Three Steps for Caring for Your Puppy’s Diarrhea
If the cause of your puppy’s sudden diarrhea isn’t obvious, follow these steps to help make sure you don’t both have a health emergency on your paws.
Pay close attention to your dog and their bowel movements when they’re experiencing diarrhea. As symptoms resolve or worsen, dog owners should report changes to their veterinarian while providing hydration and comfort.
Veterinarians often suggest that older dogs skip meals when they’re experiencing bouts of diarrhea. For growing puppies, fasting is usually not advisable. Bland, stomach-soothing foods like boiled chicken, rice, and pureed pumpkin can temporarily help your pup manage symptoms while keeping something in their tummies. However, always be sure to consult your veterinarian before introducing a new food into your puppy’s diet.
It’s nobody’s favorite part of caring for a puppy, but collecting stool samples could be the fastest way for your veterinarian to diagnose the cause of symptoms like diarrhea. Testing your dog’s feces can help identify the underlying cause, or at least rule out potential culprits, and develop a treatment plan. Lastly, when handling a puppy with diarrhea, always practice good hygiene and wash your hands after dealing with them, particularly in homes with very young children or immunocompromised individuals.
Most common reasons for puppy diarrhea
Knowing the reasons your puppy may have developed loose stools will help you correct the issue faster and know if it’s time to see the vet. Here are the most common reasons for puppies to have diarrhea:
Let’s take a closer look at some common causes for puppy diarrhea:
Dietary Changes: When you bring home a new puppy, you might be anxious about choosing the healthiest dog food for them. Talk to your vet about which foods would be beneficial for your particular puppy.
If you decide to change the breeder food they’ve been eating to a new food, wait for at least a week after you have brought them home, and then transition them over slowly. Typical transition times are 7-14 days with careful supervision for any vomiting or diarrhea. Add their new dog food to their bowl in small increments, replacing their old food gradually until the transition is complete. Your vet is an excellent resource during this time if you have any questions or concerns.
When you transition a puppy to new foods too quickly, diarrhea can develop and wreak havoc in their digestive system. Your puppy can also develop diarrhea from eating too much food, so pay attention to the amount of puppy food you’re feeding them whenever you transition to a new food.
Some puppies may show intolerances to some foods or ingredients, further reinforcing the need to transition them to new foods slowly. You can slow down the transition cycle or even go back a step until you narrow down the problem or see a relief in symptoms. Watch out for symptoms in your puppy like loss of appetite, vomiting, or diarrhea anytime you add a new food to your puppy’s daily diet – and yes, that includes treats.
Stress: You and your family, as well as the puppy, are excited about the new family dynamic, but eventually, your puppy will realize this isn’t just a long playdate. Moving to a new home can be stressful for a puppy who’s never been away from their mother or siblings before.
Meeting new people and new household animals can also be stressful for your puppy. Stress affects the immune and digestive systems of puppies who are especially sensitive. Allowing your puppy some downtime to de-stress – and offering them lots of reassurance – will help them deal with any stress they experience. This is also a good time to get your puppy used to going into a kennel for some quiet time.
Beyond this, things like going to the vet, riding in a car, or doing anything your puppy has not experienced before can lead to additional stress. Just watch your pup and help them separate from a stressful situation if necessary – or offer additional reassurance until they relax.
Ingesting foreign objects: Puppies explore the world with their mouths, which is why they’re famous for dietary indiscretions. That tennis ball is a fun toy, but it may be tasty too. And that sock your toddler dropped – or that plant with the big chewy leaves – is a great chew toy, but it can cause a tummy ache or an intestinal blockage in a puppy.
You should always supervise your puppy. If you can’t be present with them, it’s best to kennel them until you can. Puppies are easy to kennel train, and a kennel provides a quiet, secure, or safe area they can go to themselves when life gets overwhelming.
If you suspect that your puppy ingested a toxic substance or plant, call the ASPCA Poison Control line or the Pet Poison Helpline. They have fees, but it’s worth it to figure out if what your puppy ate was toxic or not, or if you should notify the vet.
Intestinal parasites: Intestinal parasites are very common in puppies. Their most common parasites are roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, tapeworms, giardia, and coccidia. Parasites are transmitted through poop – your puppy can even reinfect themselves from their own poop if you don’t clean it up regularly!
When your puppy stops to smell that foreign pile of poop on a walk, parasites may have infected the animal that left it and your puppy could inhale an egg or two, giving them worms as well. And when a mother dog has worms, their placenta and/or milk will transfer them to their puppy.
The signs of worms are:
Your vet will get a stool sample from your puppy on its first visit to check for parasites by putting the sample under a microscope to look for worms, eggs, or protozoa.
Giardia and coccidia are protozoa and are found by using a microscope. One symptom of these parasites is watery, very smelly diarrhea. Puppies often vomit with coccidia as well.
It’s very important to put your puppy on a regular and consistent deworming schedule, along with an at-home prevention program.
Bacterial infections: Clostridium, listeria, salmonella, and E. coli are the most common bacterial infections puppies get that lead to diarrhea. They contract it by eating rotten food or poop from infected animals. These bacterial infections cause severe diarrhea and dehydration that can lead to organ damage in a few days.
Symptoms of bacterial infections in your puppy’s gastrointestinal tract are:
These symptoms are a deadly combination, even in adult dogs. If you see them, talk to your veterinarian immediately. Puppies don’t have enough reserves to fight these infections and can go downhill quickly, spelling disaster and heartache.
Viral Infections: “Parvovirus” is a word every puppy parent dreads. It’s a viral infection that’s very contagious and depletes the immune system and body quickly. Parvo (as it’s abbreviated) is often fatal and needs immediate veterinary care.
Symptoms of parvo are:
Supportive veterinarian care for parvo includes fluid therapy to replace lost electrolytes and rehydrate the puppy, anti-nausea medication, and antibiotics. Some puppies also require blood transfusions. The vet will supervise your puppy until the symptoms subside, which can take anywhere from 3 days to a week. During this time, your puppy is very contagious to other dogs and should be hospitalized for treatment and prevention of disease spread.
Other viral infections are distemper, canine coronavirus (which is NOT Covid-19), and canine adenovirus. These are all preventable if you time your puppy’s vaccinations well – one missed vaccination can leave your puppy vulnerable to parvo. Your puppy isn’t considered protected until they receive their full puppy series – this is because immunity from the mother’s colostrum protects the puppy for a while but interferes with vaccination efficacy. For that reason, make sure your puppy only interacts with dogs that are vaccinated until they receive their full series of 3 to 4 boosters.
Why Do Puppies Get Diarrhea?
Diarrhea can be associated with viruses like parvovirus and distemper. It can also be caused by intestinal parasites like whipworms and hookworms, protozoa like giardia, and bacteria like salmonella and E. coli. Some types of intestinal parasites can require several tests (over weeks) to obtain a diagnosis. Puppies can also develop diarrhea from a sudden new environmental change, like abrupt changes in diet, the stress of coming to a new home, being overfed, or from indiscriminate eating (like out of the garbage or picking up items from outside).
Fix Puppy with runny poop diarrhea
You just brought home that cute new puppy and surprise – they pooped a puddle! No big deal, you clean it up, but then it happens over and over again. What should you do?
Let’s go over everything you need to know about puppies and diarrhea so you can get your pup back to their best self as quickly as possible.