[awilliams315]

OK so this is a little long but here goes.

I rescued a female rottweiler a few months ago. She is approx 6-7 years old. I was told she was spayed by the previous owners, but then my male dog ended up tied up with her before i noticed she was in heat.

This dog was never well taken care of. No vet care, she was tied to a tree for 2 years every day, all day. She had a bucket of water that looked like it was there for years and was very underfed. She had been overbred from what i could see as her nipples hung almost to the ground.

SO. after 2 weeks i had her fattened right up to a healthy weight and she seemed perfectly healthy, got her shots etc.

Well after she got tied up with my male dog, her nipples started looking different, as if she was pregnant, but she always acted normal. Then she started bleeding a month later after this. Not bright red blood, almost a maroon color. This continued for about a month, which made me believe she possibly miscarried if she was pregnant. This appears to have stopped as I havent seen any blood now.

BUT now after all this, she was lost a ton of weight to where you can see her ribs, and she has always been thin especially by her hind legs, where it appeared her uterus was sucked right in from so many litters. But now it is her whole body thin, when she is usually very muscular. I feed her a large coffee can size (the big plastic ones) full of food a day, plus various scraps from our meals, and she eats it all, but doesnt seem to gain anything back.

On the other hand, she acts completely normal, like herself, energetic, playful, friendly, eats and drinks great, still has a perfect appetite. I had leftover antibiotics from when she got into a porcupine that I finished up once her bleeding stopped just in case of infection.

So i cant figure out what is going on. I cant afford to take her to the vet for a couple weeks since my furnace, hot water heater and dryer all went on me at once, but I just was looking for some type of insight on what could be going on with her.

[Lunareclipse]

Can you at least afford to go to a low cost spay/neuter clinic?

Your dog really should see a vet. It might be hemraging to death. Or it could have had a partial miscarriage and it's uterus needs to be cleaned out by a vet.
Your dog should have been fixed right after the male tied with it. I would have made an appointment with the vet for a spay later on that week.

[awilliams315]

i can look around, but i dont know of any cheap clinics around here, i live in the middle of nowhere and the only 2 vets around here, wont do payment plan or anything, even with all the money i spend there for my animals.

I did think myself that she could have had a miscarriage, but i just cant figure out why the sudden loss of weight happened, even with me trying to overfeed her since she will eat what ever is given to her, due to being starved most of her life.
I have literally upped her diet this past week to the big can full of dry pedigree dog food a day, but also have been giving her around 3 pounds of steak or pork a day to get her to gain weight again.

would a miscarriage cause this amount of weight loss, and her still be acting perfectly normal.

Thanks for the help.

[Lara's mom]

Get her to a vet as quickly as you possibly can. If there was indeed a preganacy that she miscarried, get her spayed. As for the issue of her being so thin, could parasites possibly be the problem? Until you are able to seek medical attention, I'd try supplementing her diet with meat; lean ground beef, skinless chicken with the bones removed, lamb and scrambled eggs with a little cheddar cheese melted into them. I've never known a dog to refuse them.
Also, I'd be looking for a much higher quality food. The stuff you can buy at the grocery store is junk food. She needs the best nutrition possible.

[Lunareclipse]

Pedigree really is not the best dog food. Especially when your dog is ill. Is there any way you can give your dog chicken and beef until it startes feeling better?

[awilliams315]

I didnt know pedigree was no good, i never had a problem with it before, but I have been giving her pounds of meat a day, potatoes, even vegetables b/c she will eat anything.

someone mentioned parasites. I have never had a female dog before but if she was pregnant for a short time would she have developed worms, as I do know when puppies are born, both the mother and pups have to be dewormed. this never occured to me until someone mentioned it, but does anyone know if that is the case of a female having worms while pregnant. If so, would worms cause such a drastic weight loss in that short time?

thanks everyone for your time.