# On again / Off again diarrhea in 11 Wk Puppy suddenly changes (Warning Picture!)



## robbidyV (Oct 16, 2010)

Background:

We got our puppy 3 weeks ago. The drive was about 6 hours and when we got him home I wasn't all that surprised that he had loose stools, after all, it's pretty stressful. Then we changed his food on him to Wellness Large Breed Puppy, and we were not all that surprised when the diarrhea continued with the consistency of soft serve. 

We brought this up to the vet when he got his 9 week shots and they did a fecal on him and found round worm so they prescribed Drontal Plus. He had a few hard(er) stools at the end of a week but then we traveled another 9 hour road trip, he had firm stools during the trip and for a few days after getting back. 

Since then there has been fluctuation between hard and soft stools. Which is something I can deal with, I can work on that to correct things. I tried the bland diet for four days but even though his stools firmed up it could have been part of the regular cycle. But today he threw me for a loop. He's essentially house broken so he was whining to go outside, outside it was back to diarrhea again, starting out with some consistency then leading up to liquid on top. But this time there was a thick gob of mucus there. I haven't seen that before with him. With my last dog dying with diarrhea as a contributing factor my heart sunk when I saw that.

I thought, Okay, he's in for puppy shots again in two weeks but I'll call tomorrow and if this gets worse I'll take him in. Twenty minutes later (even though he has diarrhea he only goes 3 times a day) he had an accident in the house. What it was, was a suspension of small pieces of poop in mucus and slime and chunks of mucusy slime. 

I hate to include the picture, but see below, is this a red flag for anything? Any ideas? I plan to go back to fast then bland diet and I will try pumpkin but I can't change things up too many times or I have no baseline.

Thanks for any help.


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

Mucus = upset digestive tract. Put in on a bland diet..rice/chicken and call vet on tuesday. As long as there is no blood..he should be ok to wait.


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## robbidyV (Oct 16, 2010)

No blood, just the mucus. He's plenty active still and drinking lots of water so I'm not over-the-top concerned yet, it's just that this shift startled me.


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## Mom2Shaman (Jun 17, 2011)

The vet is your first call. However, perhaps discuss with the vet trying a food that is a different meat source entirely. I have had 50% of my dogs absolutely intolerant of chicken for example. One was intolerant of common preservatives used in dog food. Also, do another fecal ASAP. The on again off again is often a sign of Coccidia, common in pups and esp. during changes. It is not always shed so can be missed. I would discuss with the vet that possibility.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

you should be concerned . Mucus is produced to help eliminate toxins , and / or as a symptom of an irritated bowel - Irritable Bowel as sample, and as nutrients are absorbed in the bowel you want to make sure everything is good. The body may be trying to eliminate a bacterial over load (garbage eating) , the bowel might be ulcerated , have an obstruction or the body is trying to eliminate a large parasite load.

What has this dog been eating ? Looks either like there are some twigs and grasses in this stool , or , it is a large load of worms (round worm) . 

I would take the dog to the vet and have them do a rectal exam, and a good stool sample. Take some of this stool that you have on the forum and put into a jar in the fridge till you have your appointment.

for irritable bowel , crohn's type , etc PROBIOTICS , and a clean diet will help.

Carmen


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Whenever you notice your dog having 'real' diahhrea, the MOST important thing is:

STOP FEEDING FOR 24 HOURS!

This is the #1 thing we can do immediately that costs NOTHING and has the biggest impact on helping our dogs. Water ONLY (as much as they want). If you really can't stand it, clear plain chicken broth so you can pretend to give something while NOT breaking the 'no food for 24 hours' rule.

You have to give your dogs system a break with the acids and digestion while also giving them the TIME to clean and clear out anything that may be going on.

So NO FOOD FOR 24 HOURS!

Only after the 24 hours, if your dog is no longer straining and pooping and having difficulties.............................(if they are still having problems then off to the vet cause you LOST this bout and didn't catch it in time)...............AFTER the 24 hours do you then start off with giving some food.

But it has to be bland and mild (NO PUMPKIN at this time, high in fiber and won't help with illness/digestive issues from real diahhrea. Pumpkin helps if stool is a bit soft NOT for watery 'I AM SICK' issues). I like boiled chicken (save the stock minus the fat for healthy liquid) plus white rice (not brown, too much FIBER). 

Small meals of this mixture. Cut/tear up the chicken into small pieces, plus the white rice and I make everything watery. Cause dehydration is huge problem with diahhrea so the more water the better to prevent this and keep things healthier. 

As long as dog continues to NOT have diahhrea, you can start adding small amount of regular kibble to the chicken/rice mixture the following day. 

It's VITAL to let the dog's system REST with the NO FOOD FOR 24 hours. We all feel like bad parents so hate to do it. We all LOOK at our dogs and they usually are acting fine and hungry and bouncing off the walls (heck, when I'm sick I look sick and don't want to eat, but for some reason the dogs always seem to have an appetite). 

Hang tough with the no food for 24 hours. Then small meals of rice/chicken. And the VAST majority of the time we can prevent the vet visit and EXPENSIVE BILLS that come from that to help with the colitis or other issue* WE CAUSED IF WE KEPT FEEDING THEM!!!!!!*

Here's more info:

7 Common Causes of Colitis in Dogs - VetInfo

Diarrhea in Dogs and Puppies

Dog Diarrhea Treatments, Causes, and More make sure to read page 2

Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment of Diarrhea in Dogs


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## Micky (Jan 1, 2011)

Stella had the same poo as shown on your pic we took her to the vet she had parasites was on meds for one week and all good, bring the stool sample to your vet with the dog it helped


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## robbidyV (Oct 16, 2010)

Thank you for all the responses. 

@ carmspack - The dog has been eating his food but he tends to eat anything he can put in his mouth. I follow him around outside and have to pull pine needles, twigs, rocks, out of his mouth constantly. He's getting better but the bits you see are pine needles.

Current plan is to keep feeding for today. Stop food tomorrow and just bring in fecal to vet. Withhold food for 24 hours and start onto bland diet then see where I stand.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

so those WERE pine needles -- that must hurt --- I think you owe everyone a cute picture of your dog after we looked long and hard at that messy stool (trying to see worms etc).

Carmen


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

I wouldn't worry too much either, but definitely get your puppy to a vet tomorrow. 

I battled diarrhea with my dog when she was a puppy until she was about 8 months old. Some days she had solid stool...and others she didn't. It wasn't until I took all chicken out of her diet and started feeding her a salmon based food that her diarrhea cleared up. I guess she just has an intolerance for chicken. 

Good luck and I agree...we definitely need a cute picture of your puppy!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Since no one esle mentioned it, you got the dog at nine weeks and took it for a long trip home -- understandably it had some loose stool.

Changed the food -- this can cause upset. more loose stool. Not surprising.

Went to the vet, diagnosed and wormed -- good, most puppies do have round worms and getting them gone is awesome. I hope there were no other type of worms, like hooks. Hooks are tricky because you never see them until they die, and they only shed eggs some of the time, so, they may not show up on a fecal. Does Drontal work for hooks?

Things star to stiffen, then a nine-hour trip? You have had the pup two weeks, and you have driven it quite a distance, taken it to the vet, changed foods, changed foods again, now you are taking it far away again, are you bringing water from home? Or are you giving the pup water from the nine-hours away? This is really important. If the water is city water it can have floride -- bad for dogs, and other chemicals, if it is well-water, it can have bacteria like salmonella. 

Your pup's system is at a major stress point right now. Little changes in what you feed can come out in unpleasant ways. If you must take your pup far away, please tote water along too. Salmonella USUALLY does not affect dogs because their system is fast and healthy dogs usually do not contract it. The difference of course is puppies and old dogs or dogs with weakened immune systems. 

This puppy's shots may or may not have been effective, in fact shots and wormer at the same time is generally frowned upon. But the effectiveness of the shots has to do with when the dam's immunity wears off, since no one knows exactly when that is for this pup, they do a series of shots, and you are taking the pup here and there that may not be protected at all. Just something to keep in mind. 

Colitis happens in dogs that are stressed. Try to reduce unnecessary stress at this time. Usually I suggest my people to keep feeding the dog the food I give them for several days and then wean slowly. The pup can get used to his new home for the first week or so -- no trips to dog-places, and keep stress to a minimum. 

I am worried about the water too. 

Good luck with the puppy.


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## dazedtrucker (May 2, 2011)

OK... we've seen the poop...it's only fair we see the PUPPY!!! pics?


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## robbidyV (Oct 16, 2010)

Here is a picture from the other day:










@ Selzer - As I mentioned in my first post he had plenty of reasons to have diarrhea. It was that the diarrhea changed consistency and had large amounts of mucus that I started to freak out. Although he laid in his crate for the trips without hardly a whine I still feel bad and understand his stress. Hopefully now that we're home for a month or two he can relax with his new family. But I didn't know about not to giving wormer at the same time as puppy shots. When I mentioned that water I didn't mean that he was drinking too much though, just that he was staying hydrated.


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## robbidyV (Oct 16, 2010)

Well, our 11 week old puppy is now nearly 6 months old. The vet has checked his stool three times now and not seen anything since that original incident with the worms. She's also checked for Coccidia each time. The opinion of the vet was that the Wellness brand dog food might be too rich so after 2 months on Wellness we switched him back to the Eukanuba he was on when we got him. The breeder says there were no issues on his end (no pun intended). It's been over a month, going on two and no improvement. As he's grown the issue however has become more precise than on-again off-again diarrhea. As he has a bowel movement it starts out semi-solid then he walks a few steps and starts a new pile and it comes out very soft. This is standard for him. I think that's why I thought it was separate instances before but now it's obvious with the quantity of output he has. 

There has been no travel and I've cracked down on what he eats in an attempt to eliminate what goes into him as a cause. No scraps and just the occasional raw-hide to protect the furniture. I will be changing his food again shortly after he's been on his current food for 2 months to something without chicken, as has been pointed out some dogs have issues with chicken. The vet keeps telling me he's a little skinny so I've been increasing his food, he's now eating 5 cups of food a day, he's just over 50 lbs. He's not terribly active, at least not considering he's a working line but the breeder only sold him to us due to that fact (otherwise he would have went to Schulthund we were told) so I am thinking it's more a bit of his personality although this might be just a long standing issue. 

Any clue where I should take this from here?


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

There's a whole host of things it could be, from protozoas like giardia and coccidia (which, depending on where he came from, are quite likely) or worms or even the start of parvo. Also it could be dietary changes and irritation, and the way his stomach works.
Definitely visit the vet. If vomiting or loss of appetite/lethargy and depression set in, it's going to be an ER Vet visit if no regular vets are open.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

he was an adorable puppy and is turning into a handsome man!!

Maybe your overfeeding..My adult girl gets 2 cups am 2 cups pm, at 5-6 months, she probably got 1.5 if that, twice a day..

You don't want him fat, I like em lean,,his weight doesn't sound bad for his age.

As for the diarhea, I honestly don't know what to tell you..I do know wellness can be to rich for some..tho I'm not a purina fan,,I have used Purina Senstive Skin/stomache on my 'itchy' dog...Salmon based, worked great, however, he packed on the pounds (aussie that I did not want fat!).

So maybe consider that, it might help his gut/diarhea problem and may put some pounds on him if that's what you want to do..

Hope you can figure it out...


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