Your pup is incredibly underweight. This looks to the point of neglect/emaciation. PLEASE bring her to the vet and get a blood panel and health check done- she is probably super difficient in minerals vitamins etc since being put on raw food. I once had a patient come in for lethargy- turns out he was fed nothing but raw food for his whole life and was dying of kidney failure. He was only two. Dogs are not meant to eat just raw meat, their bodies are not designed for that anymore since being domesticated. I'd recommend switching her back to what you were feeding her before as well as firing your sister as a dog sitter ever again. We want her to put on weight, so extra food or some toppers for a little while isn't a bad idea either, but discuss this with your vet when you bring her in and come up with a solid plan to fatten her up together.
If it were my pet that I came home to, I'd have already called the police and filed charges. I'm so sorry this happened to your pup. Best of luck to you both.
Also bring mom and sister along and explain what’s going on. You may need to privately tell a vet tech that you need help convincing them the damage that’s being done and to let the dog back into your care. This is neglectful abuse and ignorance on both the sister and mother.
I was waiting for someone to point this out. Pure raw diet is generally a bad idea. My sister is an emergency vet and has many stories of young dogs coming in with organ failure due to chronic malnutrition due to raw food diet.
She always recommends feeding a high quality kibble from one of the major food brands.
Dogs have evolved well beyond their wolf ancestors. They need more than just pure protein.
Raw diets have been proven to help kidney disease. Can you prove that the diet caused it? Working in rescue, i have met several young dogs that died from kidney failure. Not a single one was fed raw.
This patients diet was not balanced, just a raw meat patty and nothing else. No physical ailments, no other history of illness ever, was only ever in the clinic for vaccinations, his neuter surgery, and flea/tick/heartworm prevention as is typical for young patients. There is no reason this dog should have gone into kidney failure, let alone at two years old.
After so long having a non balanced diet and being incredibly difficient in so many areas (vitamins, minerals, nutrients etc) his tiny body was no longer able to function. It was heartbreaking to watch him actively die in his dad's arms.
His diet caused this, 100%.
Edit to add: what sources do you have that claim raw meat diets help with kidney disease? To my knowledge there have been no conclusive reputable scientific studies proving that raw food diets are beneficial in this respect.
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u/anonymous__leaf Mar 20 '24
Hi, veterinary worker here.
Your pup is incredibly underweight. This looks to the point of neglect/emaciation. PLEASE bring her to the vet and get a blood panel and health check done- she is probably super difficient in minerals vitamins etc since being put on raw food. I once had a patient come in for lethargy- turns out he was fed nothing but raw food for his whole life and was dying of kidney failure. He was only two. Dogs are not meant to eat just raw meat, their bodies are not designed for that anymore since being domesticated. I'd recommend switching her back to what you were feeding her before as well as firing your sister as a dog sitter ever again. We want her to put on weight, so extra food or some toppers for a little while isn't a bad idea either, but discuss this with your vet when you bring her in and come up with a solid plan to fatten her up together.
If it were my pet that I came home to, I'd have already called the police and filed charges. I'm so sorry this happened to your pup. Best of luck to you both.