I wanted to post a thread about teething timescales etc but I’ll ask about possible tummy upsets as well. Buddy is 12 weeks and a couple of days ago he was rubbing his gums like nobody’s business, and being a bit extra chewy with clothes etc. Then for a couple of days he was really good. Anyway this afternoon he was very quiet. I said to my wife I think I’d rather have the zoomies, like when a child is well behaved you worry ha ha! So next thing a very runny poo, and now he’s running round like an absolute lunatic with a plastic bottle, eaten his tea and drinking fine. He has had one or two runny poos since we had him and wondered if at all this could be down to teething? And if he’s at the right age for it all, and what we should expect in terms of timescale, thanks
12 weeks is probably a bit early for teething, but who knows how long things are going on for under the gums before teeth come through. Vigorous tuggy to help remove baby puppy teeth works well if the pup wants to tug at this time (and their teeth aren't too sore) - as it can remove any loose teeth. The runny poo is probably a separate thing to the teething. There are many, many, many things which cause runny poos in dogs and in puppies especially. I am not sure there has ever been a puppy owner on the planet who has gotten through puppyhood without the occasional runny poo. If it is just a single runny poo and then things are back to normal, you don't need to do anything. It is likely the pup ate some soil or crap on a walk which caused it! If it goes on for more than one runny poo, or is a weird colour, or there is blood or mucous in it, then it's likely some help is needed. There does come a point where you need to see the vet, because there are many things - like bacterial infections - which only antibiotics can treat successfully in many cases (campylobacter, giardia, coccidia). However, before you go to the vet, there are things you can try yourself which have research behind them and are a first-line defence: - Kaolin or similar clay product - binds to toxins - comes in a version for dogs, you can get it from Amazon - Slippery elm (becomes a mucous which lines the intestines) - Pumpkin powder (provides fibre to bulk out the stool and prebiotics) - Probiotics - such as FortiFlora - provides more of the good guys to outnumber the bad guys - Panacur - wormer medicine, given at the giardia dosage - non-prescription, you can buy online from a pet pharmacy If none of that works, dependent on the frequency of the pooping, go to the vet. (Ie if the dog seems well in themselves and the pooping is at normal times of day, just runny, then it's less of a worry than if the dog is asking to go out every 20mins day and night). Blood in a dog's poop is not as serious as blood in human poop - for dogs, it frequently just means that the lining of the intestine is irritated in some way. But if you are getting large amounts of blood, definitely go to the vet - haemorrhagic gastroenteritis is not a nice thing. (Been there!). There is increasing research coming out about the importance of the gut microbiome as the most important part of the immune system (in humans), and we have just started to identify desirable species of 'good' bacteria for the human gut. We don't actually know what is desirable for a dog's gut - all we have there is educated guesswork - although we do know that diversity is important and a healthy microbiome is diverse with a range of different species. We also know that dogs fed raw, have a greater diversity of gut bacteria, than dogs fed kibble. I think this recent research into the gut microbiome also means we should be careful about needlessly giving ABs to young puppies - since these nuke all good and bad bacteria - the measures above are best followed first - and preferably a stool sample should be run to determine what ABs the pup needs, if a vet is going to prescribe them. My own lab at the moment had some soft poop yesterday, it was all the colours of the rainbow in different poops during the walk - from yellow, to green, to spots of blood... So she is on the whole list above except for the Panacur, and today's poops are much better, I can happily report!
Once again thanks for such a detailed response, he was sick once the first week we got him with some runny poos, then was fine for a couple of weeks, so I don’t think that was much. Then the last couple of puddings (maybe once a week over the past two weeks) have just been one, then straight back to normal, so fingers crossed he’s just picked up something that didn’t agree with him, little bugger! Edit.... forgot to say we feed raw and 95% of the time his poos are perfectly solid.
It's pretty normal for pups to get upset stomachs when they move to their new homes. I've no idea why, but maybe a combination of stress affecting the immune system and new bugs/bacteria which they haven't grown up with, in the new environment - and also of course the water is different as well.
