Puppy keeps getting diarrhoea

[lovemydog301]

We have a lovely 14 week old fox red Lab puppy, who is great apart from the fact that she keeps getting diarrhoea every 2/3 days.

The vet dismissed our concerns, and put it down to her being a lab and therefore eating everything in sight.

We're crate training her, and haven't slept through the night since getting her at 8 weeks. Often through the night we're having to go to her crate and clean up poop from all over her.

We're feeding her dry food; I've slowly tried a different food to see if that helps, but nothing seems to.

Any advice much appreciated. I'm so sleep deprived.

My dog as a puppy frequently had diarrhoea.

Did your vet do a checkup or just dismiss it as upset stomach? Ours often had a bit of a high temperature so needed treatment.

However, this went on for a long time and despite trying different foods etc he always has frequent episodes which ended up with him being admitted as it turned out he has a chronic stomach condition.

It could be down to food or eating stuff but equally if you think it is something more then I would find a different vet who will listen to you.

For food we have found a good quality wet food was better digested then kibble as it was kinder to his stomach. Have you been given probiotics to help settle the stomach such as pro-kolin which can sometimes help.

We had two puppies like this. Tried everything. Nightmare. Eventually bumped into another dog walker who also owns a specialist dog shop. She suggested either a fish based diet (as in fish dog food) or a raw diet. Our boys are not big on fish so we tried raw. After 3 weeks of green tripe (it stinks to high heaven) we started adding different proteins. It's not ideal because it's raw but it's the only thing that has completely settled their stomachs and I'm not up all night 🤷🏽‍♀️ maybe the fish one would work for you if raw is too icky.

Has the vet given you a pro biotic you try? As far as I remember it was a paste we added to his food.
Fish is apparently much easier for dogs to digest and especially good for ones with allergens. We tried Millie Wolfheart's Riverside Mix which our Ddog got on very well with.

Take in a 3 day composite faecal sample and ask for a giardia test to rule out infection.

I’d be wanting a stool sample tested.

In the meantime I’d also feed grain free good quality food like Millie’s wolfheart. Could also be worth avoiding chicken based foods as quite a few dogs have an intolerance

Thanks so much for the suggestions! They're really helpful.

I'll definitely give the fish and the probiotics a go. I'm less keen on the raw food idea just because it's a bit more of a faff. However, if all else fails I'll try anything!!!

Can't wait to sleep again... (what even is sleep)

I'd def be getting a test for giardia. In my experience it gets better and worse (you think you've cracked it and then it comes back), and the only way to clear it up is with a course of Panacur in the first instance (antibiotics don't work). You then need probiotics to rebuild the gut biome.

But if she is eating everything (and esp things from the garden) you need to manage that by keeping her on a lead outside, policing food in the house etc. Also look at what treats she is having as its easy to give them a lot of junk treats when training - dried sprats are great with no grains or other upsetting stuff and can be broken into tiny bits

Good luck! Yes raw is a total faff. If you end up having to do it then definitely do green tripe for a hit first!

as previous posters have said, get your puppy tested for giardia.

I'd scrap treats, give cheese, carrot or chicken.

Also what food are you feeding? Not all dry foods are terrible.

I'd second a course of pro-kolin, you an but this on Amazon a lot cheaper than the vets. Also I'd probably give them another wormer. You can worn monthly with a lot of them, but they often are given every 3 months. When were they wormed ?

Pro biotic paste always worked for ours when she was a pup. We also changed to a better quality dry food than the one given by the breeder which also made a massive difference.
There is a website called all about dog food which gives you a rating for all the well know brands. We currently feed Our dog Eden which they give a nutritional rating of 92%.

Our pup (10 months) has a very sensitive tummy. We found that when we switched her food we had to do it every so gradually. Like literally a few new kibble with her old. It took many weeks for her to be fully on the new kibble. However, the new food still can give her the runs.

We spoke with our local pet store and what they recommended works for us. We add a tablespoon or either sweet potato or pumpkin puree to her food for added fibre and 2 tablespoons of raw goat milk. The raw goat milk adds as a probiotic for her.

Since we have been doing this we have no incidents. Sometimes when we run out I see how she gets on with just her kibble as they can often outgrow their sensitivity. But usually returns after a few days.

She is on a very good locally made dry food with no added crap (no pun intended) in it.

Perhaps your pup just needs more fibre (which doesn't make them poo more but makes it more solid and poo shaped) and a probiotic.

Good luck!