Wow, what a way to introduce myself eh? Her name is Calypso. She is a deaf harlequin born to two deaf harlequin parents. I took her in from someone, found her what I thought was going to be a GREAT home, to find out that less than 2 months later the lady sold her to someone else. I got in contact with the people she sold her to and they returned her to me.. but she looks TERRIBLE! She was a wonderfully healthy happy puppy when she left here.. and now she weighs 32 pounds at 6 months old, you can see EVERY single rib and vertebrae in her back. Her hip bones stick out, and she has a concave belly. The story I got from the 2nd owner was that she hadn't eaten since Monday (it's Wednesday). They dropped her off to me and I immediately put food in front of her.. and she acted like she hadn't seen food in a month! We fed her very small amounts over a period of time to avoid bloat and upsetting her stomach.
So, I guess the reason for my posting, besides to vent about her care in the past 3 months, is to ask for help. I intent to keep her and get her through this.. but I don't know what I can give her to help put some weight on her in a healthy way, without feeding her "junk" to just add fat. Any ideas???? Her picture is my avatar here, I have more if any one is interested in seeing her "before and after" pics. I was absolutely disgusted! Oooo, I just realized I could add a pic here, so I'll put one up of before and one of after for every one to see. I just got her back today.
GDRNT fostering
Welcome to the boards!
GDRNT is often in need of foster homes! You can submit an application via this link http://old.danerescue.net/forms/gdrntapp.asp
Be sure to indicate fostering instead of adopting; foster homes do not need to pay the adoption application fee. You should look into getting your male fixed before you consider takign a dog home though, far less likely to have issues that way. Remember that most of the GDRNT fosters will come freshly neutered or spayed with hormones raging still, never a good thing to have 2 like that when introducing one of these big guys to new dogs.
Also be sure to visit the rules of the discussion board at this link http://www.danerescue.net/forum/web-site/discussion-board-guidelines if you havent seen that yet (lots of people miss that one!).
eyes...
I noticed that my lilly's eyes do the same thing, but I never suspected it to do any harm to her -despite her being deaf. I hope the same goes for Cal! Has a vet checked her out yet?
Great job on nursing the pretty girl back to health!
Tayyaba
How are things going....
....I know Calypso will need a long time to put weight on but I think about her often and would love to know how she is doing?
Update
So far so good! She's eating everything we put in front of her and she's getting at least 4 small meals a day. She poo'd for the first time last night, so that's a good sign that everything is still working. I think she might possibly have a head injury though.. noticed the other night that one pupil was very tiny and the other seemed normal. It went back to normal after she'd been calm for a few minutes, but during any activity, even just going outside to potty and it would shrink up. Is this something often seen in deaf danes, does any one know? I know that her condition is often linked with sight problems, but I never noticed this when she was little. Of course, she has been out of my car for at least 2 months. She grew so fast!
Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts. I will get some new pictures of her tonight or tomorrow for you guys too. I'm already seeing a difference.
Tanya and the zoo
I'm so happy to hear she is eating well..
...and I'm sorry to hear about her eye/possible head trama. Keep posting pictures...the people that had her before should be in jail.
Thank You!
Calypso is very lucky to have someone like you looking out for her best interests...small meals are best for now but at least 4 times a day. I would feed a higher protein giant breed dog food. She is a looker and once she gets healthy she will be a stunner. Thank you for caring and making sure Calypso is treated right...shame on the BYB breeder and everyone else that didn't have enough sense to feed a dog!
Judy, Scooby, and Daphne
Her face...
is beautiful...love those eyes. She's gonna be a knockout when she fills in!
Sweet baby...
Agreeing with everyone...THANK YOU for rescuing this sweet baby back from the irresponsible people who had her. I just don't understand how people can look at a dog who is obviously sick and not do something about it. Dr. B at Ohio Drive and the staff know me all by name from the amount of times I take Ninja and Hank in. If I ever think there is a problem, down the street I go! Thankfully it's usually nothing, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Please keep us updated!
: )
Meg, Carter, Ninja, Hank, and Mac
Txgal, I might have some
Txgal,
I might have some questions for you regarding training her since she's deaf.. I'm guessing from your screen name that you're either in or from TX.. what part? Any suggestions on a trainer?
Tanya and the zoo
What a pretty girl!! Shame
What a pretty girl!! Shame on those people for starving her. And shame on the breeders for breeding deaf dogs.... together especially!! What has the world come to? I'm glad she's in good hands now. Please post pics as she gets better. I have Luna and she's deaf.
I have no diet advice..
...but I'm saddened by your pups state (shame on the previous owner) and also so delighted that the hard days for Calpiso is over! You are doing a wonderful thing!!!
OMG
Welcome to the Great Dane family. We are so glad you took this little one in and then reclaimed her!!!
I have been part of GDRNT since 2000 and still can't get over how some people treat animals. How in the world could anyone not see Calyspo was starving?
There are several white deafy families on the boards, we adopted one several years ago and can't imagine life without her. (Despite what Jamie says, she is a joy to have around.) She make me laugh everyday!!! Please keep posting pictures, they grow up so fast, it's fun to see them blossom.
Phyllis & the LA Herd
Good for you!
So happy that you got this sweet thing back. I'm sure she'll do well under your care. You can always count on this forum to help you in any way we can.
Lots of good luck and love!
Ellen, Loyd and of course Jinxie!
Multiple small meals
I would feed multiple (4+) small meals a day of a high quality adult or Giant breed puppy food. (Giant, not large breed). Expect her to have really bad gas. A lot of times when we start feeding these skinny minnies a bunch of food they just can't digest it all that well at first. So expect bad gas, and if you don't get any then lucky for you!
Her poop will let you know if she is getting more food than she can digest- If it gets loose, then ease up on the amount of food a little.
She'll do fine. Once she gets back to normal weight wise, I would go ahead and get her spayed. By spaying her while she is still young she will recover more easily from her surgery.
Feel free to email me at cassie [at] danerescue [dot] net if you have any more questions
what a sweet face...
since she is sooo young I do not think I would feed her too much "junk" you want her to put on healthy weight... she will be growing sooo much and her bones and muscles need quality .... there are plenty here that know so much more than I but I would think lots of small meals during the day of high quality food is your best bet...
sweet baby... glad she is on mend!
Welcome
I am so sorry for your and Calypso's problem. Here in rescue we see alot of skinny, underweight danes. One of our foster homes uses a recipee she calls "magic meatloaf" as her way of fattening up the skinny fosters. It works wonders and is very good for them too. Just do a search for "magic meatloaf" and you will find alot of posts with the information. I give mine a spoonful of peanut butter everynight when they are needing a little more fat. Fortunatley, my personal dane, Katie....is in no dire need of fat right now LOL.
We have a huge support group here so I am sure more people will chime in and give you great advice. I personally applaud you for getting her back and away from that situation. We always love to see the before and after pictures too, so once you get her fattened up, make sure you post some more pictures of her. She is going to be sooo gorgeous when filled out!
Thank you all for your
Thank you all for your helpful responses. She's been getting 4 small meals a day of a low-fat veterinary prescribed diet mixed with about 1/3 of a can of a special digestive wet food mixed together and I can already see a difference in her in just two days. She's not so sunken in around her belly, and she's SO energetic. When I had her as a puppy in the beginning she used to scream whenever someone was not around her. She's gotten so much better since she's been gone, but I can't help but think that maybe that's why she's in such bad shape. The people that had her first kept her outside all the time, inside only straight in to a crate to sleep. :-( She still stays in a kennel at night, but she's totally an indoor dog. We also have a 10 month old mastiff and they just LOVE each other. Our corgis on the other hand aren't quite sure what to do with either of these giants.. LOL. I will look up that magic meatloaf.. sounds familiar actually. I think i may have seen it before. Peanut butter is a good idea too! I've got a little story and more puppy vs. now pictures on my website ( www.krazykritter.com ) under the "Rescues" page.. and I will continue to update there too. I'll be sure to add some pics here as she progresses too. I can never have too much advice, so please keep it coming!
Tanya & the Zoo
:)
she is so beatiful! what an adorable girl! i am so glad she is doing better. it's terriable that anyone woud mistreat such a wonderful animal. this is kinda off subject but i was wondering,how hard is it to handle/train a deaf dog like her? i know danes are very smart but does being deaf change how active/accidentally destructive she is? Kate
Training her
seems to be easier actually... I have never had a problem animal though, so maybe I'm just lucky. My first dog was a Yorki-Poo when I was 2 (she lived to be 21 years old, died when I was 23) and of course I had nothing to do with her training since I was so young. My next dog is Bear, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He was very easy to train, but when I got him I was a freshman in college and had a lot of extra time to work with him. She's already learned sit and stay (still working on this one a little). She's learning the leash and to sit every time we stop and at doors. I'm not really working her too much since I want her to save her energy for growing and putting that good weight on, but 10-15 minute sessions a couple times a day is what we've done so far. She's been going outside with our other dogs (we have four Corgis and an English Mastiff) during the day and she stays in a large kennel at nights. She's not totally house trained yet, but we're working on it. I want her and Bear to be able to be comfortable around each other in the house and be able to sleep in my room with me, together. She's showing no sign of food agression towards the other animals, but she gets her meals isolated from the other dogs so they don't get it. I had a new set of pictures to post, and my camera freaked out when I tried to upload them to the computer and they're gone. I'll have to get some tomorrow during the day light. :-)
Tanya and the zoo
Update
New pictures! We've had her just 10 days...
Here is the photoshoot from 5/28
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d109/KrazyKritter/Animals/Dogs/Calypso...
And here are the rest from today's photoshoot (6/8)
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d109/KrazyKritter/Animals/Dogs/Calypso...
Sorry, had to edit 'cause the picture didn't show up!
Tanya and the zoo
WOW!!! What a transformation!!!
She looks awesome! She is sooooo pretty:) I never would have thought she could change like like this in just 10 days!
I just wanted to add something about training a deaf dog...
...believe or not the place I go to for clicker training classes has had deaf dogs in the classes and I got to witness how it works with a lady and a deaf boxer. I'll admit I thought it is weird to see a deaf dog is a CLICKER class but they have ended up being the stars of the class! Obviously, the team does not use a traditional clicker but did use the hand signals which I have seen someone here talk about in detail. Also, the boxer wore a vibrating collor (NOT a shock collor) for recall/getting her attention. The lady carries a remote control, she would push the button, wait for Lila to to make eye contact and reward with treat. Now,whenever the dogs are 'unleashed' for a play session she is always able to get Lila to return to her with this collor! How cool is that!
Ditto -- Wow!!!
Can't believe how good she is looking!!! Please keep the updates coming.
Phyllis
WOW is right!!!
She is beautiful and looks so happy.....her eyeing are sparkling!
Great job all around....she looks amazing!
Stacey
~in memory of Moose~
Getting our shots!
Well, it looks like we're going to try and get her shots done today! We'll see if we can get in with the vet to get them.. I HATE shots, and I definately hate having to give them to my animals.. :-P The next step is spaying her, which I am definitely doing but I'm just not sure she's ready for it yet.. I want to do it before her first heat, which I know could be any time really.. but I don't want to jeopardize her health any more than it already has been... anybody around here know a nice, fairly inexpensive place to have her spayed at? My vet is NUTS!
Tanya and the zoo
Spay
If you are in the DFW metroplex, go to www.dfwsnyp.com and they will give you coupons and a list of participating vets around the metroplex. Also, check with various SPCA and vets as many run spay nueter "specials". It's usually done by weight though, so it shouldn't be outrageous. We have spayed many puppies through the year (some as young as 8 weeks) and there are no ill effects. It looks like Calypso is nice and healthy these days so she should be fine. The biggest challenge is usually getting them to not mess with their stitches...might need an e-collar (lampshade!) for that! Keep us posted and congrats...she looks AMAZING!!!
Sara (Bubba Chad's and Shammy's mom)
Thanks Sara.. know if they
Thanks Sara.. know if they will work with me if I live in Weatherford, Parker County? I think she's to the point now that we could safely have her done with no issues.. at least I hope. Of course we'll see what the vet says when they see her. We didn't get her shots the other day, we didn't get there in time.. :-/ but, we will. :-)
Tanya and the zoo