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Upset Tummy?


Trav & Lyn
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We got our first puppy yesterday, he is a little 8 wk old lab and just too cute for words.

However ever since we picked him up off the dog mover’s truck his poo has gotten increasingly worse (sloppy).

The breeder has been feeding him on pedigree puppy dry food and milk during the day (not the best I know) and mince veg and pasta for dinner. I have spoken to the breeder and she hasn’t had any problems on this and his tummy was fine. Anyway the dog movers feed them super coat while traveling so I thought this might have been the reason for his upset tummy, but he did a poo when he got off the van and it was fine nice and firm not too smelly...

We get him home and return him to his pedigree diet and everything and his poo is now like water, its very hard to watch as he is only little...

Should we wait it out and see if it’s just stress and the sudden change in diet or is this something we should be concerned with?

Also we think it could be the water, we have pretty dodgy bore water where we live and so we drink bottled water. But our cat turns his nose up at the bottled stuff and will only drink the tap water, so we have given our puppy the tap water...maybe we should change to bottled water for him too or is the water something he'll have to get used too (being a lab they are true water babies and a pool of bottled water every three days might be a bit extreme)

Please help we are new at this and a bit unsure...

Thanks heaps.

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Congrats on getting your new lab puppy!!! Please come join us in the lab forum where you can show us some pics and share all your fun stories!! There's a bunch of people who are all mad about labs and they've been a godsend for me and my 16 week old Geordie!!!

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...&start=1680

As for the food, get him onto a good quality dog food that you can only buy from the vets or large pet supply shops. That way they get all their nutrition from the food and any additional food you give is for treats only (chicken wings etc.). I'd wait it out for a few days and see if it settles down. All the stress from moving can affect their poos so hopefully they'll firm up soon!

I also heard that milk can cause upset tummies so maybe stay away from that?

Anyway, good luck and I hope to see you in the lab forum soon!! One important question: is he yellow, choc or black?

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I would suggest , if you can't get him to a vet today,...give him the good water.. and no food for today... let his tummy have a rest.

If he is bright & happy, don't panic.. but if he looks lethargic/uncomfortable, or the diarrhoea doesn't ease soon.. and especially if he vomits.. please get him to a vet ASAP.

puppies can dehydrate very quickly :mad

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Our pup had quite soft poo when we brought her home as well. I have heard elsewhere that it is common for this to happen when the are re-homed initially. Must be stress related, even if pup seems happy and content. It all sorted itself out within a week or so, but I did get vets advice, and a stool sample was taken too. We continue to use Advance, as this is what our breeder used, and her stools are "perfect".... even I'm happy to go hunting for them and pick them up. :mad

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I would feed him only dry food, no mince or raw meat at the moment, until his poos firm up. Maybe change to bottled water and when he is back to normal, slowly introduce the bore water back to him (try some bore with bottled) and see how he goes. Also when he has improved slowly introduce him onto the mince etc.

If he hasn't improved in a day or two or seems very lethargic and is not taking fluids I would take him to the vet asap.

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so i have called the vet and she recommended that we just give him dry food and rice or pasta to put something in his tummy. She said the water shouldnt be too much of an issue but make sure that he is drinking fluids.

She said it was more likely stress and new surroundings but if the Diarrhea continues to go and see her this week. Thanks to everyones suggestions you've helped put me at ease a little.

Poor little guy everything else was going so well...

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Also we think it could be the water, we have pretty dodgy bore water where we live and so we drink bottled water. But our cat turns his nose up at the bottled stuff and will only drink the tap water, so we have given our puppy the tap water...maybe we should change to bottled water for him too or is the water something he'll have to get used too (being a lab they are true water babies and a pool of bottled water every three days might be a bit extreme)

Sasha had the runs when we got her, despite being on the same food as at the breeders. We tried the usual chicken & rice, saw the vet etc and nothing worked. It took us a week to work out it was the water. Once we switched her to bottled spring water it cleared up instantly. She had been on rainwater at the breeders, and wasn't used to the additives in town water. I wouldn't discount the possibility just because the vet thinks it's unlikely.

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There is a big difference between Supercoat and Advance. The change to Supercoat and the stress would be enough to set the poor little darling off. :thumbsup:

I'd put him onto rice and chicken breast for 24 hours and if his poos are looking better, slowly introduce the Advance slowly back onto his diet if you are going to feed him dry. If you can buy the inner health plus in powedered form then you can mix it in with the rice and chicken. I used this on mine when they were sick a few months back and it was fantastic.

I feed all of mine on a complete raw diet which I'd much prefer over a commercial food. But you need to seek advice from an experienced raw feeder because if you don't get the quantities right then ýour puppy would not benefit from it.

Good luck with your new puppy. He looks like a real cutie.

Cheerio

Maria

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Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your pup

As for the food, get him onto a good quality dog food that you can only buy from the vets or large pet supply shops. That way they get all their nutrition from the food and any additional food you give is for treats only (chicken wings etc.). I'd wait it out for a few days and see if it settles down. All the stress from moving can affect their poos so hopefully they'll firm up soon!

Sorry, but this is really bad advice, is all the other advice on changing his food.

If you change his food, you are sure to cause tummy upsets. Keep him on the food the breeder recommended for a couple of weeks.

I'd be taking the vet's advice, and I would also give him bottled water.

Is he happy?

Is he running around and wagging his tail, exploring, playing?

Is he eating ok?

Is he drinking ok?

If the answer to these questions is "yes", he isn't too sick, and he probably has a tummy upset from the stress of the trip and the change of home, and the change to Supercoat. If he still has the runs big time in a couple of days, take him to the vet, but he may need 4 - 5 days to settle.

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He is happy and playing heaps this afternoon and has even managed a couple of soft but not water poos so i think he is on the mend. He just had plain pasta and mince for dinner and he ate all of that fine as well as a small handful of dry biscuits.

We will keep him on bottled water until he firms up better and slowly bring in the bore water, even just to play in.

I did get some chicken necks for him as a treat but I wll hold off on giving him these until he is all better again.

Thanks again for all your advice, I'm sure i'll have loads more panic attacks in the future!

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Idid get some chicken necks for him as a treat

Glad he's still happy :)

may I suggest that chicken necks are a tad small for a lab pup?

Try him on turkey necks instead .. whole- so he has to chew them well.

Chicken necks are unfortunately the right size to be a temptation for a pup to swallow... they then can get stuck :thumbsup:

Their dimensions are similar to a dog's gullet/gut.... great for careful eaters/smaller pups - but I would use with caution on a lab :)

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