This is my first time breeding, they are 6 weeks old and have very loose stools, sometimes they have completely no form and are very runny, other times they are easy to pick up and more formed. They are on James wellbeloved which is soaked for about a minute and some cruncy james wellbeloved kibble is added. They seem to be very happy, eating and drinking alot.. is it normal? One of the puppies in particular has very sloppy poo's.. we told the vets and they just said that puppies will have loose stools and not to worry about it. Just wondered if it was normal?

i had this with my last litter !! thay were ok and vet checked them ,could be the food , its a good food but might just not agree with them ? or have thay just been wormed ? this sometimes does it , and this litter dont seem to poo much ,or maybe its cus the last didnt stop pooing lol

They were wormed at 2 weeks old and again at 4 1/2.. they are 6 weeks now so i am pretty sure its not the worming. I have been sometimes adding lean minced beef or sardines as it just gets them more keen but maybe i should stop that?

could be just to rich for them ,when you start adding to good puppy food it can make it to rich ,try not to add alot and see how thay go ,if there weight is going on and there growing well it could be the food your adding :) and depending on the wormer your useing they need worming again at 6weeks :)

try giving them the puppy food seperate to the mince or sardines .

If giving fish I would give white fish rather than sardines. has the mince been frozen and defrosted before giving to puppies as this kills of any bacteria.

I presume you are not feeding milk other than goat or puppy milk?

No milk as i know it can upset their stomachs. I didnt know about freezing, when taught biology and chem at college I have always been told that freezing doesnt kill any bacteria, it just stops it multiplying and when warmed any desieses will still be there?? If im wrong then i have no idea how I got A haha!!

Hello Gundoggal, you need to freeze beef mince before your dogs consume it as it can carry something called neosporum it is a parasite not a bacteria hence why the freezing kills it look at this website :-)

Ahh i see! Thank you very much

just a suggestion if the pups don't improve - how about feeding them chicken/rice for a few meals, it nearly always helps all of my dogs or pups.

Hi I had this with my last litter. I think they were getting a sly drink from mum when her milk was drying up. Fellow breeders agreed it was probabally due to mums milk being a  tad bad. I took mum off them completely (well, much to her dismay, made a "body suit" for her so they couldn't have a quick suck) and starved them for 24 hours allowing only fresh water. Then introduce some pro-biotic yoghurt - goats is best with their normal food and it seemed to firm them up nicely within the next 24 hours. I know lotsof you will be horified at starving 6 weeks old pups but my breeder friends know what clears the runs up and it worked fast. They had put their weight back on in a couple of days.
HTH,
Aimi.