Puppy Question

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Sorry guys, it's been a while.

Maggie started loose stool her 2nd day here. I figured it was the switch of dog food, which often causes it. I didn't worry about it. She was eating, but not a lot.....or rather what I'd expect a pup of her size to want to eat. Figured that too was probably the switch in food. She played fine, drank fine.

Yesterday it switched to liquid. Not clear, but still liquid. She drank more and I let her drink what she wanted. She ate good last night. She ate some this morning but not a lot. Had a several liquid stools today and turned her nose up at supper. Still drinking fine, still playing. Doesn't feel hot/feverish. Eyes don't look feverish.

This is her 4th day. If it's the food switch........would it go on this long? I didn't make it to the vet for wormer, going to try tomorrow, they closed today early. She does try to gnaw on grass so I'm guessing her tummy is upset. Could it just be the food? Maybe puppychow isn't what it used to be?

She's not really acting sick, more like an upset digestive system. Usually when a puppy gets sick they go downhill super fast. Four days is not super fast by a long shot, and she ate a whole bowl last night. So maybe the puppychow is just not agreeing with her?

And no, I couldn't find any other puppy food at walmart. If she's going to have an issue with puppychow I'm going to have to go to pet's mart or TSC and see what puppy food they carry and try them instead.

Betsy is 6, so it's been a long time.........but Betsy was also born here and I did the weaning process myself so there was never an issue.
 

Hopeless

....Hopeful Now
Lisa when we brought our puppy home from the shelter we mixed his new food with the shelter brand for about two weeks to get him adjusted. So it could be the food switch with her. Not to sound gross but have you seen any worms in her waste? I noticed it in our puppy's by accident and the vet gave us some additional worming medications.

Okay so my answers where basically it could be either things LOL. Sorry not much help ;)
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
If you change foods, it's much better to do it over a period of two weeks or so, mixing in gradually increasing parts of the new food with the old until she's 100% on the new food. Can you put her back on her old food for a while and then start switching her back over slowly? Still, a puppy that small can dehydrate and go down hill so quickly, it's good that she's already got a vet appointment. They will probably want to do a fecal to see what kind of worms she has so they know what kind of wormer to give her.

And if she has worms, the other dogs will need to be treated too. With my little guys, if one of them has a problem with worms, the vet gives us enough medicine to treat all four of them.
 

Ktllc

New Member
If you want to deworm her yourself, just go to Tractor supply and get the white cattle dewormer (I'm sorry, I can't remember the name and just put my last bottle in the garbage last weekend). It has a drawing of a goat and a cow. The liquid is kind of milky. The right dosage is on the bottle. That's what our old vet back in NY gave to our first puppy when he had problems. I saw his syringe and asked him if it was the same thing as the cattle dewormer (we used to be dairy farmers), he smiled and said yes. That's what I've been using on my dogs since then.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Well, she's not sick, thank heaven. I had Travis run out and pick up some can puppy food. She gobbled it up, but I mixed a bit of puppychow in it too (not much).

Problem is, I can't switch back to whatever she was eating before because I dunno what brand it was. I don't even think it was puppy food. Travis said when he was watching the puppies eat it was big chunks like adult can dog food. (I was paying attention to other things)

So at least she's eating again. And she's drinking fine........no problem there, due to the trots I've let her have all she wants since there have been no accidents in her crate. I know she's still peeing so she's not dehydrated. No worms spotted. And trust me, I've watched for them.

I guess I'll do a can puppy food/ puppy chow mix and see how she does. It will at least keep her eating it seems.
 

StressedM0mma

Active Member
Lisa, just mix the can food with the puppy chow, and each day add a little less of the canned food. Also, you can also add a little plain yogurt to the food to help with the tummy issues. It will help with good bacteria.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Yeah, I'm mixing the two together. Small amount puppy chow to larger amount can food. She's gobbling it up like mad. And more importantly, her stool is solid again.

Could be the switch OR could be the puppy chow itself. I'm suspicious of the puppy chow as Molly will NOT touch it. (she eats everything) But she's more than happy to finish any canned the pup neglects to eat. It doesn't look like puppy chow used to.........if it has an aroma, I sure as heck can't detect one. It might be an ingredient that is bothering her as much as the food switch. Guess I'll find out as I increase how much puppy chow gets added to the canned.

Important thing though is she is NOT sick, which is what I was really worried about. If I'm going to get a sick animal, you can bet it will be on a weekend when there are no available vets.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
Something else you might try is to mix a spoonful of canned pumpkin in with her food - the regular canned pumpkin, NOT the pie filling. It's super high fiber and helps a lot with tummy problems.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Lisa...Im not using puppy chow, Im using beneful puppy. Along with my canned chicken food for the soul. Before that I did find a Food Lion Puppy food that was the size of adult dog food. Why I have no idea. It was what I was giving to Nina when she was nursing the puppies and I was waiting for a bag of my dog food to come in the mail. Yes it sounds weird to say that...lol. In fact I need to order some cans now. I have 6 cans left.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
She's doing well with it mixed now. :)

But I can't say I'm a huge fan of puppy chow........it's just I haven't located another brand in my price range, or that at least isn't OMG expensive. I know adult food doesn't have enough calories/nutrition for a puppy. But still. She's getting pedigree puppy food in can because I've not so much as seen another brand of can puppy food.

Now I know my choices weren't so limited when Betsy was a puppy. I'm going to check out pet's mart and see what they have at what prices.

At some point, I'm going to really investigate making homemade dog food. But I'm afraid to attempt it for puppies because of the nutrition thing.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I couldnt find anything other than pedigree in puppy either at the grocery store either. The only beneful was bout 14 bucks. Im sure you can find coupons. My canned food online is 27 bucks and that is for 24 13oz cans. That isnt too bad. I dont pay any taxes or delivery.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I know, right! He saw this morning while I was sleeping that Abby just doesnt do as well by herself and needs her sister to sort of show her the ropes as to how to "be a dog"...lol.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
:rofl:

Hey, whatever works!!!

And I'm sooooooooooooo happy for you. You've no idea. Because I know how happy Maggie has made me. Oddly......I hadn't really expected her to, at least not this soon. But she's already made an enormous difference.

Not that I don't have to care for the other animals, mind you. But they're all old enough.......that well, it's not the same. Maggie needs me on a different level, a level they surpassed many years ago.

But I swear to all that is holy, I will NOT go and buy her a dress like easy child wants me to. If easy child had her way she'd be wearing brightly colored sundresses and gem studded colors with matching leashes and hair bows. :rofl:

Although I *might* consider a halloween costume. While cleaning out the family room (yes that hoarders paradise we're STILL working on) Nichole found a picture of her and Mollly as a puppy at halloween. Nichole was dressed as a wizard and Molly was a pumpkin. lmao! And yes they went trick or treating together.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have already decided that I am dressing the girls up for Halloween. Abby has to have a Goth look of course and Ziva is going in Camo. I want to find Abby a black studded collar just like the one the real Abby wears on NCIS...lol. Ziva is into pink camo.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
If easy child had her way she'd be wearing brightly colored sundresses and gem studded colors with matching leashes and hair bows
... on a St Bernard/Sheperd/Rotti cross???
Ummm... easy child? That idea works much better on those little fluffy, feminine lap dogs... Poodles, Shi Tsu, etc.

Lisa - are you SURE that easy child doesn't have some difficult child in her somewhere??
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Well, she is beginning to make me wonder. But actually, I think she's in serious need of a little girl to spoil. LOL
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Yeah she needs a little girl. I was thrilled with my granddaughters and went seriously overboard with Keyana. Tell easy child to just wait. I had 3 boys who gave me all the girl grandkids...lol.

Lisa...Tony forgot to put the babies outside last night to go to bed! We dont have the crate inside yet and they have their bed under a side table between two love seats and they love going in there to lay on their little bed I got them. You can hardly see them when they are curled up there napping. I knew they were there when I left the living room to go to my bedroom last night because I dont watch the same stuff as he does at night. I told him they were still inside and he needed to take them out to the big pen because I caught them on the side of my yard barking at the fence of our neighbor yesterday. Got to watch them closer. They dont know to stay in the front yard.

Well, he forgot and I woke up to barking at 6 am and both of us rushed out to find little puppies in the house and he claims "he was doing an experiment" to see how they would do...lol. Actually all we can find is one little place they piddled in the kitchen. But I immediately put them out and told Tony to feed them in a little while. LOL
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
At their age, they should be able to hold it through the night, but probably not much longer than 8 hrs. (at least mine always have) Sounds like they're actually doing very well that way. My worry would be what sort of chewing troubles would they get into without supervision, like wires or something?

Honestly, Maggie is pretty amazing in the house training dept. She's already holding it through the night 99 percent of the time. This morning I woke up a little late and she had piddled and was NOT happy about it. But her piddle spots are about the size of a quarter right now. LOL I just tossed her towel she sleeps on into the washer. I don't expect this for at least another week or more. But I'm not complaining. That she can hold it when she has diarrhea, I do find amazing..... But that issue has resolved, thankfully. She doesn't piddle/poo inside at all. I've been keeping her to the livingroom mostly because I can close the door and watch her better. Now she'll go to the door and scratch and whine when she needs to go. To me, this is waaaay ahead of schedule. But again, I'm certainly not complaining.

No more puppies crying over the crate either. She goes in quiet as a mouse. (in my opinion this is also way early, usually takes another week or so depending on the pup) No fuss whatsoever. She does all her sleeping in there so I know right when she has woken up and can get out outside without an accident. And since she will look for a "cave" like place to sleep anyway.....it keeps me from having to look for her behind/under furniture. But this is one reason I do like them to come home with me so young. It makes crate training so much easier on both of us. I can tolerate the crying because it's baby cries (not the bring the house down adult cries of Sadie omg) and because they're little, they adjust quicker.

Sounds like Abby and Ziva are going to be full time inside. :) I think they're going to be great family members, complimenting each other. "an experiment" LMAO phhht.
 
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