[Karlysmom]

Hi! I haven't posted pics of Karly in a while so I wanted to share some updated photos. She is almost 17 weeks old. She had a very rough start to her life. When we brought her home she was very sick with Giardia, Coccidia, roundworms and e-coli. She was only 3 1/2 lbs at 8 weeks. The breeder had us and others fooled. We are in Germany and thought we did a good job finding a good breeder. When we picked her out at 4 weeks she was the size she should have been but by 8 weeks she was very ill. There was no way we were leaving her there so we brought her home. We are in contact with others who have puppies from that litter and they are starting legal action. We are backing them up 100% with what ever they need.
Karly now has a clean bill of health and is at almost 21 lbs. It took a long time to get here and a lot of money. Our vet is not sure if she will reach the size she should be because she was so ill and behind as far as size goes. She is now gaining about 2 lbs a week. Has anyone on this forum had a young puppy as sick as she was and did that dog grow to an average size? I am just curious. We just adore her and it doesn't really matter to us if she reaches full size.
I also have a question about treats. Our vet said she may always have a very sensitive stomach because of everything she went through. She said not to give her anything but her dog food until she is an adult and then we can try some vegetables. Right now she loves her dog food and so I can use the kibbles for training treats. She is on Iams Large Breed puppy food and is doing great. She was on a Royal Canin sensitive stomach food but wasn't doing great. With the Iams her coat is now healthy and she is not having any problems. Does anyone know of any treats that are ok for sensitive stomachs that we could give her in the future?

 

[Nicole74]

I use Iams biscuits for training treats, also I will use boiled chicken pieces and steak. I'm not really sure what is good for sensitive stomachs. Bailey likes the adult biscuits a lot better then the puppy ones.

Your Karly girl is very cute. What a sad begining, but I hope these people won't be allowed to breed anymore.

 

[Ambesi]

Poor Karly! What a rocky start. I'm glad she landed in a good home like yours. She looks fabulous now! I hope the legal action prevents any future breeding and punishes the breeders.

Is that you in the picture? I love the hair!

 

[sammydog]

She is very cute, and that really is a terrible story. I am very glad that she found such a great home! Keep us updated with pictures!

 

[Willow52]

Karly is so lucky to have a family like you to care and love her. I wouldn't have left her at the breeders either. She's not all that small for a female, she will probably be within the standard.

Also, I wanted to say :wavey: from a former Sembach ABer. I thought I sent a PM but can't find it anywhere. We were stationed at Sembach for 5 years.
We returned to CONUS in 1994. Loved, loved, loved it there! We lived in Baalborn and Munchweiler. We were also stationed at now closed Hahn AB.

PM me if you'd like to talk Germany.

 

[BeauShel]

She is adorable and thank goodness she is all over what she had. Those people (cant call them breeders) dont deserve to breed puppies. Have you tried the Iams biscuits to see if her tummy can take them.

 

[Karlysmom]

Thanks everyone for your replies. That is me in the picture with Karly. I asked my husband to take a picture of us because usually I am taking the pictures and am not in them! Ambesi - thanks for the hair complement.

I have not seen the Iams biscuits in our commissaries over here but I will look some more. We will have such a better selection once we return to the states. I am glad she has a really strong food drive right now so we can use her food as treats. I just want to have a back up in case that doesn't last very long. Our vet had to chuckle at how strong her food drive is. She gave Karly some food at the vet clinic so she could see how she doesn't chew much, she just swallows everything as fast as she can. We have been trying to slow her down but haven't had much success with that. We were told to break her food into 4-5 small meals a day. She was taking in too much air and getting bloated with 2-3 meals a day. Our vet thinks her behavior is because she was so sick that she wasn't getting any nutrition from her meals and was always hungy. She did have diarrhea for the first 6 weeks we had her (not fun). We are finally past all that! Since she is healthy now we will be starting puppy classes on Friday. I am looking forward to that. She hasn't been able to go many places or see other dogs because she was so sick. I worry that may have hurt her socialization but that is something we are working on now. I will let everyone know how the puppy class goes. I have never been to one so it will be a learning experience for me also.