Rookie here...is this normal?

[huffythethreadslayer]

We picked up a 9 week old Cavapoo today and have had the loveliest day with her. She had a 50 minute drive home, and she travelled so well in the car; then a quick trip to grandmas; then the pet shop; then home.

Has spent the whole day sleeping, eating, weeing on the carpet and sometimes the newspaper (both times we went mental with praise). We've fed her just what it says on her dinner sheet; scrambled egg for brekkie and supper; liver and rice and biscuits for tea, a bit of tinned dog food for lunch. Offered lots and lots of water.

She's pooed a couple of times and the last one was a bit runny. Then, about 50 minutes later she was sick. She just bought up bile and straight after it she wanted to play. Does that ring any alarm bells??

I thought she was breathing a bit hard during the night, but I'm not sure if that's normal, what with the heat and all and I've read that a stressed dog will breathe more heavily. She looks healthy, she's friendly and gorgeous...am I worrying for nothing?

I'm taking her to the vets as soon as I can next week, but should I be making an urgent call Or is this all part of settling in???

HELP! Please.

Not a puppy expert by any means, but my dog would sometimes spontaneously throw up for no particularly obvious reason - then be fine again. He'd probably eaten something his stomach didn't like (he was a lab cross so very likely!).

If your pup seems fine this morning, and is eating/drinking/playing, I wouldn't worry. If she starts throwing up again, or seems unwell (dry nose/not playing/not eating etc) I would go to emergency vet. Same as kids, really.

But someone who has more experience may be along to say otherwise

Congrats on your new pup, she sounds gorgeous!

im a VN and if you phoned our practice i would say as an isolated incident, dont worry about it.

it was probably a combination of heat, excitement / exhaustion and a slight diet alteration - even if you feed the same type of food the breeder did, your way of preparing it may be different.

as long as she is bright this morning, eating and drinking normally and active i would not worry. try to keep her to small meals in this hot weather and although its tempting, dont over exercise her or over excite her, she is still a tiny puppy and needs her rest.

to be honest i would be swapping from your breeders diet sheet to a good complete puppy diet as soon as i could. feeding her in the way you describe could quickly lead to imbalances in her diet which could affect her growth and possibly make her ill. there will be people on here who cook a complete diet for thier dogs and with care and experience its possible to get it right, but as you yourself say you are a "rookie" i would be trusting a commercial dogfood.

good luck & enjoy your new puppy

Firstly, I wouldn't be encouraging pup to go on newspaper - I think that this can often prolong toilet training as it gives them the mistaken idea that it's okay to go in the house, even if it is on paper. Much quicker and less confusing to take them outside frequently (initially setting her on a sheet of paper there if that's what she's used to) and then praising there, simply ignoring anything that's done inside the house.

That's a weird old diet and sounds too rich and varied for such a young pup, that might be the cause of the runny poo and vomit (Elibean is right though that dogs often chuck up without adverse effect). I'm an advocate of a raw/BARF diet but another good option would be a quality grain-free puppy food like Fish4Dogs. Pets at Home do a comparable version (Wainwrights, I think? There's a dry food and wet trays).

She was probably snoring!

Feel free to tell me to bugger off but did you see the results of any health tests for the puppy's parents? Hip score for both, eye test for both, heart test for the CKCS? Did you respond to an online ad?

OK, firstly housetraining. You don't want to encourage her weeing in the house. Take her outside every 20 minutes, and straight after any accidents in the house. Think of a name for going - e.g. 'toilet time' or whatever. When she goes outside, go wild with praise. And praise the behaviour - don't say 'good girl', say 'good toilet time' so she knows exactly what is being praised!

Completely ignore accidents in the house except to take her straight outside. Gradually as she gets older you will get a sense of how often she needs to go. Crate train her so she's in her crate at night. She won't go in her crate but you should take her out once or twice during the night. I housetrained a puppy in 3 days doing all this - she was a clever girl though!

The diet does sound a bit much if I'm honest. Get a really good quality grain-free puppy kibble instead. Tinned food is rubbish - don't bother with it. If you want to moisten her kibble then drizzle with olive oil or a little bit of gravy but homemade so it's not too salty. I would agree, don't worry about one throwing up incident.

Enjoy her!

Thanks everyone. Sorry for getting back so late. We had a party to go to today, so pup was reluctantly left with my dh (the man who didn't want to get a pup outside of school holidays and stropped - he was found on the sofa, cuddled up to her, with her head on his arm). He said he'd lost her at one point, found her snuggled in the hall, fast asleep curled in a ball with her nose in my shoe!

We had so much fun with her today. We sat in the garden for hours and the little blighter wouldn't wee or poo for love, nor money. I despair but we'll try the same again tonight/tomorrow.

The breeder was recommended by a friend. I confess I didn't check all the info, but I saw the mum and dad in situ and they were both lovely temperament wise and looked healthy (feeble I know!). I know it's a risk not asking for the eye test/heart test thing....I can't believe I got swept away on the emotion of it all and bought a pup without it.

She's such a sweetheart and she's really finding her feet. Today she started chewing things a bit more...I tried to substitute hands for chew toys and we've managed, so far, to keep her from eating any human flesh...just! She has been following my girl around and wagging her tail as soon as we approach her and she's had a few mad moments, which you'd expect from a pup this age.

We've gone to a vetinary recommended diet of complete food and I'm giving her a bit of chikcen when we have it but mostly just the biscuits. She wouldn't eat the egg this morning anyway, so I'm clearly not doing it right! She just bought up the bile, nothing more, and she's been so lively, so chirpy since, I don't think we have a problem with that. The breathing still seems really fast, but perhaps that's the heat?? Keep your fingers crossed for me. My girl is at the vets next week and I'm hoping she gets a clean bill of health. She's my baby, no matter what health issues she might have...I can't imagine life without her already.

We've got a crate being delivered but it might be a day or two before it arrives. I'll be glad when it's here and and am looking forward to helping her to see it as her own, private bedroom. Hopefully it'll help her feel even more at home.

I will, undoubtedly, be back on the puppy/doghouse boards before long. Thanks again for the advice.