I have a litter, just coming up 4 weeks. Mum went down with eclampsia a week ago so I have been weaning the pups early. Yesterday a couple of the pups seem to have diarrhea, they're not going all the time, just when the do it's very loose. I have been giving them Litterlac and a tiny mixture of puppy chum and litterlac, they seemed fine for the first few days. Do you think it's just their bodies adjusting to a different food/milk and is there anything I can do to help stop it??

Thanks
Jenny

Admin edit and moved to health forum

Sometimes giving them too much can result in diahorrea. By four weeks then can be having five small feeds a day, how many are you giving them at the moment?

Christine

My vet told me 6 x daily until they reach 4 weeks, not to put anything down overnight or they will expect it all the time..............6 x daily seems quite a lot for puppies though, do you think maybe I should cut one meal out now? they will be 4 weeks on Monday

Hello Jenny,

Maybe the puppy chum is too much for their delicate tummies, chum does have a lot of stuff in that will cause a lot of waste. I would suggest changing them (slowly) onto something like minced beef (raw) or puppy naturediet. This is what we wean our pups on and they seem to do well on both of them.

Good luck, there is also a homeopathic remedy which is for this problem (sorry, hate spelling that word.. :) ) which is called merc viv, this has helped before with us.

manda
X

Somebody else did mention that about puppy chum, maybe I should try an alternative. Although saying that, I only use a small amount with Litterlac to make a sloppy sort of mixture! My other dogs have Natures Menu, a BARF diet, think I'll look into it to see if I can get something similar for pups. I've also been told a product called Tree Barks Powder is supposed to be good for upset tummies, but after buying the product and reading the instructions it says from 8 weeks onwards.

Let's hope of gradual change of diet helps.............what they are passing isn't exactly watery, but looser than when they were feeding from mum, maybe it will just take time for their tummies to adjust!

Thanks for your help
Jenny

Get some infant Kaolin from the Chamist or the canine version from the vet, I have found giving the loose ones about 1ml twice a day soon firms them up. I found this happens sometimes after their worming, which yours should just have had?

I would steer clar of the tinned meat, and get some dry puppy food or proper meat, and puppy biscuit to soak.

The pups were wormed at 2 weeks, they are due to be wormed again tomorrow........do you think advisable to wait until the upset tummies has cleared before worming again? I will get some Kaolin today!! Will the pups manage dry food or will it need soaking??

Definitely wait until they are firm again before worming. If you use Panacur then give the minimum dose and weigh each pup separately as this can also cause quite severe diahorrea in pups.

You can wean pups directly onto raw - I gave my last lot raw chicken wings to play with at three weeks and by five weeks they ate most of them and by six they could eat whole carcassas (somewhat slowly but they managed it).

Why not give minced beef or chicken as their staple food rather than pedigree chum or follow the raw feeding regime for pups as given in Grow Your Pup with Bones?

If they remain loose then contact your vet as pups can dehydrate very quickly

Christine

As you already feed raw I would do as Kerioak advise. I do know that some raw feeding breeders feed half raw and half dry, as many owners do not want to go the raw route.

At four weeks the Dry should be soaked with hot boiled (not boiling) water, and left until soft and crumbly. By five weeks I find I leave it less time to soak, and by six weeks they are having it dry, with just a little cold water to stiop it being thrown around. By the time they go it is fed just dry, with water available at all times.

Mine continue with the milk as a dringk, and I give 1 raw meat meal, so that they can cope if new owners want to feed meat and biscuit or raw!

We just got back from the vets, mum is doing fine her calcium levels are back up, but vet advised not to return mum as the pups have managed without her for a week! As for the pups, they are on a water only diet for 8 hours, then half the normal amount of milk until their tummies settle down. She said other than that they are in great health gaining weight and not dehydrated.

Thanks for all you help, will try the RAW once all has settled down

Jenny

Ok, pups tummies have now settled down and I am feeding them a small amount of James Wellbeloved puppy soaked in warm water with a small amount of Natures Menu BARF............they love it and so do their tummies, thanks for all your help!

Jenny