I rescue dogs whenever I have the time and funds. I picked up a dumped dog yesterday and had him vetted. He is a 7-8 month old red heeler mix; unneutered male. He checked out healthy, heartworm free, and got all of his shots and was dewormed. He stayed with me overnight but I've dropped him back off at my vet for observation. There is something mentally wrong with this puppy and I can't figure it out:
He seems to be stuck in this hyper-active, restless state, always twitching something, whining, tail-wagging, and moving around. There is never a moment when this puppy is not whining. I have never seen anything like this. You can pet him, pick him up, hold him, and he still keeps whining and crying. He whines as he goes to sleep, and you know when he's waking up because the whines begins to start up again. It's not a painful whine, but a restless whine. The puppy is never still, his tail is always wagging, and his eyes are constantly moving. He never focuses on any one object. It is not normal. He kept me up all night last night, laying next to me in bed whining. My vet thinks that either the puppy was just neglected and not socialized and developed properly, or that it had distemper when it was younger. The puppy is staying at the clinic for a few days for observation.
I really don't know what to do. There is no way this dog is adoptable like this. Maybe he will calm down when he gets used to everything... or maybe not. I don't know. I don't know what I'm supposed to do in a situation like this.
Anyone have any clues to what could be wrong with him? Anyone in rescue ever dealt with this before?
He seems to be stuck in this hyper-active, restless state, always twitching something, whining, tail-wagging, and moving around. There is never a moment when this puppy is not whining. I have never seen anything like this. You can pet him, pick him up, hold him, and he still keeps whining and crying. He whines as he goes to sleep, and you know when he's waking up because the whines begins to start up again. It's not a painful whine, but a restless whine. The puppy is never still, his tail is always wagging, and his eyes are constantly moving. He never focuses on any one object. It is not normal. He kept me up all night last night, laying next to me in bed whining. My vet thinks that either the puppy was just neglected and not socialized and developed properly, or that it had distemper when it was younger. The puppy is staying at the clinic for a few days for observation.
I really don't know what to do. There is no way this dog is adoptable like this. Maybe he will calm down when he gets used to everything... or maybe not. I don't know. I don't know what I'm supposed to do in a situation like this.
Anyone have any clues to what could be wrong with him? Anyone in rescue ever dealt with this before?