Hi,

I collected my pup last Wedneday (7 days ago) when he was 8 weeks old. He is a GSD male. At first he settled in really well, with almost no whining etc. I bought the same food that the breeder had been rearing the pups on, and he ate perfectly at first with a very healthy appetite. He had also been paper trained prior to my getting him, and I have been trying to gradually introduce him to doing his business in our private garden. This was fine and worked well for the first 4-5 days.

For the past couple of days, his appetite has totally went. He hardly goes near his bowl when his meals are put down to him. Also he has had terrible runs for the last 2 days, frequently losing bowel control indoors. (unpleasant!)

We take him into the garden where he usually relieves himself, but recently he has just been sitting down and then returning indoors, and later on, doing his business indoors too. : (

I'm really worried that he isn't getting the crucial nutrition that he need at this time.

I wondered if it was because he realises that he no longer has to "compete" for his share of the feed with his brothers and sisters, and that even if he leaves the food alone, it stays right by his bed?

Also, when he got his first jab (the day we got him) the vet asked about worming as he has a slight "pot belly". The breeder gave me 2 worming tablets on collection which I gave him, and told me to worm him again in a fortnight. On the vets instructions however, I wormed him again today (1 week apart, at 9 weeks old) as she said there is no problem with "over-worming". Could the worms cause the loss of appetite and diahorrea?

I'm getting quite worried as I know how important his food is to his growth and health.

Any advice/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

John

Hi John,

I would take him back to the vet. There are numerous reasons why your pup may have no appetite and the runs. There is also a nasty bug going around that causes the same symptoms.

Stacey

How much is he drinking? Is he running a temperature? It sounds as though he may have picked up a bug of some sort. I would contact the vet.

Thanks for your prompt replies.

In answer to your queries....

Yes he does drink a lot of water, but he has since we got him. (prior to the runs and appetite loss)

Do you think the bug may have been in his system at this time though?

I don't think he has a temperature as I don't have the means to check it.

I'll take him to the vet today to get him checked over anyway.

What more can you tell me about this bug?

Thanks

John

The cause is not so urgent as the loss of fluids, your vet will tell you how to deal with this or may even keep the puppy in. With a pup it is important to get help if a sick pup does not improve within 24 hours.

Well I just got back from the vet with Junior!

She examined him, and his temperature was very slightly high, but she attributed that to the weather (20 degrees)

She gave him an anti-biotic jag, and digestion supplements (Canikur) along with a sachet of Lectade.

I've also to keep him on the old scrambled eggs/chicken/white fish diet for a few days till he gets over the runs, and hopefully his appetite back!

The vet said a possible cause was that he may have had an allergic reaction to one of the dog foods we are trying with him as he is weaned off the breeders choice of food. Either that or he has eaten something from the garden...

Anyway, fingers crossed and thanks for your replies.

John

I'm glad it doesn't seem to be too serious, John. :)

However I am a little concerned that the breeder didn't advise you to keep him the diet he was used to for a couple of weeks before you start gradually changing it (over a period of about a month) as their immature digestive systems can go haywire when they change home. Even a change of drinking water can affect some badly. So I would suggest that, once he's cured of his runs on the chicken/rice/mashed potato/scrambled egg diet, you put him back onto what he was used to (providing it's a quality food, of course) to settle him down properly.

Good luck. Make sure he keeps up his fluid intake.
:)

Perhaps I never made it clear Jeangenie,

I bought a 10kg sack of the food he had been reared on, so that I have plenty of time to change his diet.

The variations I referred to were, like adding a small amount of puppy food into his "complete" food from the breeder.

I also added a small amount of warm animal replacement milk to his complete on Sunday night, and have suspicions that this may have contributed.

Thanks again

John