# 12 week old puppy STILL has diarrhea even after some things



## Agustin (Mar 17, 2011)

*12 week old puppy STILL has diarrhea even after some things Updated 3/20*

So I'm new here, but not new to dogs. I recently purchased a Weimaraner puppy from a very reputable breeder. Puppy came home at 8 weeks and immediately had diarrhea. I've been very active with the breeder since the puppy was 10 days old so I'm familiar with the health overall.

When I picked the puppy up from the breeder to take him home, I noticed they had him on Blue Buffalo puppy food, but I know they were not fed this before that. Well we got the puppy home and he had diarrhea right off the bat with blood in it. We took the puppy to our vet and did a fecal sample to test. The vet called back in the afternoon and said he had giardia. The vet prescribed metronidazole and a probiotic. He was also wormed again and just had his 12 week shots, so everyone is up to date.

We administered the medication over two weeks and also made a diet change during those two weeks, as I did not want him on that food. His diarrhea did not seem to have an end in sight, so I went ahead and put him on a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice until he had firm stools. About 2 days went by and he finally did have firm stools so we started SLOWLY introducing his dry food again. 

We feed our puppy Diamond Naturals, but I don't want to get into a debate on dog food, as the Blue Buffalo was causing the same condition. Moving on. He still has loose stools and we're wondering if it's something that will resolve itself over a period of 2-3 weeks or if we need to be concerned.

We're thinking his GI has been through the hell and back and just needs time to stabilize, but I figured I'd see if anyone here has any suggestions. For all intents and purposes his a great puppy. We have him house trained and crate trained and he acts completely normal in every way; when he poops it's just watery.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for any help you folks can offer.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

First, the obvious: Diarrhea is serious, clear it with the Vet... Now that that is outta the way....
1. Not a debate - I feed my dog Purina. I gradually switched to the high price food. Even after the two week transition, he still had loose stools. After a month or two, his stools never got firmer. He was OK, but I didn't like the lack of firmness and went back to the cheaper brand. My point is not the specific brand (obviously), but that the richer food sounds like a reasonable cause.
2. For a healthy dog that needs a little help, a tablespoon of canned, pureed, plain pumpkin twice a day works fairly well. No additives, pie filling, or sugar. Pumpkin only. It may be hard to find, you may have to buy Organic, but you should only need one can. 

You can add it to current food, or feed it with boiled chicken. For some reason, dogs tend to like the flavor ??? But, clear it with the Vet.... because the Vet may still be diagnosing ... if the Vet says don't waste your money, then ask "Will it hurt?" If it doesn't interfere with the Vet, then it is your money...


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## Deeken (Feb 14, 2011)

It may be the food. I would put him on whatever he was eating at the breeders. The diarrhea initially may have been a result of the giardia and its being compounded with a food switch. You can switch to what you want to feed in a couple of months. I generally never recommend that people switch foods for a new puppy. It can cause a lot of upset and is much easier if it is done once the pup is a bit older and comfortable in the house. Oh and I would watch him very carefully as its really easy for a little puppy to dehydrate and he may need to go back to the vet.


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## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

Giardia can take a couple of rounds of metro to get rid of. I would take samples over 3 days back to the vet and have them take another look for giardia. It doesn't always show up in a single sample, so put the samples in separate ziplocs and label each with date & time of day. Did you thoroughly clean everything the puppy came into contact with? We washed all toys & bedding, shampooed the carpets, bleached all floors & patio that could be bleached, replaced the mulch in her potty area and treated it with a kennel disinfectant. The puppy also got numerous baths until she was clear of the giardia. Probably went overboard but giardia can survive a long time, even through freezing. Has your pup had any access to standing water outside? Or been where any wild animals have been? We think that's how our pup got it - vet said a lot of dogs in our neighborhood were getting it from the wildlife refuge running through our sub that we walked multiple times per day.


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## Agustin (Mar 17, 2011)

hanksimon said:


> First, the obvious: Diarrhea is serious, clear it with the Vet... Now that that is outta the way....
> 1. Not a debate - I feed my dog Purina. I gradually switched to the high price food. Even after the two week transition, he still had loose stools. After a month or two, his stools never got firmer. He was OK, but I didn't like the lack of firmness and went back to the cheaper brand. My point is not the specific brand (obviously), but that the richer food sounds like a reasonable cause.
> 2. For a healthy dog that needs a little help, a tablespoon of canned, pureed, plain pumpkin twice a day works fairly well. No additives, pie filling, or sugar. Pumpkin only. It may be hard to find, you may have to buy Organic, but you should only need one can.
> 
> You can add it to current food, or feed it with boiled chicken. For some reason, dogs tend to like the flavor ??? But, clear it with the Vet.... because the Vet may still be diagnosing ... if the Vet says don't waste your money, then ask "Will it hurt?" If it doesn't interfere with the Vet, then it is your money...


I did put some pure organic pumpkin in his food this morning, about 2 tablespoons, and he seems to enjoy that. I'm starting to see your point on the food. It seems like there appear to be a number of problems that are centered around his diet. I see a lot of talk about food alergies, diarrhea, upset stomachs and diet changes on the board and they all have one thing in common, rich foods. Might be something to this. I'm going to keep him on the pumpkin with kibble for the next week or so and see what happens. 



Deeken said:


> It may be the food. I would put him on whatever he was eating at the breeders. The diarrhea initially may have been a result of the giardia and its being compounded with a food switch. You can switch to what you want to feed in a couple of months. I generally never recommend that people switch foods for a new puppy. It can cause a lot of upset and is much easier if it is done once the pup is a bit older and comfortable in the house. Oh and I would watch him very carefully as its really easy for a little puppy to dehydrate and he may need to go back to the vet.


The food was most definitely switched by the breeder before I brought him home I think. I remember her saying what they feed their dogs then all of the sudden a new brand (Blue Buffalo) appears. I think I have a compilation of anxiety from when we brought him home, a potential change in diet from the breeder, a change in diet from us, coupled with giardia is a recipe for a weak GI. Rather than change his food AGAIN or put him on a bland diet, we'll likely continue this run with some pumpkin, maybe some probiotics and see what happens. I think I can rule out parasites at this point too, as his stools firmed up while on the bland diet. Based on research that I've done, parasites affect the GI tract at all times, which would include being on a bland diet.



winniec777 said:


> Giardia can take a couple of rounds of metro to get rid of. I would take samples over 3 days back to the vet and have them take another look for giardia. It doesn't always show up in a single sample, so put the samples in separate ziplocs and label each with date & time of day. Did you thoroughly clean everything the puppy came into contact with? We washed all toys & bedding, shampooed the carpets, bleached all floors & patio that could be bleached, replaced the mulch in her potty area and treated it with a kennel disinfectant. The puppy also got numerous baths until she was clear of the giardia. Probably went overboard but giardia can survive a long time, even through freezing. Has your pup had any access to standing water outside? Or been where any wild animals have been? We think that's how our pup got it - vet said a lot of dogs in our neighborhood were getting it from the wildlife refuge running through our sub that we walked multiple times per day.


We haven't cleaned everything yet, but it's on my to do list I can assure you. He has not had access to standing water and we watch him constantly. If he's outside he's with us and fully supervised. I don't know, I'll wait until some time passes before taking him to a vet again. Just like normal doctors, vets just seem to push medications on animals. I would love to find a vet who actually didn't mind suggesting some natural ways to take care of things when everything else has been ruled out.

As far as dehydration, we're watching that very closely. He pees normally, drinks normally and appears to have all the signs of a healthy normal puppy. I really just hope this passes and soon. I love this little guy to death and would hate to see him suffer. Thanks to everyone who replied. It really helps to get another perspective.
*
Update: *
Well a new twist, hopefully a good sign. He was having diarrhea in his kennel at night the last two nights and we thought he might have a mild reaction to his latest shots. Well today he passed 2 rocks that were about the size of nickels! I'm thinking that caused a small blockage and was only allowing water to pass. We'll keep an eye on him, but I'm thinking this is a good thing. We shall see.

Anyone else deal with something like this?


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