Long story short, a Pomeranian ran into our apartment complex and took refuge at my apartment Saturday night. It was raining here in Austin and I assume he got out and and made his way into West Campus. He was shivering and had the look of death on his face so I had to take him in. I've put up fliers around and am hoping to get a response soon. He's trained so that's a plus for now.. My questions are: -What should I feed him? I've been feeding him wet dog food and he's eventually thrown up after. -If the owner doesn't claim him, where can I take him in Austin that will provide a good home? -Can I leave him outside? Spoiler Not my kind of dog but he's growing on me
switch it to dry food, or a mix of some wet with dry. His stomach is probably not used to wet food. Your best bet is to start calling local kennels to see if someone is looking for the dog.
There's a collar but no tag. My roommate told me that the owner might not have wanted him anymore, took off the tag, and let him go. Of course I'll find out if that's the case soon enough. Any recommendations for good dry food I can use until I can take him to the vet? Or can I just get something for small breeds and be OK?
Any dried food for a small dog should do. Best to call some of your local vets and ask if anyone has lost a dog like that. Then take him to your local vet, get it scanned for a microchip.
I'd echo some of the responses already. - Food. As mentioned, new food can lead to stomach queasiness. Dry food is probably better. You could likely use any dry food, though the better ones are not your Science Diet's of the world. Any dog food that has corn or corn byproduct as one of the first few ingredients is not a high quality food. Wellness is a good brand you could find at Petco. - Microchip. If he has one, a vet should be able to scan for it real easily. You might want to just call up a couple of local vets to see if they will do it for you free of charge. - What to do. I don't know Austin. In Houston, most of the shelters you could take him to could potentially put him down. As a small breed, and a Pomeranian, he'd probably be put out for adoption, but you never know. My guess is Austin is the same way. There are few true "no-kill" shelters. That's not to say the shelters don't serve a great purpose, but the simple fact of the matter is there isn't enough money or perspective homes in most cases for extra dogs, especially in this economy. That said, you have breed and size on your side. Assuming you don't find its worried owner, and you want to keep the best interest of the dog in mind, your best bet is to find either a Pomeranian or small breed rescue group based out of Austin. It's unlikely they'll take him off your hands, but a good group would definitely work with you to help get the dog adopted, if you were willing to foster it. They will help you get the dog listed on a site like www.petfinder.com and again, you have breed on your side, so unless your picky (grow attached to him and require the perfect adoption family), you likely wouldn't be required to foster it for that long. Just picture all the girlfriends and wives out there that would love to force their significant other to adopt that dog for them. If it is clearly an inside dog, putting it outside shouldn't be your #1 option. You should be able to find a small crate for +/-$50 that you could keep it in when you're not around. If it isn't used to a crate, it might be upset at first, but dogs are den animals and when used right love their crates. The wife does animal rescue and we foster a lot of dogs over the years...but most have been bigger breeds that take longer to find a home for. But it is very rewarding work. If you aren't making any progress, email me through the board and will see if we can help. We are solely in Houston, but might have some suggestions on rescue groups and the like.
Hopefully that cat (too small to be classified a dog) finds his original home. But if it doesn't workout I know a caring Pomeranian fanatic residing in Austin that may want to give it a home. So keep me posted and if it comes to it then I think we may be able to put a good roof over its head.
A cat would tear that thing up. Too effeminate and yippy to be called a cat. Perhaps an ersatz fennec fox?
Put him in the paper. Lie and say he is off Champion bloodlines and all that BS and then ask $2000 for him. As stupid as people are when it comes to buying dogs you will have $2K in your pocket within a few days. Ok, I'm kidding. Do what everyone else said. Take him to the vet, put up more fliers and keep him for a while. I'm sure there is a Pomeranian rescue that would take him if you can't find him a good home. Cute little dog.
You can post ads on craigslist lost and found, Houston Chronicle lost and found as well as some other sites that help owners find their lost pets...
take some pics of him and take them to town lake animal shelter, or you maybe can do it all online now. they have a photo album of lost pets. don't take him there if you can handle him. post on craigslist as welll. take him for walks and see if he goes a certain direction. dogs can get freaked out during storms and get lost.. funny story, one night we were partying at our house and around 3 or 4 in the morning I was on the back patio smoking and a big black lab broke through my fence during a thunderstorm. I was wasted and thought it was my neighbors so I took it to their house and let it in their back door. The next day after talking to them I found out it wasn't theirs, they opened their front door and he took off home
Just got back from the vet, no micro-chip. He's approx. 2-3 years old and in good health but has a couple of missing teeth. He hasn't touched his dry food or water today, so I'm not sure what's up. The vet game me a can of prescription diet food to mix with his dry, but he's sleeping now and hopefully will wake up and eat it. I put up some more fliers around campus and around our complex so hopefully that works. He's too good of a dog to give to a shelter, but I'm not sure I want to keep him. I'll think about it until the end of this week and try to come to a decision. Thanks, Ziggy.
