My White GSD was Abused and Starved.

I recently adopted a 6.5 year old white GSD whom I named Kavik. I've had him for about a month now and we've been discovering some horrendous things about him. He is as thin as a dog can be and still function. His muscles are wasted away and his coat was coming out in tufts.

I was told by the GSD Rescue that his owner had died and then her children had been caring for Kavik. For how long, they could not say. When he was picked up by the volunteer that brought him to me, she was surprised by his weight but didn't think much about it as he is long haired and was only in her car for a half hour.

Our vet has been shocked by him. He can only eat in small bursts of about half a cup of food at the most. My vet has started me feeding him 4 times a day to accommodate the size of his stomach. He was doing well on the Hills Science Plan: Large Breed that I feed my other GSD/Hound, Ookie.

Now I must add now that Kavik is a full 2 inches taller at the shoulder than the largest measurement I could find for the breed type. He makes Ookie look tiny and she is average sized for a GSD.

Anyway, the most I could get him to eat was about what I feed Ookie until I started feeding him 4 times a day. After 2.5 weeks of doing well on the Hills, he vomited up all his dinner and stopped eating for two days. I took him in after day 1 and she gave him an injection to stop the vomiting and asked me to bring him in on the next day (yesterday). So I brought him in on day 2 and she took blood and gave me 2 cans of Hills I/D Sensitive Stomach food. He loves it! He's wolfing it down. I'm gradually increasing the amount he eats to a more normal proportion.

While its very good news that my lovely big lad is eating more, my vet has been concerned about his past. I told her what I knew. I gave her the email for the Rescue and a card I found in Kavik's papers from his previous vet. As I did not know Kavik's last name, she has to get in touch with the Rescue first. I think she may be thinking of prosecuting the people who did this to him. I know she has to be careful and wait till it is certain that Kavik's extreme thinness is not due to an internal problem, before anything can go forward.

*sighs* I guess I wanted to talk to someone about all this. It's been a real rollercoaster of a month with our new GSD. I've had abused dogs in the past but none that have been starved!! I've never had to tempt a dog to eat. He eats like he doesn't know how to do it. That's word for word from my vet.

Has anyone here had a similar experience?

Cheers and thanks in advance,
Alison

Poor Kavik - I'm so glad he has come to you. I'm amazed the Rescue didn't examine him or at least notice his condition . Long hair or not you can still tell if a dog is stick thin.

I've never had an abused dog. I had my old mongrel come to me terrified of cars. I never did find out exactly why but I think it had something to do with being part of a relationship break down and bundled into a van to be taken away.

Hugs for Kavik.
xxxxx

That is so awful he is such a gorgeous boy .
People can be so cruel, he must be so grateful some one helped him and could take him away from all that.
At least he is doing well now and he has you to look after him.

Give him big hugs from me and big licks from Dori and Katie.

Thanks Luck-Star and Dorie-Katie. I know I've spoken to you, Lucky, about Kavik before. It's just been a nightmare.

The volunteer who assessed Kavik before excepting him to be adopted out didn't sound very reliable to me. It took a long time before he reported back any information about Kavik. I mean weeks after the Rescue told me they had a dog for me. Then he had problems picking Kavik up from these people. All in all, from the point I was told they had a dog for me, it took a month till he was here. By the end I was pulling my hair out but something told me to stick with them and get this dog. I'm glad I did but I'm sure the Rescue might be concerned about their own part in this. Not noticing the abuse and taking Kavik immeditly to one of their kennels. Ya know? So they've been a bit shirty with me about my Vet getting in touch. Suddenly I'm getting the cold shoulder.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Thankfully there are laws in place here in the UK where Vets can press their case and get people fined or stopped from ever owning another animal.

Kavik looks like a real sweetheart, I'm so glad that he's found you and I look forward to hearing more about him.

Max was thin when he got to us but not starved, it makes me so angry that animals are allowed to get into such a state. If people can't cope they should admit it and have the dog rehomed, not just let it starve.

I wouldn't go do far as to say that Max had been abused in his last home, he was certainly roughly treated though and he is a lot more suspicious of men he doesn't know than women, the bigger the man, the worse the problem.

Not long after we got Max I went to shut him in the lounge (we were in the process of doing our kitchen and he was sitting too close to the power tools for comfort!) I (slowly) put my hand up as he went to follow me back though the door and I've never seen a dog hit the ground so fast, ears down, cowering. I felt sick to see it.

Some months later we were doing our bathroom (DIY freaks here!) and Dave picked up a broom to sweep the bathroom floor, he wasn't even all that close to Max, but as soon as Max saw the broom he threw himself against the wall and cowered. Months later, after moving, I was sweeping our garden path and Max came up and tried to grab the broom and went into playful mode and I ran around the garden pretending to sweep him up, it was a great game and he loved it. It was made all the more great because just a few months earlier the broom had been an object he feared and now it was an object to play with and have fun with.

I used to get so mad inside when Max would flinch and cower but I can't change what has happened to him, all I can do is help him see that what has happened in the past is never going to happen to him in the future.

I wish you every success with your boy.xx

He is a beautiful dog, thank god you have him now, and look forward to seeing him on the mend.xxxxxxxxxx

I have dogs who were known to have been abused including to horrific extreme`s. I was not allowed to know who the previous owners were in those the rescues knew of, [ its usual not to give adopters that information, not least to protect adopters from committing natural justice on the dogs` behalf ].
One of mine was a starvation case, [ as well as physical brutality ], and she also needed feeding small frequent portions and limited exercise to build up stamina and muscles gradually without using up the intake she needed to get weight on her.
Another was severely malnourished due to stress, it caused a stomach problem which prevented his system processing food properly so he came to me terribly thin, [ his rescue org forked out a fortune in vets bills to keep him as stable as possible, and it took him a good month or so after adoption for his stress levels to settle down and the physical healing get under way ].

It can be a slow process and sometimes you will feel you just are`nt getting anywhere when you have a dog weighed week after week and see no gains on the scales, but then some weight will suddenly come on and will hold steady, then another little spurt will happen, then another, until the dog in front of you seems completely different
That change even though gradual can still seem to happen quite suddenly when the improvement starts to show, so just keep doing what you are doing, keep working closely with the vet, and if Kavik is otherwise healthy you should see him blossom to the point that his condition during the early weeks or months with you will seem like a distant memory

years ago, we was given a GSDxCOLLIE. his story was , he had belonged to a friends brother, he had loads of kids who wanted a puppy, so he got one, well poor truman was pulled about by all these kids. and the brother was seen (by my friend) to pick the puppy up and throw him against a wall. he had also been beaten with a chain lead.
my friend took truman off her brother after a big argument. and took him home. she already had 2 dogs plus 2 youngsters so not ideal. i saw her one day and she said about the puppy (he was 6 months old by then) and i went to see him and fell in love, took him home.it took us about 6 months to realize that the lead meant fun and walkies.
he was a much loved family member for 17 yrs plus. he was PTS a week b4 his 18th birthday.
he was so good with my babies very protective towards them.
R.I.P my old friend.
your baby is a stunner .

Well done for taking on a dog in need. He looks gorgeous and I am sure with time, patience and love he will blossom into the dog he should have been.
We had a rescued lab who had been abused but not on such a scale as Kavik. When we got him he was thin and his coat was white, he had also been drugged to keep him calm as he was apparently hyperactive - no just an adolescent lab.
With love he changed both physically by putting on weight and changing colour (lovely golden shade) and mentally. He is and always will be my heart dog.
Best of luck with Kavik, (((hugs))) to you both.

Dingo is a rescue dog from the streets and he was extremely thin when we got him. Even now after he's gained weight you can still see his spine and hips. His ribs are starting to get a nice covering on them after nearly a month though. Our vet put him straight back on puppy food to help to get him up to what he needs to be and also told us to walk him for on approx 30 mins a day for exercise and to fee him three of four times a day. I understand where you're coming from and it really does make me angry that anyone could let a dog get into such a condition.