Ok, have read up on lots of loose bowel tales on here, and still haven't decided if I'm worrying unduly...

9wk old GSD, had his first immunisation last Friday, was wormed with Stronghold a few days before we collected him.

Food?  I've just finished moving him across to JWB puppy, he was being fed on Beta Puppy.

Breeders recommended food:

breakfast  Puppy meal with milk mixed in. (I'm using Lactol)
dinner & tea  Puppy meal with either minced meat or Nature diet mixed in - I've been using minced meat as haven't seen anywhere locally with Nature Diet.

He's been loose most of the time I've had him, but have thus far been putting this down to change of water and food.

Mostly they come out like soft toothpaste in the morning, he's produced a couple of bright yellow cow pats, but has been more normal next time.

We've just had four cow pats in the space of an hour.  All small, all with the consistency of Ready Brek, last one in the house.  Latest one seemed quite watery - slighty clear with brown bits in it, rather than brown mush.

As soon as he produces one this loose he immediately wants to eat it, have to scoop him up to dissuade him!!  He's quite adamant to eat them - was whining earlier apparently solely to go out to eat one he'd done earlier that I'd scooped up - so he just licked the concrete clean :rolleyes:

He's been off his food today - barely eaten since breakfast, when he mostly just drank the milk, and a bit of a nibble on his marrow bone.  Seems a little subdued today, but has still had plenty of time playing - just perhaps not quite as manic as previous days.  Has seemed a bit clingy today too - but wants to chew rather than cuddle  :)

Other possibly relevant info...

Despite the stronghold he's been very itchy since he came home - but he came home via a visit to a friend with a jack russell x which was also very itchy as a pup - the vet recommended Advocate for her, suspecting mites and it cleared it up nicely.  I see no evidence of fleas or skin irritation.

He's starting to seem underweight to me - his ribs are rather prominent when stroked, although the vet weighed him on Fri (8kg) and seemed to think he was fine.

Should I try starving him
giving him kaolin junior
chicken and rice
just wait a while

or go to the vets?

Just remembered - he had his first marrow bone yesterday - could this have triggered it today?  Yesterday he wasn't anything like as loose.

The marrow bone could well have triggered todays diarrhoea episodes. I'd probably try small frequent meals of bland food - chicken, rice, fish for a couple of days then gradually mix his usual puppy food with the bland diet. This should settle his insides down, but if he is still very loose in 30hrs time get him in at the vets. Also make sure he has plenty of water available.

Hope this helps and the little chap gets back to his usual self soon

Sue

Also I wouldn't mix in any milk with his food as there is no need at all at that age and many pups do get stomach upsets from it.

Ok, so marrow bone and food taken away last night.  Half qty of just biscuits this morning

He's not as loose this morning - but delivered a surprise - appears to be the remnants of a balloon!! 

Will treat him carefully today and keep a careful eye out for complications...

The marrowbone could certainly have caused the problem - if it still contained the marrow! ;) Marrow is extremely fatty and can cause loose bowels in adult dogs as well as puppies.

At 9 weeks of age he should still be on 4 meals a day, until he's 12 weeks old. How old was he when you got him? A puppy should stay on the food he's used to for at least a week after rehoming, and any changeover should take about a fortnight. Changing diets (including water) is a major disturbance for a baby puppy and needs to be taken slowly.

Ask your vet's advice as to how to proceed. There are so many factors involved here that to advise on any other course of action without examining the puppy would be foolish.

I would not give him childrens kaolin either ..
personally i dont give puppies anything other than thier said meal I dont like bones generally but especially would not give 0ne to a pup  but thats my preference

A visit to the vet would be my cholce.
Roni

i would say the marrowbone- my dog had ' a go on one' for half hour and she had AWFUL diarrhoea for 12hours, she looked miserable too, and so i wont give them anymore! he diarhoea was like how you described your pup's to be ;)

Yes it had the marrow - and he worked really hard at it to get lots.  Don't recall previous dogs getting loose with them, and certainly they had them when pups.

But we may have found another culprit - this morning's business contained the remnants of a balloon!  And he immediately wanted to swallow it again - caught him just in time!  Daft creature!!

Have made vet appt - first avail is this evening with a locum  :(

Would you recommend splitting his feed back into four meals then?

He was 8wks, when we collected him on the 2nd.  Nearer 9 1/2 now.  Breeder just suggested taking a week to move him across to new food, and recommended not to use the free pack of Pedigree that was in the Puppy pack (not that I would anyway)

A lot of changes in a few days, worming, immunisation, change of water, change of environment, change of food.

Personally I would ditch the milk as this is the last thing I would feed if there was diarrhoeah and there is no need for a puppy past weaning age to consume milk of any description.  I would also ditch the marrowbone at the mo, if you have put him on JWB puppy, why not just feed that and nothing else for a while.  Ie no naturediet or mince.  JWB is a complete food and so is Naturediet, so your dog could well be having far too much grain..............

Of course he could just be eating too much........

Is three meals enough at this age?

My GSD was on four meals until much longer.............

Apart from the odd balloon it seems, he's on purely puppy meal this morning - he didn't seem too impressed - seemed to be trying to get me to add the milk!

Barely touched it til about an hour ago when he had a fair amount (though I have reduced the portion size today).  He's not exactly being ravenous with it - far preferring to try and find a stick in the garden or something else inedible.

I honestly don't know if three meals is enough - but that's what the breeder recommended.

Hmmm...  I feel all guilty now - have tried so hard to give him a good start - first week off work, went round downstairs the day before looking for unsafe or valuable stuff, even though I work from home and have been with him most of the time.

On the plus side he settled in almost straight away, and training is a dream - we have an excellent sit, he'll squeak or sit by the back door when he needs to go, recalls are getting pretty good, etc.

Have always feed four meals until around 12 weeks.

I would firstly cut out all milky products.  I know a lot of breeders give milk to puppies past 7 weeks, but they dont need it.  Its nice every now and then. Sometimes dogs can have too big an intact of fluid, so what happens. Diarrheoa.  I think I would ask the vets advice. But if it was me I would restrict the milk.  Some dogs are intollerant to some foods.  You need to feed a good quality food. We use Arden Grange on our puppies and their stools are hard and nice to pick up. All there range is gluten free too, so your puppy will benefit from that.

Hi, My pup had terrible runs at 12 weeks - just after 2nd vaccine, I found that the cause was over feeding. You mentioned that your pup is never ravenous....maybe cut down portion sizes. up until 16 weeks, Harvey was on 4 meals a day. I have my JWB feeding guidlines leaflet here and working on a large breed pup between 6 & 12kg at 6-12 weeks of age....I would try him on 300g per day split into 4 meals. If he's eating all up and still appears hungry, then up the amount gradually by 20g and see how he goes. My husband had a Rottie long before we met and he nearly died as a pup as he ingested to much marrow out of bones so do be careful.

Hayley

Have cut out the milk today.  Have a nice big tin that we'll have to use up slowly when he's a little older.  :)

I researched food lots before I got him - and came to the conclusion that JWB, Burns and Arden Grange were well thought of.  JWB is available locally - the other two seem to be mail order only, so I tried JWB first.

I wanted him off the Beta as previous dog had Beta Active for years, and did really well.  But after a few company takeovers when they seemed to reformulate it a couple of times and change the biscuit shape, he started looking poor condition.  Changing him off that sorted him quite quickly.

Maybe I need to rethink his feeding plan - don't want to change him on to another food at the mo until his tum settles.

I might post a question in the feeding forum, but there never seems to be anything like a conclusion on feeding.

I changed my pup onto JWB after lots of thought and a very unsettled tummy and I cannot fault it - excellent food! I could build a wall with Harveys poo it's THAT firm!! LOL Having said that, every dog's different. I would try reducing the amount fed and gradually up it. out of interest, how much are you feeding? I feed my 19 week old Cavalier pup weighing 4.2kg 150g per day - a lot less than reccomended but it suits him just fine and he's well covered and healthy. The feeding guidelines do seem high.

Well it all seems to be sorting itself out...

He looks scrawnier, as he's grown and had empty tummy/guts, but is actually a little heavier.  After breakfast this morning he looks *much* better.  He's only just settled after an hour of 'raving loony'.  So I have an hour or two to tidy up before he wakes up again!

Have weighed out 300g, of which he had a quarter, which is a little more than he's been having.  He could quite easily have been overfeeding a little with the extra meat/milk added in though.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I can understand  suggesting not to give lactol at  this time as he has stomach upset which seems to be because he ate a foreign object which has caused the runs.

I also think that to give lactol with the food for a few weeks does no harm and my puppy being a v large girl needed the extra milk to satisfy her .

My breeder with over 25yrs experience was very particular over feeding and this included lactol which I gave right upto 16 wks

I just dont want every new owner who may read this post to think that theyre doing something wrong.
If your puppy is happy on it then thats fine.

Roni

Hi Matt.....

My 9 wk old BC Abby is fed on JWB and just a little puppy meat to mix in and she has not had any problems at all.  My breeder told me not to give puppies milk as it would upset their tummy.  I hope your puppy is better soon.

One cause of loose stools in puppies is overfeeding.  It helps if you understand why.  The bowel can only de-water a certain amount of material and after that it just comes out as slush.  In not taking the water out they are not getting the vitamins etc and instead of feeding them up they get skinnier, if that makes sense. 

No advice can be better than a trip to the vet for a check up to put your mind at rest but there is a lot on here about what may or may not be the problem.  If it was my puppy I would be feeding smaller amounts of one type of compete puppy food, you choice but don't mix it with others, and giving 4 small meals a day until he settles.  As ever make sure there is a lot of fresh water to drink.

If in any doubt a trip to the vet.

Good luck with your new mini monster

Yes i would definitely go to my vets for a check up, young puppies can become dehydrated so fast, it;s not worth it.  good luck Susan

Well my two Bernese Mountain dogs were on Lactol til 12 or 16 wks on advice of breeder, but they were much heavier built.

I suspect it was the balloon incident that triggered things, and the vet tends to agree.  He produced one very strange yellow jelly like yesterday tea time, and only went next after breakfast this morning - totally normal.  :)

The vet prescribed antibiotics, more on a just in case basis, and weighed him again - he's actually heavier at 6.8kg, but has grown, so looks slimmer - when his tum is empty he looked rather scrawny!  Make sure he gets plenty of fluids, feed as normal.

Last night and this morning he's been burning off the extra energy from his 'quiet' day - so have a mini whirlwind at the mo!

Will add a little live yoghurt to his feed once the anti biotics are done.

Glad to hear he's feeling better.

Regards Susan