Hi can anyone help me?I have a litter of two puppies they were 4 weeks on friday.I started to wean them the day after they turned 3 weeks (last saturday)with tiny bits of soaked pedigree puppy complete.It quite a few days for them to get the idea if it but recently they had been eating it fairly well,until yesterday however i noticed they didnt seem too interesteked and picked about a bit so very stupidly i know i added a very small amount of a pedigree puppy pouch to try and tempt them.This seemed to interest them but they couldnt manage the biggish peices of meat so i abandoned that idea and let mum finnish off what was left and continued with the complete soaked.Today they have diareah which without being too graphic resembles a lumpy gravy,dark brown thickish stuff with a clear brown water around it,a bit like this cosistencey of bird poo when it splatts with the thick bit in the middle and watery stuff round the edge,sorry but this is the only way to describe it.Also i allowed mum to take her cooked filled bone which i bought her yesterday in the whelping box with her last night,could either of these things caused this a day later?They are lively and playing but im reluctant to feed them as it seems to go straight through at the moment and i have given them some yogurt as i believe this is supposed to help.If they are still lose in the morning or seem to go quite or anything before that then i will take them to the vet straight away,but am i right to stop feeding for today(including mums milk as maybe she has something although her poo is fine)and just give water and occasionly some live yogurt hink?Any advice whatsoever would be greatfully apprieciated,thanks.

Hi Guest

You are the one best placed to see how your puppies are - if they are still lively, bright eyed and not dehydrated they I would leave going to the vet for now to see if they dry up a bit.  If they start to look the slightest bit unwell, pass blood or the dire-rear goes on for more than 24 hours I would consult your vet.  Puppies can go downhill very fast when ill so keep a close eye on them.

Dogs should not be given cooked bones due to the risk of splintering - raw bones are generally fine.  Even young pups can manage soft bones - my lot demolished the bones in breast of lamb - with meat still attached - last week at five weeks old.

Hi Guest,

The filling in the bone could cause a problem for puppies. Those fillings are of dubious origins and ingredients, sit around for months if not years before they are sold, and while an adult dog may have the constitution and digestive track to handle it, puppies most definitely do not.  If there was some sort of bacteria present in the filling then it could have been passed to the puppies.

If the puppies are not back to normal today I would take them to the vet.

Stacey