Help needed with a pup...he is too weak

Hello everyone

I hope someone here will help me with this. I visit a dog shelter, where I found two orphaned pups, one of them with a wound on the neck that was oozing. All the dogs there are checked by a vet, and I wished things would improve for this little guy. The next week, I found him in a weaker state, and the spot of the wound was still oozing, and the fur around it was gone. So I decided to take him home, so that he will get some personalized attention. To keep him happy, I took his sibling too.
On enquiring, I found that they were applying an antibiotic spray on the wound. But since I could see no improvement, I decided to give him around 2 mg of amoxicillin. I also cleaned the wound and applied neosporin powder everyday.

Its been three days since I have him in my home. The wound has stopped oozing, and almost closed over. But he is eating very less. By very less I mean, maybe a few licks of milk around 6 times a day. Yesterday he ate a bit of rice and fish made into a paste....today he refused even this. I think I am losing him. Is the amoxicillin dosage responsible for this? What can I do to make him eat without throwing up?

He sleeps all the time, and when he becomes conscious, I rush to him with the milk. A few licks of it, and his eyes shut again. If I try to give him food using a dropper, he keeps his teeth tightly shut. He sometimes pees and poops on himself, and lies in the mess until I find him.

His body is full of ticks. I apply anti-tick powder, but they are still there.
Please help!!

I don't have a lot of experience in this but I suspect the ticks are the cause of his weakness. Can you get them off and treat him with some flea and tick treatment? His brother will need to be treated too.
Good luck and well done for trying with this little chap.

Glad you're trying to help him. I agree with Nippy. I'm thinking the tons of ticks are sapping his nutrients and energy. Young puppies can really suffer from parasites. If he has tons of ticks, he likely has tons of internal parasites, as well.

To remove the ticks, find a pair of tweezers, and a match or lighter. Heat the end of the tweezers to burning hot and touch them to the backs of the tick and the tick will release on it's own because of the burning hot tweezers.

This will remove them all if repeated. Normally I don't say do this because I find it kind of cruel to the ticks, but they are likely killing puppy, so they need to be removed.

I suspect there is no vet you can go to since you are here asking this, but of course if you can find a vet, take puppy there ASAP.

As ticks suck blood It's fair to assume the puppy is anaemic. Have you looked at his gums? In a healthy dog they'll be pink but if they're suffering from anaemia the gums will be very pale or even white.

I'd advise taking your pup to the vet asap.

Thanks a lot for all replies. The skin around his eyes are quite white, I guess he could be anemic. I will search for some iron supplement for him.
I want to deworm him with febendazole, but I am wondering if this is the right thing to do in such a weakened state.
He wants to try out the pedigree pellets, but cannot chew them. How exactly does one make these pellets palatable for babies?
Will keep you posted. And thanks once again for all help.

Soak the pellets in his milk or water, and give them to him. He can chew them easier that way. DON'T randomly give him an iron supplement, if done wrong, it can kill him.

Just don't do this at all. I'm on iron, and if done wrong it really can cause a ton of damage and it's certainly a horrible idea for babies or puppies.

You really need to remove the ticks, or it's likely that he might die. That is the first priority here. Get the ticks OFF the poor dude so he can begin to recover from his anemia.

Do you have any idea how old these puppies are?

Thanks for the advice. I have a mild powder, which is a natural product I use for my pigeons. Obviously, the powder is not doing the job. In these two days, I have removed a large number of fleas using hands, but I guess more are there. Just now, I read in a site that lemon extract helps to keep fleas away, so I have thoroughly swiped his fur with a cotton ball dipped in lemon extract. Tomorrow, I will buy the anti-tick powder.
I am also thinking of worms...they can also cause anemia right?
The age, looking by his teeth, is around 1 and half months. Can I deworm him in this condition?

Getting him to eat is also a priority. If soaked kibble isn't going down, try mixing it with some raw human-grade hamburger mince (30% fat is ok) or buying some goat milk (if you can get it) or puppy milk from the pet store and using that to soak the kibble. Sounds like he isn't much past being weaned.

The 'natural' flea and tick meds tend not to work very well. You may have to resort to something stronger.

There are a couple vets who read these pages. Maybe one of them will chime in with a better suggestion, but IMO worms may be doing as much harm as ticks.

I prefer to deworm little guys with pyrantel paomate suspension. It's quite mild and easy to give to pups. Round worms are very very common in neonates and where infestations are bad, pups are often treated every two weeks. It's sold as a pinworm medicine for human infants as well as being in many dog worming meds. You should be able to find dosages on the web if you get the human version. It would be good to confirm this with a vet before applying my suggestion.

http://www.petmd.com/pet-medication/pyrantel-pamoate

Here's a good chart giving different wormers.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1086

Obviously, it's better to know what worms, if any, the pup has before deworming. Getting a fecal sample analyzed is best. If he's got large roundworms you are likely to see them in the pooh. They're disgusting looking, white and quite large.

btw., there is one exception to the 'natural products don't work so well'. Diatomaceous earth will kill both fleas and ticks in the bedding or in cracks in the floor. Can be used directly on a dog's coat, but I wouldn't do this with a pup. It dries out the skin and is pretty harsh. They probably use it for pigeons to kill environmental parasites as well. It wrecks havoc on exoskeletons and chitin . . . so is quite broad spectrum for fleas, ticks, lice, etc., and is often used with poultry.