Post by WRL on Nov 17, 2014 11:33:46 GMT -5
It can be caused by many things, over feeding, parasites, over growth of bacteria, virus', indiscriminate eating or just stress.
Determining what the cause is, can be hard and frustrating.
I first assume, its indiscriminate eating. Scale back on the kibble, make sure I am not overfeeding the training treats etc.
Then I go to the parasites, worms can cause some diarrhea, but the biggest causes I see are giardia and coccidia. While these SOUND scary, they are just a protozoa that are parasites. They need to be treated as such. Panacur (wormer, fenbenzadole) works great on giardia. Multiple doses are often needed to rid the pup of the organism. Coccidia now has some great products out on the market to take care of this. Until recently, Albon was used but that only beats it back and reduced the replication but doesn't actually kill the organism. Now with Baycox, Toltrazuril and Marquis on the market, we can actually kill the organism thereby reducing symptoms sooner and getting our puppies back to square one sooner.
A bit of yogurt and pumpkin can help the gut get back to normal after any harsh treatment of wormer, antibiotics or other drug that might cause gastric distress.
Any diarrhea accompanied by lethargy or attitude change, is a BIG RED FLAG and a trip to the vet is a must.
WRL
Determining what the cause is, can be hard and frustrating.
I first assume, its indiscriminate eating. Scale back on the kibble, make sure I am not overfeeding the training treats etc.
Then I go to the parasites, worms can cause some diarrhea, but the biggest causes I see are giardia and coccidia. While these SOUND scary, they are just a protozoa that are parasites. They need to be treated as such. Panacur (wormer, fenbenzadole) works great on giardia. Multiple doses are often needed to rid the pup of the organism. Coccidia now has some great products out on the market to take care of this. Until recently, Albon was used but that only beats it back and reduced the replication but doesn't actually kill the organism. Now with Baycox, Toltrazuril and Marquis on the market, we can actually kill the organism thereby reducing symptoms sooner and getting our puppies back to square one sooner.
A bit of yogurt and pumpkin can help the gut get back to normal after any harsh treatment of wormer, antibiotics or other drug that might cause gastric distress.
Any diarrhea accompanied by lethargy or attitude change, is a BIG RED FLAG and a trip to the vet is a must.
WRL
2-5 range is pretty normal, with 2-3 being 'preferred', but of course what you are monitoring for is any change. Feeding a puppy on a routine (and exercising and airing) should result in pretty consistent turds, so watch for poop that is suddenly less desirable than it previously was). Sometimes a food change will improve poop quality, but WRL provided several examples of other situations which may cause diarrhea or loose stools that can be corrected. Another potential cause of soft stools is over-excitement. I would avoid letting your dog or puppy do a whole lot of exercise or get really wound up immediately prior to eating, or immediately after. Excitement/exercise with a full belly can cause diarrhea but also puts puppy at risk of bloat, which you really don't want to deal with. 