Hello- I was at a flea market last Sat. and an individual there had a box full of puppies, Apparently different breeds and different ages- he professed the age of the puppy I acquired was 5 weeks old, along with his siblings which were about twice the size of this apparent runt. The person was selling these boxer, pit bull, sharpei,? Mix as pure bred pits but I really doubt theare, Anyway I justl glanced in the box and noticed the smallest puppy was mostly lethargic and was also very limp when I picked her up-- I told the owner that I didn't think that one would make it through the night-- To make a long story "shorter", I brought her home to attempt to save her life because it was apparent the owner was only interested in selling the other ones. I got a phony phone number so my info has been very limited. The puppy was wormy and has been wormed on the third day after I got her mostly back on her feet by feeding her liquified canned gravy train and goats milk along with supplements of Nutra stat paste- -She appears to have no problems swallowing as she drinks water voluntarily.. She also makes pee and poop-- Just won't eat on her own and basically acts as if she doesn't know how- -She does have a full set of teeth, no cleft pallet or any other abnormalities noticed-- Any suggestions will be greatly apprecitated.

HI,
A flea market?
OK, now you need to take it to a Vet. The puppy needs to be checked out, and needs Vet visits (up to your Vet) normally every 3 months, until all shots have been given.
Please take it to a Vet, and get a Professional opinion on what to do from here.
I do wish you and the puppy the best.

"A flea market?" This is the equivilancy of a large garage sale with hundreds of vendors selling their goods/products-- As for taking the puppy to a vet, I did, that is where I got the woprm medicine, the Nutra Stat paste and was advised to feed with the syringes supplied to me-- The vet also commented that the expense of making a good companion of the puppy would probably be more than I would want to shoulder- I'm not ready to give up and let the puppy die as the disinterested people I have encountered seem to be, that is why I was seeking advice on this forum-- As of today, the puppy is still holding her own, interested in living, just not showing an interest in eating on her own yet--thank you

HI,
I am sorry you didn't like my answer. The truth is that a Vet is a dog Doctor. Humans need Doctors, too, just like Dogs. You didn't mention anything in your original question about having already seen a Vet. Worm pills can be purchased over the counter here in my local area, at a Pet Store and Farm Store.
Doing "home remedies" for dogs sometimes works, but when it doesn't, there are only two choices left:
Either see a Vet, or find the dog another home. I am familiar with Flea Markets. The largest one in the VA-TN area is for maybe a thousand people! I did not mean anything by saying "Flea Market"; except that usually, you won't find pure breed dogs there in this area in which I live.
We do care if your dog lives or dies. I have, and still am, been a dog lover of over 50 years, raising puppies, having dogs, and caring for them, also training them.
The only thing you can do is to continue feeding it with a syringe, or lapping up liquids. Eventually, it will start eating some puppy chow, or similar. I do wish you and the puppy the best.

She is probably not use to eating on her own... whatever you put in the syringe, try putting some in a shallow dish, possibly on top of a wee bit of food, or put some food on the end of your finger and put it in her mouth, that's how we'd teach the pups to begin eating at my grandparents pom kennel, good luck, I hope everything turns out well

Thank you Melinda- We tried putting some warm goats milk on some dry puppy chow-- no interest-- in a last ditch effort we put some on the kitty food-- she started eating it-- even it isn't nutritionally proper, at least she is learning now that she has to look down to eat rather than looking up, as puppies usually do-- I will eventually switch the dry food to puppy chow and I sincerely appreciate your advice!!

:mad: Grrr sounds like a puppy miller to me! Different breeds different ages and phony numbers, this jerk should be drawn and quartered! As far as the pup, 5 weeks is too young to be away from mom and worm meds are toxic. That small/young of a pup being fed poison will make her sick.
At 5 weeks they are still nursing and just beginning to learn to eat solids. Bless your sweet heart for rescuing this baby. I hope things go well for her.In good conscious I would report the person you got her from to the local humane society or aspca in hopes they can track them down once again at the flea market and stop them from milling puppies. Please keep us posted lots of luck to you! * hugs*

Hey. You are a good person to rescue that little baby! Keep trying, she'll eat eventually. I raise labs and I will take their food at 3 1/2 weeks (which is just learning to lap up liquids)
And grind their puppy food up to the consistency of corn meal and warm goats milk in it until it forms a liquid mush. Then I decrease the liquids after a week until it gets more coarse eventually moving to puppy food whole softened with goats milk then to just water softened food then to dry. This is a good transition for the young pups. Good luck!!

If goats' milk has lactose, it would be no better than cows' milk for puppies. I see no reason for posting to such old threads.