# 5 Month Old Puppy Diarrhea



## dash24 (May 22, 2012)

Hello all,

I am new to the forums but am quite worried about my little puppy (O.P) so I figured this would be a good place to get some info. O.P has been having diarrhea now and soft stools for about three weeks. During the first 2 weeks we gave him vet recommended beef and rice and his stools did get better. However, as soon as we returned to his kibble the diarrhea came back. So we assumed it was the kibble- which had grain- but is a very premium dog food and changed to Acana grain free food with fish fruit and veggies. He still has diarrhea and our vet has put him on Flagyl for 2 weeks, we are checking in with her next monday. So far two days into the Flagyl there has been little to no improvement- stools are a bit (not much) better in the morning but diarrhea at night. O.P is also extremely tired/fatigued. He was always a very active puppy but now seems to always be lying down...this has caused some serious worries in our household. It seems reasonable though that he be so tired considering he is on the Flagyl and has been having diarrhea for almost 3 weeks. I have no clue what is causing all this as he never had anything like this before-he ate his old kibble fine for months with good stools. Our vet doesn't believe it is one of the more serious bugs and did not think we needed to do a stool culture- we have already tested his stool for bugs and it came back negative. I am here just looking for some suggestions or ideas from the community about what could be causing this? If any of you have faced a similar situation, what turned out to be the cause and what fixed it? We are praying the flagyl works but if not our Vet has some other ideas in mind. Sorry this post is so long, I am a first time dog owner and all of this is very disheartening ! Thanks!


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## ally1h (Nov 27, 2012)

Welcome to the forum! 

I'm sorry to hear about your puppy. I would recommend getting a second opinion from a different. Nothing wrong with your vet, per say. But different people have different ideas, thoughts, and suggestions.

Check your puppies gums for color. If he is dehydrated (which can happen easily in puppies with diarrhea) his gums will be pale, gray, or generally lacking in pink color. If that is the case, take him to the vet straight away for IV fluids. Dehydration is a big risk, and one that may be causing him fatigue.


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## DuggerA (Jan 17, 2013)

What was your original food? A fast change in foods can cause tummy upset, so that may have contributed to the diarrhea. Any food changes should be made slowly and gradually. If your dog didn't have runny poops previously on the food, why do you think the food all of the sudden made him ill? How did your vet examine the stool sample. If they did it in house, they may have missed something. I would bring in another sample and ask that it be sent to a better lab. Our vet did it for our dog and it turned out that our dog had Giardia, which is often missed by just a microscope. Bigger labs have better equipment for more precise results. Did they do any blood work? Also, there are some prescription diets that can help with diarrhea.


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## DuggerA (Jan 17, 2013)

Also, my dog started having a major growth spurt at 5 and a half months, He sleeps much more during his periods of rapid growth.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

OP has all the symptoms of Giardia. Prolonged diarrhea will flush the "good" bacteria (needed for proper digestion) from the gut. Prolonged use of antibiotics will also have a negative effect on good bacteria. 

For the time being I would go back to the boiled hamburger and rice or to boiled chicken and rice for a couple of weeks. The pup should be able to tollerate that. Then its digestive tract can settle down and begin to function normally again. Then ever so slowly start to add a small amount of kibble to its diet.


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## dash24 (May 22, 2012)

Our previous food was Canidae- either lamb or chicken and rice. O.P was fine on the Canidae for months but about 3 weeks ago started to have diarrhea. At first we thought he developed an intolerance to the food or grain and changed to Acana. Now that he still has diarrhea we think it has to be some kind of bug and was not the food. 

We are going to the vet today and I will mention Giardia and a possible stool culture. His energy level seems to be a bit better today, but he still has diarrhea three days into the Flagyl :/.


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## Bosn'sMom (Feb 11, 2013)

we had this same issue with our pup from day one.. we finally switched to natural balance sweet potato and venecin and i swear all of his problems went away. i was so upset for months thinking something was wrong and once we switched the food i swear all of our potty problems went away.

hang in there! you are doing the best thing for him with making sure he is seeing the vet and not ignoring it! make sure he drinks plenty of water too


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## dash24 (May 22, 2012)

Thank you Bosn'smom, how many foods did you try before you found the right one? did he have fatigue? did you try any medicines?


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## Bosn'sMom (Feb 11, 2013)

Hi Dash,
boy oh boy did we try it all. When we brought him home he was on Eukanuba pure puppy. We took him home at 7 weeks. Within maybe 3 days we were at the vet becuase of his stool. The vet put him on metronytazol and we also added yogurt to his diet. This cleared up the stool but as soon as he would go off the meds (after two weeks) the diarrhea would come back. We did this for almost two months until finally a second vet (who we LOVE) told us to stop the meds. Too many meds for such a young puppy is not good. We stopped the meds and switched to Wellness Puppy. After a week of nothing helping we switched slowly to Wellness Simple Duck and Oatmeal formula. This seem to start to help a lot! The stool was never really a log by any means.. more like soft serve ice cream. It had a shape but obviously i would be at the dog park and look around and know something was not right. I could barely pick it up. So, after two months of the wellness simple we switched to the Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venecin. I have heard from about 3 or 4 other golden owners who have also had good luck with this food. He is 100% normal now! It took about 10 days for the new food to really start to have an impact so be patient. 

I think honestly a second opinion with a vet always helps. The bottom line is that if you think something is up don't be afraid to have him looked at. My friends were always joking that I was treating my puppy like my child (since I don't have any yet) and that I needed to relax but I'm glad I didn't! We found a solution and now there is no stress in my household! 

Also, to answer your last questions- he never had any signs of fatigue and he drinks A TON of water during the day so I never worried about dehydration but I'd keep an eye on his water intake just in case. 

I hope this helps! I was stressed for months (and he is my first dog so I was so nervous I was doing something wrong) but I think each dog just needs to find the food that works for him. He's now 7.5 months and 76 lbs and growing... so trust me it didn't hurt him long term at all.


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## dash24 (May 22, 2012)

Bosn'sMom: your situation sounds very similar to what we went through when we got our puppy. We brought out puppy home and he had a bit of loose stools, we gave him yogurt and flagyl and it went back to normal. It sounds like in your case is was just about finding the right food. However, because our pup was doing so well on his normal food for almost 4 months, then all of a sudden developed diarrhea that has lasted 3 weeks now. Hopefully when we take him to the vet today she will have some answers, we are also in touch with another vet. we really want our pup to get better!


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## GoldenNewbee (Jan 9, 2013)

So interesting, Murphy is also 5 months old and has had diarrhea since this past Saturday. I feed him the next morning and he threw up. Vet said nothing the rest of the day and then onto chicken and rice the next day. He was and is drinking water and seems a little tired, but then he will get sudden bursts of energy at night. I took him into the Vet on Tuesday morning b/c the diarrhea was worse, like water. Vet put him on medicines and he's slowly showing signs of firmer poops, not completely back to normal, but better. He's on Acana Wild Prairie and has been for months. But, the Friday night before he started having intestinal issues, he had chewed on a Jones Natural Chews rib bone which he had a few times before on special occasions. Although I checked and there were no recalls... that's where we suspect he might have picked up some bad bacteria... Still waiting for the normal poops though... Hope your puppy is better very soon!


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## dash24 (May 22, 2012)

Our vet recommended a prescription diet of venison and potato with no medication for now. In about 5 days we will be getting his stool cultured as he was just on flagyl and there must be a waiting period between medicine and culture. hopefully this new food will help a bit


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## Ohiomom9977 (Jul 27, 2012)

Charlie's digestive issues (initially vomiting) started around 4 months - diarrhea started at 5 months. Lamb & rice seems to be his magic combo...


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## dash24 (May 22, 2012)

Yeah, it seems like its just about finding the right food and ingredients. Hopefully our pup doesn't have any bugs when we do the culture.


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## Dwiggins (Feb 11, 2013)

Don't know if this helps..but lord knows I'm QUEEN on having a pup w/ diarrhea! She started w/ in 2 weeks of having her..but I think I caused that one by switching foods. She had another episode @ about 12 weeks...fecal negative...vet said bacterial because she is seeing like 2-3 cases a day...she uses prescription I/D food to get things back on track along w/ antibiotics..that stuff works WONDERS! Then 2 great weeks..then back to the good ole diarrhea. I stopped antibiotics too soon.. We just went to vet again & she said a solid 5 more days of antibiotics & no food other than I/D...within a half a day..back to normal again. This time I will finish all meds & use this food...then. We will see? I simply cannot afford all those top top foods. I bet I've spent way over $1000 on Kenzi since I've gotten her! And she is now 4 months... We are on Pro Plan chicken & rice....and...my vet is also a golden owner


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## Dancer (Apr 5, 2010)

How are things working out with your pup? Your pup's symptoms sound a lot like my little guy's when we got him. We brought him home at 8 wks, his stool was kind of soft and slimy looking and STUNK to high heaven... I've had puppies, but this was just toxic! 5 days after he came home, he pooped himself in his crate (ugh!) unusual for him in the short time we'd known him. Late the next evening he had diarrhea, and by midnight he was alternately puking and diarrhea. We were beside ourselves! He was still alert, and drinking water. We stayed up all night watching him sleep, wake, puke/poop...heartbreaking. In the morning we made an appointment with the only vet in town open on Sundays. We were thinking food allergy, as our last golden was plagued with them. All of a sudden, his energy level plummeted and he wouldn't take boiled chicken from my hand- totally weird for such a ravenous little beast! I looked at his gums, and found them pale pale whitish pink. We rushed him straight to the vet, and they pushed other appointments back to see him. He was not yet 9 wks old. The tech who examined him asked where he was purchased from and when we told her, she said that kennel had recently had a giardia out break in a litter of pups the previous month. At this point I was terrified of parvo and praying it was giardia. We rushed home to collect some stool samples from him and our adult golden, and upon testing they found the poor puppy to be absolutely riddled with giardia (the adult was totally clear). Puppy had to stay 3 nights at the vet's office. Perhaps a little overkill, but after losing our 5 yr old golden out of the blue so recently, we were willing to literally do anything the vet required. We called his kennel to let his breeder know he was sick and to look out for the other pups ( or maybe warn their owners???) and she was out if town...but the lady taking care of her place said "Giardia? Oh, we'll, (insert breeders name) had a problem with that a couple weeks ago!". After hearing this from the kennel, the vets office, and having the stool sample confirm it, we were pretty certain. We had to sterilize our floors/dog beds/ dog toys/bowls etc daily, treat our adult dog as a precaution, skip his first puppy classes..... It was a very tough time. 

As an aside, his breeder denied all knowledge of giardia at her place. We could've saved the puppy this painful, traumatic experience and given him preventative treatment if we had been informed of this. It would've also saved us nearly a thousand dollars just 6 days after purchasing him for $1200, not to mention the emotional distress. Extremely disappointing. 

Sorry to go off on a tangent there. Obviously, I haven't "forgiven" or "forgotten" yet. But I sure hope your baby is doing well. It really sounds like giardia. 



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## grlove (Mar 27, 2015)

I found a teaspoon of pumpkin with every meal and a quarter tablet of pepto bismol really helped with diarrhea.


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## Lilly15 (Jun 4, 2015)

I went through the same with lilly she still recovering she had diarrhea for over a month and put on flagyl as well... Shes has gotten so much better we found out she cant tolerate chicken... She still has 2 days on the pill but eating only plain rice and gradually giving her new food which is nutro lamb Nd rice... We tried 3 diff foods and nothjng worked but they were all chicken she disnt do too good on plain chicken and plain rice either thats how we figured it was the chicken.... But if ur pup doesnt do good with his new food i would make them test him for giardia and coccidia with poopy sample


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Lilly15 said:


> I went through the same with lilly she still recovering she had diarrhea for over a month and put on flagyl as well... Shes has gotten so much better we found out she cant tolerate chicken... She still has 2 days on the pill but eating only plain rice and gradually giving her new food which is nutro lamb Nd rice... We tried 3 diff foods and nothjng worked but they were all chicken she disnt do too good on plain chicken and plain rice either thats how we figured it was the chicken.... But if ur pup doesnt do good with his new food i would make them test him for giardia and coccidia with poopy sample


Just so you know the nutro lamb still has chicken fat in it. Chloe couldn't eat the chicken one but does great on the lamb. Although today we bought the purina pro plan grain free lamb and egg to see if a different food stops her from eating her poop.


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## Lilly15 (Jun 4, 2015)

Cpc1972 said:


> Just so you know the nutro lamb still has chicken fat in it. Chloe couldn't eat the chicken one but does great on the lamb. Although today we bought the purina pro plan grain free lamb and egg to see if a different food stops her from eating her poop.


she seems to be doing good with it! its been a week and doing good so hopefully she keeps it that way!... she still taking flagyl has like one more day on it so hopefully once hses done with it the runs dont come back


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## Stephanya (Jul 5, 2015)

We have had three goldens now, and all three have had sensitive digestive systems. We have found that experimenting with foods until you get the right one (and adding in a good probiotic) has done the trick. Interestingly, all three dogs systems' needed a different dog food. So strange!


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