Introducing Coco!

Introducing you all to my new foster chin. His name is Coco. I picked him up last night after first getting notice of him being in the pound by our very own Julie. Thanks Julie!

Coco has had 2 owners already and was left at the pound because he has bad potty habits. Not like I don’t know about those huh? Chins are NOTORIOUS for being extremely difficult to housetrain. Of all the chins I’ve known of and known, I know of only 5 that are completely housetrained.

I’ve placed a call to the police chief who was his last owner before being dumped in the pound. I want to rip him a new *insert bad word here* but the real reason for me calling is to find out exactly what kind of shots he’s had and to find out what he was (or wasn’t really) feeding him and to maybe get some information from him about Coco’s first owner. Just in case dirty, rotten scoundrel police chief doesn’t know. Allegedly he only had Coco a week. I’m quite upset at how emaciated Coco is and I couldn’t get him to eat anything at all last night or this morning. Not even cheese or hamburg!! It was hard petting him because all you can feel is bone. *shivers* I’ve never seen a chin this thin before. It’s maddening.

Coco is 2-years-old and the TALLEST LONGEST chin I’ve ever seen! And yes, as you can see, he’s not going to win any beauty contests. He’s actually quite comical looking. But he’s literally skin and bones! I’m noticing he’s seeming to have a very hard time sitting on the floor, it’s got to be because he’s so thin! Ugh!!!

When I got home last night I cried. 🙁 But I’ll fatten the little love up, as soon as I can figure out what he will eat. Chins, they can be very finicky when it comes to food. I tried again this morning by mixing his kibble with baby food. He made a couple licks of the baby food but that was it. Brian’s going to try again later this morning to get him to eat. I’m going to run to the pet store during lunch and pick up some wet food and hope that stirs his appetite. I don’t want to have to resort to feeding him the same crap foods they get in the pound. Right now he needs nutrition and NOT filler.

Other than that, he’s an absolute LOVE! He seems to have taken immediately to Brian, which is really odd since no other foster has ever done that. I think Coco might be a blessing in disguise for us. Hubby is laid up after having knee surgery and he’s becoming stir crazy from being cooped up since the beginning of December. I told him last night when Coco was curled up in his lap that it appears he now has a new project to focus on. 🙂

When I went to pick Coco up at the vet he came right to me wagging his tail. I had no trouble slipping on Kismet’s harness (which is really sad because Coco should be at least twice the weight of Kismet given his height and size) and we had no trouble getting him into the car and into my house. He walked in wagging his tail like he’s lived there forever. My 4-chin-monsters weren’t very nice to him last night and Gizmo in particular is not a happy camper. Funny thing? Coco immediately crawled up onto my bed last night. So funny. He’s not shy at all.

So there you go. My latest adventure in rescue. 😉

P.S. Thanks Val, for the card!

he is soo funny looking lol. NSAH is notorious for not feeding their dogs well. Every time I pull one from there, they are near emaciated. mischa was a sack of bones and disgusting. Emma had nasty dandruff though she wasn’t too badly underweight, she packed on 7 pounds in the first week and looks a lot better. They only feed them once a day…and bare minimum at that. just FYI from what Ihave observed. I’m so glad he fits right in. Hopefully your other 4 will come around and learn to love him too! 🙂

I think he’s adorable.

i meant to ask you about puppies- Emma’s about 14 weeks old and 20 pounds (may be 21/22 by now). She still looks so scrawny to me but she does have that puppy belly. I’m wondering if it’s normal to see her ribs while she’s so young? She eats Natural Balance and gets a lot of treats-we certainly have no shortage of food in our house. lol.

I just called Adam, who evaluated him and said he ate the canned food we use for testing (it’s more high value). Hopefully that will work for you! 🙂

RYN: I already have two animals with potty issues. If it weren’t for that, I’d seriously think about it.

ryn: okay, thanks. we use the crap food in cans- don’t get that- like Purina country beef stew or something. we try to get the highest value nastiness we can find to provoke food aggression. My fosters are automatically put on Natural Balance right away. I usually put a tablespoon of olive oil or fish oil on top to get their coat in better shape. I have honestly never had issues with picky eaters…lol. They just gobble it right up. If he did eat at the shelter, you could buy a very small bag of it and mix it with the high quality food. Either way, you’re in for some messy poos since you’ll get a good quality food into his tummy (for once). I dunno, I have seen dogs drop 10 pounds in a week at shelters under the stress and anxiety. There’s constant banging and isolation and barking down there. It’s SO loud and it smells horrible. I’d probably lose 10 pounds in a week if I had to live like that.

I’m glad he’s eating and gladder still that he’s found his way to your home.