Concerned about GSD’d Health

[hesgoturback]

We recently adopted (more so rescued) a 14 month old male GSD recently. We have noticed behavior that leads us to believe his prior owners neglected to disclose certain details pertaining to his health. We’ve reached back out to the owners, but have yet to hear anything. He didn’t come with any shot records the prior owner said the shots she gave him as a baby were bought from a feed store….

We’ve had him in our household since last Saturday. We’ve taken him to the vet to get his annual shots as well as blood and poop tested. He’s had diarrhea since Saturday (which could be because of a new environment and stress). He also has fleas for god knows how long. The express vet advised he came back positive for hookworms. He’s also malnourished as well. You can physically see his rear bones on the top of his back as well as closer to his shoulders. He’s only 73.5 pounds. They prescribed him meds for the hookworms as well as preventatives for the fleas. Outside of that, they just said to feed him extra which we had already planned to. We also got him a bath a day ago because he was extremely dirty and neglected. We don’t believe he’s ever had a bath.

Since having him in our household, we’ve noticed he’s extremely lethargic all of the time. Doesn’t care for treats as much as GSD’s do… and drinks EXCESSIVE amounts of water. He just has completely low drive overall for being so young… We are truly concerned about his well-being. We have a two year old female GSD and she is SUPER energetic as GSDs are expected to be. She is the complete opposite of him. But that’s also because she’s been raised in a healthy household. We have no idea what he went through with his prior owners…

We are going to call some different vets tomorrow, but are wondering what everyone else’s thoughts are? Are we panicking too much? Has anyone experienced this? Maybe it’s because he’s in a new environment? Interested in seeing other GSD owners’ opinions…

 

[lovelydove]

@hesgoturback I would continue to feed him generously and wait to see how he’s doing a week from now before you rush him back to the vet. He’s not only in a brand new place, but he’s been exposed to things he likely never has before (the vet, baths). All that new learning is exhausting. Thanks for giving him a home!

 

[hesgoturback]

@lovelydove Thank you for your input I think we were panicking a bit too much. We love him so much already. He definitely needs time to adjust and take in all of this.

 

[lonnie159]

@hesgoturback I rescued a 2.5 year old GSD from a shelter after they stepped in and took her from her neglectful owner.

She weighed about 52lbs (24kgs) and was skin and bones. She was a nervous wreck, wouldn’t eat or would eat so quickly I’d second guess whether I’d put food in her bowl. She didn’t make a sound other than to reactively bark at men and dogs. She slept 99% of the time and didn’t play.

It’s been just over 2 years now. She still doesn’t play, really. She’s not as energetic as other GSDs. She’s finally started to “talk” although not much. And she’s slowing down on the eating to the point where she’s finally happy to leave some in her bowl and walk away.

Your boy is in a bad state. It’ll take him a lot of time to decompress and get better. Think about how your body feels when you’re sick, and how all you want to do is sleep. That’s him right now. He’s still trying to figure things out, and his body is slowly coming out of fight mode.

Give him time, love, and space. Let him know he’s safe and doesn’t have to worry about finding food or water. Maybe in a few months, when his body has had time to settle, if he’s still drinking excessively you can speak to a vet. However I wouldn’t stress him out much more at the moment.

Thank you for rescuing your boy

 

[hesgoturback]

@lonnie159 Thank you so much for sharing your story. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for rescuing your girl!

We’ll keep praying and give him lots of love, space, and peace in the meantime.