Hi. I would appreciate some advice. I have a litter of five puppies born on the 26th July. The mum is fantastic with them and they have thrived. Since Monday they have been having bouts of yellow diarrhea. Not liquid, a bit like toothpaste. I took the litter to the vet on Monday and they gave them each an injection. They have still been gaining weight, they are roughly two - two and half time their birth weight now. They have been checked three times by the vet this week. I gave them Lectade on Wednesday and they had another injection yesterday and the vet checked them over saying they were a healthy looking litter and couldn't understand what is causing it.  She said it could be just one of those things, as they are not sick and still gaining weight and feeding. They sometimes go hours without any diarrhea and then they suddenly have a bout. I thought today it had cleared up. There was none from 4am but then around two this afternoon it started again. It seems to be a different one each time. When mum feeds it doesn't seem to go straight through ,as it can be few hours before any mess is passed. Mum is being fed on Pro Plan puppy food. I was giving her extra... ie fish, chicken wings but I have stopped this at them moment thinking it might have been cause of the problem, so she is on unlimted Pro plan. Mum is fine, stools normal. I was just wondering if anyone has ever had this? I have heard that sometimes the bitches milk can cause this, if it is too rich. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for reading this:)

Toothpaste consistency is what i would expect unweaned pups poos to be.

It is the colour I am concerned about. Looks like sweetcorn and smells very sour.

Are you worming them regularly?

sounds like giardia

They are too young to be wormed. Mum has been wormed regularly. They just get covered in it!!  I have worming med ready for when they are two weeks.

But there has been no vomiting or weight loss. If they had Gardia would they not have those symptoms as well? Thanks for the replies :)

When you say the are too young to be wormed, what wormer are you using?

I will use panicur starting  at 2 weeks of age. Mum was treated from day 40 as prescribed by the vet.

No, there'd be no vomitting with Giardia, however, the poos are very distinctive smelling ... like rotten eggs!  I know, from my own personal experience of having it :-( and also from a litter of puppies having it!!  Panacur is the only wormer that will deal with it, but you would need the poo testing to find out if it is giardia.

Have had experience with giardia in cats (before most vets knew cats could actually get it) and you would seriously know if you had it! Sometimes liquid, sometimes frothy, faeces with a terrible smell, as Trialist says. It does not always cause weight loss either.

If you are concerned, why not take a faecal sample to the vet for testing?

They are two weeks old on Monday. I will be worming them then. Is that Ok to wait until then to treat this if it is Giardia? My vet didn't mention anything about this. I have treated mum as prescribed and she has always been regularly wormed. Their stools seemed slightly darker about an hour ago. Not so yellow. Is panicur better than milbamax? Thank you
The smell isn't so much like rotten eggs...just a very sweet/sour smell.

That was the next step.... stool sample but the Vet didn't seem concerned as they are thriving and do not appear to be sick.  There hasn't been any mucous or froth in the stools.

Millbemax is NOT licensed for use on puppies so should not be used.

If it is giardia then Panacur is the only wormer that will clear it. However, if your pups still have diarrhoa when due to worm, personally I wouldn't, I'd be looking at just getting them checked. At any rate, I will only ever worm big dogs or pups when they are fit and healthy, unless told otherwise by my vet.

My dog had giardia at around 5 weeks - her litter was very fit and thriving!! A bit different, but when I had it, I too was fit and thriving, although morning's were particularly unpleasant (wont go into detail).  I had it whilst doing a 2 week backpacking trip in high mountains with no access down to valley let alone doctor. I lost 10lb in weight, and it was only by day 10 that I actually felt ill with it, up until then I had been fit as a fiddle barring the awful mornings. I can't see that it would be any different in pups. But as said, the smell really is very distinctive and it certainly doesn't smell sweet!!!