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Puppy is 15 weeks old--We've had our Springer Spaniel mix since 8 weeks old and never had any issues. She's sweet, loving and a good little puppy. I have 4 kids that give her lots of attention and love and walks.
Last night around 9:30 pm my son told me puppy threw up in her crate. She had just been put in there for the night. I cleaned it up and it was undigested puppy food (Iams puppy which she's been on as advised by the breeder) I gave her some water (hope this was a good idea?) and sat with her for a while then took her out and she pee'd and I put her in her crate for the night.
This a.m. she was up regular time (7a.m.) and the kids had her outside playing. My son said she didn't want to eat (his routine to play with her and feed her in the am.) I tried at 9a.m. and she wouldn't eat for me either. She was tired and on an off sleeping till about 10:30. She was on my lap for a bit and I could hear her belly gurgling. We took her outside and she began to get very playful like herself. She pee'd and kept playing. She did poop 2x--first one looked totally normal. Second time was about 5 minutes later and it had some slimy type coating on it but still looked normal.
I was afraid she had an obstruction so does her pooping rule that out now? She still won't eat and I don't know if I should try an alternative food to help her or if I should let her be? Any ideas what's going on? Appreciate any advice here. Btw, as I sit typing, puppy has my son's swim shoe and is on her favorite rug by the front door. It's about time for her afternoon walk--should I still go? Do I avoid other dogs?
She only vomited once. She might be slightly dehydrated. Make sure she has fluids. If she won't drink ANY water and gets more lethargic, take her to the vet ASAP.
If she ends up having diahrea, give her browned and boiled (you have to do both cooking steps) ground beef and white rice.
If she doesn't eat dinner or breakfast tomorrow, I'd consult the vet.
it coudl be anything.
the fact shes having bowl movments indicates no blockage, the fact shes still active and playfull indicates its...at this point...probbaly not a medical emergency...
mucusy stoop tends to indicate a change in bowl chemistry, this could be "i have a tummy bug" to "i dont get along with my food" to "i ate something i shouldnt have"
its also very normal for dogs to fast themselves, especially when there not feeling "quite right"
first thing id do, again assuming shes playfull and otherwise acting normal...withhold food for today, she can have all the water she wants, but no food...give her system time to rest, it wont hurt her, she wont starve to death...
then tomorrow start her back on a bland diet of chicken and rice...(boiled chicken, boiled rice) or ground beef and rice (cook the ground beef and drain off as much fat as possible) and small meals...
stay on the rice mix for 24-48 hours...then put her back on a normal diet but feed 3-4 small meals rather than 1 or 2 big ones for a few days.
now if at any point you see her personalyt change, sluggish, quiet, lehthargic ect off to the vets...
i would probably take a stool sample in to check for worms too just in case...
now...i wouldnt do this right now given shes having an off tummy day, but eventually your also going to ant to get her off the iams...
what do we know about dogs by looking at their teeth...1: they dont have the teeth required to grind, they have pointy teeth and alot of them these teeth are designed to rip shred and tear, meaning our dogs are carnivores
(unlike cats dogs are not OBLIGATE carnivores meaniing the odd veggie ect here and there isnt going to do them any harm, but their bodies are not designed to eat grains at all....)
now look at your bag of iams puppy...
the one im loookign at right now is iams smart puppy on the iams website and heres the first 5 ingredients
Chicken, Corn Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Dried Beet Pulp,
ok so CHICKEN is the first ingredient...this is good...but its quickly followed by corn (and because chicken is weighed prior to cooking while its still pumped full of water theres actually MORE corn than chicken) and then chicken byproduct meal (byproduct being beaks, feet, feathers, heads, floorsweepings (anything they couldnt sell as meat) and meal means weight after cooking, so in all reality this food has more corn and byproducts than chicken itself....
corn is the #1 allergen in dogs and as said before, dogs cant digest Grains...(heck humans cant even digest corn it comes out the same way it goes in...)
this means your paying alot of money for alot of fillers...because the body cant proces corn and the byproducts are just junk mashed together that means your baby needs to eat more to get enough nutriton and in turn will poop more because theres so many ingredients the body cant proces...
so i 100% absolutly suggest switchign her food asap...BUT give her belly time to rest a little first dont want to throw too much at her system right now.
look for a food whos frst ingredient is meat or meat meal (meat meal is better because its the weight of meat AFTER cooking meaning your not paying for the water content)
look for a food with NO CORN, NO SOY and NO BYPRODUCTS...
chicen and rice, lamb and rice, duck and sweet potatoe ect...(thoguh completly grain free is even better)
this also doesnt have to be expensive, look for brands like 4-health at tractor supply, Diamond Naturals (ONLY the natural line the rest of the food is filled with corn) Kirkland from costco. there are plenty of more expensive ones out there too but i always like to point out feeidng your dog a BETTER food doesnt have to cost an arm and leg. the dog will also eat less and poop less on a better food...
please keep us updated on your little one.
as i said as long as shes drinking and acting otherwise normal i wouldnt freek out...
if she stops drinking starts acting odd or starts with vomiting (real vomit not just regurgitated food or yellow foam) and diahrreah off to the vets.
id continue as normal in terms of walks but read her, shes probably feeling a little off and may not be into the walk as much as usual in which case cut it short ect...
foxy- can't rep you as much as I would like to but you consistently give so much information. I'm sure most of us really appreciate the knowledge you share with us.
thank you! im just glad its usefull...im one of those odd people who has a hard time retaining knowledge in most feilds, but put something animal related infront of me and i soak it up...ask me a basic mathmatical equation however and itll take my brain forever to process 2x3+6 lol.
Puppy has been playful, yet not quite herself as she really loves to play fetch but not as much today. She's sleeping more but when she wakes she's active and silly. I gave her 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt at 3 and then again at 7. She loved it and licked the bowl clean.
Tomorrow I am planning on going to a local owned pet shop to check out their dog foods, so if it passes the no grain test I'll go ahead and buy a bag.
As far as the chicken and rice diet tomorrow--why is rice okay to give to her when you said stay away from grains?
Should I be worried if she's still not back to her playful self tomorrow or should I expect her to be a little off until her food/tummy issues are settled?
Thanks so much foxywench
Quote:
Originally Posted by foxywench
it could be anything.
the fact shes having bowl movments indicates no blockage, the fact shes still active and playfull indicates its...at this point...probbaly not a medical emergency...
mucusy stoop tends to indicate a change in bowl chemistry, this could be "i have a tummy bug" to "i dont get along with my food" to "i ate something i shouldnt have"
its also very normal for dogs to fast themselves, especially when there not feeling "quite right"
first thing id do, again assuming shes playfull and otherwise acting normal...withhold food for today, she can have all the water she wants, but no food...give her system time to rest, it wont hurt her, she wont starve to death...
then tomorrow start her back on a bland diet of chicken and rice...(boiled chicken, boiled rice) or ground beef and rice (cook the ground beef and drain off as much fat as possible) and small meals...
stay on the rice mix for 24-48 hours...then put her back on a normal diet but feed 3-4 small meals rather than 1 or 2 big ones for a few days.
now if at any point you see her personalty change, sluggish, quiet, lehthargic ect off to the vets...
i would probably take a stool sample in to check for worms too just in case...
now...i wouldnt do this right now given shes having an off tummy day, but eventually your also going to ant to get her off the iams...
what do we know about dogs by looking at their teeth...1: they dont have the teeth required to grind, they have pointy teeth and alot of them these teeth are designed to rip shred and tear, meaning our dogs are carnivores
(unlike cats dogs are not OBLIGATE carnivores meaniing the odd veggie ect here and there isnt going to do them any harm, but their bodies are not designed to eat grains at all....)
now look at your bag of iams puppy...
the one im loookign at right now is iams smart puppy on the iams website and heres the first 5 ingredients
Chicken, Corn Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Dried Beet Pulp,
ok so CHICKEN is the first ingredient...this is good...but its quickly followed by corn (and because chicken is weighed prior to cooking while its still pumped full of water theres actually MORE corn than chicken) and then chicken byproduct meal (byproduct being beaks, feet, feathers, heads, floorsweepings (anything they couldnt sell as meat) and meal means weight after cooking, so in all reality this food has more corn and byproducts than chicken itself....
corn is the #1 allergen in dogs and as said before, dogs cant digest Grains...(heck humans cant even digest corn it comes out the same way it goes in...)
this means your paying alot of money for alot of fillers...because the body cant proces corn and the byproducts are just junk mashed together that means your baby needs to eat more to get enough nutriton and in turn will poop more because theres so many ingredients the body cant proces...
so i 100% absolutly suggest switchign her food asap...BUT give her belly time to rest a little first dont want to throw too much at her system right now.
look for a food whos frst ingredient is meat or meat meal (meat meal is better because its the weight of meat AFTER cooking meaning your not paying for the water content)
look for a food with NO CORN, NO SOY and NO BYPRODUCTS...
chicen and rice, lamb and rice, duck and sweet potatoe ect...(thoguh completly grain free is even better)
this also doesnt have to be expensive, look for brands like 4-health at tractor supply, Diamond Naturals (ONLY the natural line the rest of the food is filled with corn) Kirkland from costco. there are plenty of more expensive ones out there too but i always like to point out feeidng your dog a BETTER food doesnt have to cost an arm and leg. the dog will also eat less and poop less on a better food...
please keep us updated on your little one.
as i said as long as shes drinking and acting otherwise normal i wouldnt freek out...
if she stops drinking starts acting odd or starts with vomiting (real vomit not just regurgitated food or yellow foam) and diahrreah off to the vets.
id continue as normal in terms of walks but read her, shes probably feeling a little off and may not be into the walk as much as usual in which case cut it short ect...
if your going to do grains rice, potatoe and sweet porate are the ones to go with, they are easily digestable and high in beneficial fiber.
they are not nessicary in a dogs diet, so grain free food is always the Better choice (dogs naturally woudl get most of their fiber needs by eating the small and larg intestines and its contents of partially digested plant matter...)
however if grain free is too expensive (or too rich) rice potatoe or sweet potatoe are the 3 best alternatives.
corn and soy are realy the big no-nos as corn is completly undigestable, and soy has been linked to a number of health issues and is hard for a dogs system to digest.
in terms of an upset tummy rice is generally good because its incredibly mild/bland on the stomach and mildly binding (fiber). it just gives the system time to rest and relax a little.
be carefull with yogurt, dogs are lactose intolerant and yogurt can sometimes give dogs loose stool...
in terms of energy level...i usually think of it as "how would i feel?" if shes got an upset tummy being a little bit off, not as interested in plying a little tired ect is normal...
if she wasnt interested in playing at all, had no apitite at all, stopps drinking ect...anything thats distincly "not right" then its time to have a vet check...
but just being a little off i wouldnt be too worried unless it gets worse.
keep us updated.
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is a GREAT resource, i would be looking to feed something 3 stars or above obviously 6 stars would be best, but anything 3 stars and above is generally corn soy and byproduct free and considered a good food.
i personally feed Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice right now, its a 3 star food..i could do better, but theres much worse, it contains no corn soy or byproduct...and its budget friendly ($28 for a 40lb bag)
and ontop of that my dogs do well on it.
eventually i will be going to a prey model raw diet for my dogs but right now budget vs quality is a big factor.
I've read somewhere on this forum that pumpkin is good for an upset canine's tummy.
We don't have any breed specific dogs, but I think all pups are the same in terms of eating anything that smells "good", including poop. They grow out of it eventually.
I have noticed that they will eat grass if they have tummy troubles. The most important thing is that they drink water (as noted in the previous post).
One of ours ate part of our house, concrete. Was sick for a day and half and then all was well.
Best wishes to you and please post back with an update.
She had loose stools this morning but is playful and nipping at us for more playtime. I do have pupmkin on hand--as I haven't cooked rice yet and puppy is biting her bowl, I'd like to try the pumpkin but how much pumpkin should I give her?
Okay, I gave her 2 Tablespoons and she loved it but about 10 minutes later she went out and had a loose stool. She scooted her butt on the ground outside so wondering if her behind is irritated. Any advice on when to get concerned? She's still playful but it's coming close to when she naps.
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im just glad its usefull...im one of those odd people who has a hard time retaining knowledge in most feilds, but put something animal related infront of me and i soak it up...ask me a basic mathmatical equation however and itll take my brain forever to process 2x3+6 lol.
Thanks and follow up
