ASK DR.CLAIRE
Our 9 week old puppy has some diarrhoea tonight. He’s really bright! Is this a cause for concern?
In short, it’s not normal for a puppy to have diarrhoea. Diarrhoea is really just a symptom and can be the result of many underlying causes.
In this case, we really need to find the cause of the diarrhoea so that we can treat your puppy’s problem (not just the symptom). This will help us reach the best treatment plan too.
Some of the underlying causes of diarrhoea might be:
- Stress associated with change of their environment
- Dietary change induced diarrhoea
- Infectious disease (bacteria, viruses, parasites)
- Gut problems (inflammatory bowel disease, tumours, obstructions, food intolerance or food allergies)
- Abdominal or metabolic problems (kidney, liver, pancreatitis, spleen, electrolyte abnormalities, diabetes)
- Direct irritation of the stomach
- A reaction to toxins or other drugs
- Dietary indiscretion (aka what every puppy owner knows all too well – they will eat anything and everything!)
If your pup is otherwise healthy (bright, happy, great appetite and good weight), that’s a great sign, but he needs to be monitored closely as puppies can deteriorate and become dehydrated from fluid loss quickly.
However if your pup is flat or the diarrhoea is continuing he really need a hands-on examination from your local vet to treat the symptoms, but also get to the bottom of the problem.
Your pups’s diet is an important consideration in diarrhoea cases. Sometimes eliminating the problem part of the diet that is causing or caused the diarrhoea, is all that’s needed. Sometimes they need a short term (1 week) bland home-cooked or commercial food, and then be slowly transitioned to a longer term, balanced one.
If you’d like to chat in person, you can get a vet on a live video call or start a chat to discuss in more detail now.
We’re here to help!
Chat soon,
Dr Claire