvo virus. Let us know what your vet says.

carolspets

Several things may attribute to this behavior. Check for health issues like parasites or other things.

Is this a new problem? How long have you had him? How old is he now? How much does he weigh?

Remember puppies are "infants" and require lots of sleep. And, make sure the type of food you are feeding is a quality, meat based food. Stuff like Purina Puppy Chow is loaded with corn and other fillers your puppy doesn't need and won't give him the stuff he needs for energy. And, treats should be the same...meat, not corn.

Then, add a good supplement to his diet. I use dinovite and have used it with puppies with good results. And, the one I really like is the supromega fish oil one because it also adds calories, which is also energy for burning. You only need about a teaspoon a day for a cup of food so even if he doesn't eat much, he will get benefits.

Our puppies would wake up, go out and potty then come in to play for about an hour. Then feeding with a good food, we used wellness with our puppies, dampened iwth a supplement. Then a nap, sometimes it would be for a long time...on days they were "lazy" or sleepy, they'd nap for a couple of hours. They would eat twice a day. Some were bigger eaters than others.

When we had a litter, many years ago, we would let them play under a tree in the yard then put them in a pen under the tree. They would sleep a lot, wake up, eat, play then sleep again. I remember thinking how much they were like little babies. Babies sleep a lot. Puppies grow up much faster and when a puppy is about 6 months old, they are almost non stop play!

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