Wasn't sure where to post, so apologies if this is in the wrong place. 

So I have six six week old pups who all appear to be well, eating, drinking, playing and fighting however today their pooh is softer than it has been, the consistency of tooth paste.  They have been wormed with panacur as per instructions. 

Is this OK or should I be concerned?

I'd expect an effect on their output when wormed, as long as you don't get real diarrhoea, I put a tablespoon of live boo yogurt (usually Onken live set natural) per pup on their meals when worming seems to help.

Thanks, I'll give it a go

I'm still going crazy.  My puppies were 11 weeks old yesterday, and only two of them are still with me.  Their poop has been "too soft" for a long, long time.  The owners of the siblings have reported soft poop as well.  Still.  I have taken several poop samples to the vet over the past weeks, and nothing was found.  But it continues.  Oh what wouldn't I give for a nice firm poop!  One you could pick up in your fingers.  Forget it.  Mostly the poop is formed, but way too soft to pick up.  It is also a bit darker in color than I would expect.  Tomorrow I am starting a three-day collection and bringing it to my vet on Monday.  Maybe it's Giardia?  Everybody seems to feel just fine!  Giardia is difficult to diagnose, I have heard, as it doesn't always show up.  That's the reason for the 3-day collection, but even that may not work.  Any experience, anyone?

Giardia is definitely difficult to diagnose.  I remain sure that our old girl had giardia this time round (and every time she has these symptoms) but giardia didn't show up on her stool sample either. 

If they were mine, I'd try a course of Panacur - which is non-prescription (here anyway) and effective against giardia.  But I know you don't like Panacur!

I don't trust Panacur with very young puppies, but once they are as old as these (11 weeks), I wouldn't be all that worried.  I'll talk to my vet on Monday.  Panacur is available here only with prescription (the vet gives it to you).  I just HATE this soft poop business.  You feel so helpless.

Have your pups had any antibiotics.... Especially the strong ones like Flagyl/ metronizadole? These can play havoc with the digestive enzymes even when all infection/ parasites are cleared up. This often lead vets to repeat the course of antibiotics saying ' well, they just need a longer course" when in fact a good digestive enzyme ( I use pulverised Kale and Spinach.... Natural enzymes) helps them to digest the food properly. Flagyl is a strong anti inflammatory As well as an antibiotic  so they are often better on it and have a problem again once of it..... Often because their gut has been so hammered by the strong antibiotics.

>Have your pups had any antibiotics

Yes, indeed they have.  Two courses of about 7 days each time.  Flagyl / Metronizadole.  Yes, they were immediately better when on it.  Once off it, it seemed that the problem slowly returned.  Thanks very much, I must talk to the vet about this on Monday.  I have a probiotic paste called Zoolac.  Doesn't seem to really help.  Do you have Zoolac in the UK?  It is a Danish product, I believe.

>( I use pulverised Kale and Spinach.... Natural enzymes)

Where do you procure this?  Do you make it yourself?  If so, how?  It sounds like it must be a dry powder, right?

No I make it myself. You want very fresh leaves that still have the enzymes fresh. You need to pulverise it.... They cannot digest it otherwise.You just give a spoonful of the smashed up pulp.

>No I make it myself. You want very fresh leaves that still have the enzymes fresh. You need to pulverise it.... They cannot digest it otherwise.You just give a spoonful of the smashed up pulp.

I will try this!  Does it matter what sort of spinach it is?  So many greens are called "Spinat" here.  Is it OK to put the green leaves in a blender?  How exactly do you "pulverise" it?  I guess Kale is Grünkohl not Krautstiel (Swiss chard).  How frequently do you give the spoonful?  With the meal, either before or after?

I use organic spinach leaves and kale leaves.... From the supermarket. I smash mine up with a juicer until it is pulped and to start with give a spoonful with each meal. Another good thing to give is celery juice ( I give about 20ml for a Lab) half an hour before food on an empty tum ..... This increases the acids needed to digest the food and helps digestion, I make this by smashing up some raw celery stalks and draining off the juice. This was all,advice given to me by a fantastic holistic vet who specialises in nutrition and it works very well for mine.

Thanks a million!

Any news about your pup?

A lot of people recommend using plain LIVE bio yoghurt as its full of the good bacteria needed to replace what the antibiotics have killed off

> If they were mine, I'd try a course of Panacur - which is non-prescription (here anyway) and effective against giardia.  But I know you don't like Panacur!

Agreed.  I would definitely use Panacur suspension for a full week.  It is so very effective (as you point out.)

It may also be that the course of antibiotics wasn't long enough or the dosage wasn't high enough. 7 days is quite a short course for metronidazole.

For eg: For our 25kg dog, we gave 7 days of 250mg tablet twice a day. It came back again. We did the same dosage for 10 days. It came back again. Each time, the dog was fine on it and after about 1 day from finishing it came back. Last time we did 500mg tablet, twice a day, for 10 days. This was the max dosage. It worked. Previously 250mg has worked so I don't know why we needed a higher dosage this time. Panacur never worked for us, only metronidazole.

Our vet thinks it is not giardia but some chronic bowel condition that flares up occasionally and the improvement is down to the anti-inflammatory effects of metronidazole and her immune system finally kicking in.

And of course most conventional vets would never advise the natural,gentler, often more effective alternatives with less side effects as it not good for business.

>It may also be that the course of antibiotics wasn't long enough or the dosage wasn't high enough. 7 days is quite a short course for metronidazole.

>For eg: For our 25kg dog, we gave 7 days of 250mg tablet twice a day. It came back again. We did the same dosage for 10 days. It came back again. Each time, the dog was fine on it and after about 1 day from finishing it came back. Last time we did 500mg tablet, twice a day, for 10 days. This was the max dosage. It worked. Previously 250mg has worked so I don't know why we needed a higher dosage this time. Panacur never worked for us, only metronidazole.

>Our vet thinks it is not giardia but some chronic bowel condition that flares up occasionally and the improvement is down to the anti-inflammatory effects of metronidazole and her immune system finally kicking in.

Thanks very much, Rabid.  Very interesting about metronidazole and about panacur, and from JeanSW about panacur suspension.  And of course the natural methods from Bucksmum, which I have definitely not forgotten!  Many thanks to all.  I am grateful.  I have just made an appointment with my vet to go over and talk with him about all this.  I have to be there in one hour.  Gawd, how I hate this.  It is just so frustrating and confusing.

Just to add that Swiss Chard isn't the same as Kale but is a different vegetable that  is also known as Curly Kale here in the UK.