Help w/ Foster Dog

[ChristyA]

Hi everyone!
Well I decided to try to foster a dog for the Rose's Rescue. It is proving to be an experience I'll tell you that.

Scout is 19" at the withers, and weighs 30.2 lbs. He is very skinny, you can see his ribs, hip bones, and back bone. They think he is a plott hound mix. Very loving, beautiful, house trained, and crate trained.

When we first brought him home I thought I'd fatten him up and I was giving him 2 cups of food morning and night. Well it went through him like a whirlwind and he pooped in his crate.

So now I've been feeding him 1 1/2 cups in the morning and 1 1/2 cups in the evening. Nature's Recipe grain free dry dog food. Same as before and I wait for him to poop before I go anywhere so he doesn't poop in his crate. It seemed to be working out well. I usually only crated him around 3-4 hours. No problems.

A family came a took him home for a trial. The man fed him then an hour later walked him 1 mile, then Scout went to the bathroom before the lady went to work. He was in his crate for 8 hours and when they got home he had pooped in the crate.

They are bringing him back tonight. How can I rectify this problem? The one trainer I spoke to said 3 cups daily is way too much for him, but since I am trying to get weight on him I need to feed him smaller amounts throughout the day.

I kid you not he poops at least 5 times a day, it is all solid. He has been wormed. I don't know what to do. He deserves a family of his own. My 2 aren't that hot on him. Lulu antagonizes him all the time. She wants to play but is a little rough for him.

As always any and all input would be greatly appreciated.
Christy

[Roxee's Dad]

Dear Christy,
A wonderful thing you are doing. :) I hope you find answers soon and Scout finds a furever home real soon.

I would also be interested in any comments on this.

Our Mickee (30lbs Wheaten mix, 16 yrs old) Poops about 4 to 5 times a day.

[lulusmom]

Hi Christy,

Most dogs, and most certainly all of mine, poop at least twice a day and if you crated me for 8 hours, I'd be likely to poop in my crate too. What in the heck is wrong with people who think it's perfectly fine to crate a dog for that long? Thank God Scout pooped in his crate and was returned. Anybody that has so little patience and returns a dog for pooping in their crate after only one day shouldn't be allowed to have a dog. If Scout had been a good boy and held his bowels for eight long hours, he would have condemned himself to a life behind bars, for the majority of his days anyway. Crating for more than a few hours at a time is totally unacceptable and eight hours a day is downright cruel. Did the rescue know that this family intended to crate Scout for hours on end? I sure hope not because a responsible rescue would never have entertained these people as viable adopters.

Glynda

P.S. Yay for you for fostering.

[ChristyA]

Actually they said it would be for about 4 hours at a time. I agree 8 hours is way too much. But after he came back tonight he immediately went out and pooped,,he had the runs really bad. I gave them food and a bag of treats. They fed him almost the full bag of treats in 2 days! AAARRRGGGHH!

I thiks he's happy to be back, except Lulu is always giving him the hairy eyeball and making him bark. She wants to play and most of the time he doesn't. He is ok with Erik, they just avoid each other.

Thank you for the input,
Christy

[addy]

When I first brought my Koko home from Animal Control, he pooped 4 or 5 times a day. I asked a vet and he said they usually like to see 2-3 times a day and I should think about changing his food.

I have tried different foods with him and I have him down to 2-3 stools per day. I probably should cut back on his food a bit and we would be down to 2 times a day.

When he ate Stella and Chewy raw dehydrated (no grains, not kibble) he only went 2 times a day. Now that I have him on Honest Kitchen Embark (flax, potatoes and turkey, etc) he goes 2-3 times.

He is probably about 1/2 pound to 1 pound overweight but he has pica and when I cut back on his food , the pica gets worse.:eek:

I agree with Glynda, eight hours in a crate is just wrong.

That's my story:D

Addy

[ChristyA]

Thank you Addy. I'm definately going to have to rethink this whole food situation.
Christy

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi Christy,

First, bless you for fostering Scout! :D

Parasites have been ruled out, I assume?

Any mucus in the stool?

My first thought was the bio-availability of the feed; is he able to absorb enough of it to benefit him or is it just going through his system. The fact that he isn't gaining weight suggests he isn't absorbing much as does the amount of waste he is passing. Carbs will help him gain weight so you might want to rethink the grain-free feeds. ;) Make changes slowly, as you know.

Another thought is that he may be marking his territory just as they do with pee. Gross, I know, but pups will use feces to mark just as they do pee so Scout may be trying to "decorate" his new digs. :p

I read about a girl who had a similar problem with her pup and after many trials, she and the vet decided he has a form of IBS in which excitement, exercise, change, nervousness, etc. cause transit through his bowels to speed up resulting in more frequent BMs even tho they were solid and normal looking. She had to learn what his triggers were and what foods he could handle.

Sooooo.....good luck with your new foster! :p

And I agree with Glynda...those people didn't and don't deserve Scout or any pup if they intend to keep it caged most of the time and have no more patience or understanding than they displayed with him. geez......

Hang in there and tell the Boss of Applesauce I said, "Howdy!"

Hugs,
Leslie

[mytil]

Christy,

You have a heart of gold for fostering Scout :)

I agree on all points about leaving him in the crate for that length of time. I am wondering about his "previous" life - how long was he crated before and is he used to being left in there for so long. It takes a while for them to get acclimated to a new way of doing things.

I have hound mixes too and one of them would eat until she popped - she always looks at me like there has to be more I am starving. But I restrain myself (hard with those big brown eyes) :) Mine are about the same size (20" tall, 35 pounds) and I feed 1.25 cups daily of Canidae brand and one little scoop of wet food spread out over 3 meals. They get only 1 treat a day. Mine only poo twice a day.

I too was wondering about absorption -

When I first got mine, they pooed about 4-5 times too and there was no schedule, just whenever and where ever - which makes me think they were kennel dogs.

To fatten him up will take some time as his body gets used to regular feeding and get on regular schedule. I trained mine to go with a command "better go now" it took time, but they soon understood this meant specifically bathroom time. I did this by saying it everytime they went to the bathroom so they could associate the words with doing their business.

hope this helps
Terry

[zoesmom]

Hi Christy -

My daughter has a plott and she's a wonderful dog. How long have you been fostering Scout? When I first brought Cooky home, she was a poopin' machine. And had accidents in the house. It took several weeks before she 'adjusted' and got down to twice a day poops ( her poop stayed kinda runny and soft for a while, too). The food change was definitely part of her problem, I think. Once she settled in and her system adjusted to all the new changes (being out of a kennel and in a new home where she was being let out regularly and the limited ingredient diet), she started putting on weight and stopped having accidents. So I do think it's a nervous thing when they go to a new environment. She's still hungry all the time and I give her very few regular dog treats because I don't want her to go from too skinny to too fat. Mostly carrots and apple and banana and ice in between the 1.5 c. of kibble twice a day. She's probably gained about 4 or 5 lbs. (started at 45 lbs.) Hope Scout finds a home who understands dogs like you do!!! Sue

[ChristyA]

Thanks everyone. I've got some good ideas. Also I posted 2 pics of Scout. He's adoreable. I took him to the vet today to weigh him, he now weight 32.8 lbs! Yaayyy when I got him he was just under 30 lbs. My vet thinks his face looks like an Australian Cattle Dog.

[lulusmom]

Scout is a beautiful boy with that brindle coat and black mask. Unlike your vet, I see no Australian Cattle Dog in that beautiful face. The minute I saw his face, ears and coloring, I immediately thought greyhound. Those are greyhound ears for sure. Check out these pics of greyhounds and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.halfwayhomegreyhounds.com/zippit.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.halfwayhomegreyhounds.com/farm21.html&usg=__9f_kWaDtsTCN6Nt6ToXt_H8JHmo=&h=310&w=400&sz=27&hl=en&start=55&sig2=W2y4xwEY2SYCpgf4U7kLaA&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=X5HB2iqYbVjYiM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrindle%2Bgreyhound%2Bwith%2Bblack%2B mask%2Bpicture%26start%3D40%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26s a%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLJ_enUS311US208%26ndsp%3D20%26t bs%3Disch:1&ei=BTL4TLP2NISClAfsm8yMAg

[Carol G]

Scout is a beautiful dog but I don't see ACD at all. I still just love that picture of the Boss with Dexter at the window.

Carol

[mytil]

Oh he is beautiful - what a sweet face...and I too see no cattle dog in him either.

Yeh, I can see in his face greyhound, maybe some other hound too!

Good to hear he has gained some weight. Good sign. :)
Terry

[ChristyA]

When I first saw his face I thought greyhound, but he is so small. I'm sure he is a million things wrapped up into one sweet little bundle. I hope he finds a home soon, he loves lots of attention and belly rubs.
Thank you so much for your input, your knowledge is much apprectiated and your opinions are alway valueable.
Christy

[lulusmom]

If not Greyhound, then he could be a Whippet mix. Whippets are a smaller version and they also have brindle coats.

[ChristyA]

UPDATE:

I've posted a picture of Scout & Lulu together. They are getting along. Scout has severe SA my vet put him on Prozac until we can get him calmed down enough to work with it. Other than that he is a great little dog.

He may be a lifer here though. I don't think I could break his little heart and make him go live somewhere else.

[Roxee's Dad]

Hi Christy

Great picture...and all I can say is Ha ha ha ha...welcome to the foster flunky club. ;):p:):D

[Carol G]

Christy,

The Australian Cattle Dog forum I'm on is taking orders for "Failed Foster" t-shirts!

Carol

[mytil]

Oh Christy,

I somehow knew this - :D

The photo is beautiful! It looks like he has found a buddy who makes him feel safe and comfy.

[ChristyA]

My husband is still convinced we are just fostering. ;)

He and Lulu will still fight tooth and nail over a cookie crumb, then 5 minutes later they are cuddled up.

Merry Christmas to you all and hugs to go around. You guys are the best.

Christy