Hello everyone. This is my first post here and I’m looking for opinions from experienced owners. I have a 10 week old puppy who came to us from the breeder on Pedigree puppy wet food. After a couple of days she developed diarrhoea which we knew might happen, but then she also lost her appetite. We changed her food to Wellness Core Puppy and got some antibiotics and probiotics from the vet. Since then she no longer has diarrhoea and absolutely wolfs her food down. She is small for a lab - 2.5kg last week and had not put on weight since she was last weighed a couple of weeks before, but the vet said she should start putting on weight once she starts eating properly which I’m sure she has now as she looks ‘meatier’. My question now is when she eats, her belly gets very round - comically so, but it does go down again after a few hours. Is this normal? I thought it may be because she had lost her appetite for a while, plus she has now has started eating normally but she is quite small still. Could it be the food? Thoughts? She was last wormed on the 23rd and we’ve not seen any evidence of worms in her stools. She remains lively and still manages to chase her tail with her big belly! We are back at the vet’s in two weeks. Thanks all!
Is she eating her food quickly? I also give my pup Wellness canned food (great stuff!) and I use a lickimat. It takes him about 15-20 minutes to eat a half a can.
Sometimes a skinny puppy can look a bit pot bellied after eating a very big meal. How many meals a day are you dividing your puppy's food allowance into?
She’s having four meals a day - 8, 12, 4 and 8. Now she has her appetite back she does eat really quickly. Should we try to slow her down? I weighed her yesterday and she had put on 800g in three days! I should add she’s on dry food now.
Lots of puppies eat really fast If you want to slow her down a bit (and make mealtimes last longer) you could use a slow feed bowl. You could also divide her daily ration into more smaller portions (say 5 to 6 a day). Best of all, if you get going with a training plan and use most of her food up in training that will happen naturally. Worth mentioning it to your vet when you see them but if she's otherwise bouncy, hungry, and happy, and has been wormed, it's probably nothing to worry about. You won't necessarily see worms in stools by the way. Was it Panacur you gave her on the 23rd December?
She was wormed by the breeder so I don’t know what she was given. Should i worm her again just in case? I’ve been at work today but my husband said she’s eaten less today so I’ve no idea what’s going on now!
If you're not sure what wormer the breeder used, I would worm her again. Some wormers are very ineffective and you want to be sure a worm burden isn't the cause of her low weight. Or even runny poop she had. Use a reputable wormer like Drontal, Panacur/fenbendazole - or ask your vet if you can collect one from them.
So I asked at the vet about wormer today and she said to leave it another two weeks to worm again and to go back if she gets diarrhoea again. Her belly seems less inflated after eating today so perhaps it’s just her gut maturing and settling down? I honestly stressed less when I had my first child
