My Great Dane Puppy Has Diarrhea And I'm Worried. Please Help!!

LizHasADane · 12-31-2006, 08:44 PM

This is my first great dane. We just got her 3 days ago. She is only 6 weeks old. I did a lot of research on the breed before buying her, and this isn't my husbands first dane but it is my first. She is having trouble chewing hard food. That's the first problem. The second problem is that last night she started having Diarrhea. Today during the day she had plenty of energy and played a lot, and her stool returned to semi normal.. still a little runny but not completely watery. Now the diarrhea is back. She isn't acting sick. She is just sleeping a lot like a normal puppy does. She plays hard during the day and takes a few naps here and there, but then at night she sleeps a lot and isn't interested in eating. My Vet recommended giving her Pedialite to keep her hydrated. I saw an improvement after giving her that. Her history with us is this.. We purchased her and she had a day of rest at my parents.. then we set out for home which is about a 10 hr drive from my parents.... she did very well during the car ride,, but we are in a completely different climate, we went from East texas to West... I also was told that the change in the type of water that she is drinking could affect her pooping. I'm not sure what to do and I can't see a vet until after the holidays.. if anyone could maybe help me with some advice. I just want to know that she is going to be okay. I'll answer any questions if it will help to understand her health at the time. Please reply back. Also E-mail me if you want liz217@earthlink.net Make the Subject... "about your dane" so I don't delete it. I would appreciate any help I could get. Thank you so much.

Liz
Fort Bliss, Texas

Dogged · 12-31-2006, 10:52 PM

Hello,

First of all, 6 weeks is really too young to be getting a puppy and the breeder should not have released the pup that soon. The pup is very young and has just recently been weaned, and so may have trouble actually eating hard food. I would either feed canned food, or water down the dry to make it soft enough to eat.

Ideally the breeder should have given you some of the same food the pup has been on so you could slowly switch over to the new food over at least a week. A quick change in foods can cause a stomach upset in any age dog, not to mention all the stress of being taken away from momma and littermates, and a long trip to a brand new home.

As long as he is continuing to act normal and eat normal, I would just try a bland diet to try to get his tummy back on track. I usually recommend plain white meat chicken (canned is fine) and white rice (minute rice is fine). The ratio should be 1/4 to 1/3 chicken to 3/4 to 2/3 rice. Feed the same volume as you would his regular food. He should still be being fed at least 4 times daily at this age. Once the stools are back to normal on this diet, you can SLOWLY switch over to his new regular diet over about 4-5 days.

It is important with any puppy to have a stool sample checked for parasites. You can take this into the vet anytime, it should be within 4 hours old, or up to 8 hours in the fridge.

LizHasADane · 12-31-2006, 11:15 PM

Thank You so much. That helped me a lot. I really didn't know if it was too young or not. What about exposure to children? Is it bad for the pup to be exposed to children this young? I'm also concerned about that. again thank you so much for your reply.

Buddy · 01-01-2007, 02:46 AM

for children just make sure they dont pull its paws or tail other then that every thing sould be okay about the children part and do not pet a dog when the dog is eating or playing unless the dog knows u enough hope that helps a little

cshellenberger · 01-01-2007, 03:31 AM

First get the pup to the vet and have it checked out for parvo and intestinal parasites. Then call the "breeder" and find out what food the pup was on, get it an cut it with goats milk. The goats milk will help sooth the tummy. If this doesn't work you will need to put the pup on a bland diet of boiled chicken, brown rice and a little pumpkin until the stools firm up then you can SLOWLY start back on a quality food.

FYI, in most states it is illegal to allow a pup to leave the breeder before 8 weeks.

LizHasADane · 01-01-2007, 02:08 PM

Thank you A Lot. We have an Apoitment with the Vet tomorrow. I just wanted to know what I could do until then. I started the chicken and rice diet this morning. Hopefully that will help. She has all of her shots that she can have. I got the shot records. The whole Diarrhea thing just kinda freaked me out, but most everyone has told me that it isn't uncommon for a newly weened pup to have diarrhea. So that has comforted me a lot. I didn't know about the illegal before 8 weeks thing. I just hope that I can be a good mom to Her (gracie) Thanks again everyone... Hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

sher · 01-01-2007, 09:40 PM

The change in water could be a big part of the problem. My breeder gave me some type of tablets to give my pup for the first week or so because of the water change. Even going from well water to city water in the same town can be enough to cause diarrhea. But food change is usually the cause of diarrhea if the pup is otherwise healthy. You must change the food slowly. About 1/3 new to 2/3 old food and take a couple of weeks to totally switch over to the new food completely. Even with these precautions, my newest pup had diarrhea off and on for several days. The most important thing is to make sure your pup does NOT get dehydrated, so you must take it to the vet. You can also give your pup pepto bismol, but only as much as is recommended for the same weight child.
Please closely monitor your pup and take it to an emergency vet if she doesn't improve or seems dehydrated.
Good luck - great danes are awesome dogs.

LizHasADane · 01-01-2007, 11:00 PM

She has been drinking a lot of water, and also on top of that I have been giving her pedialite at the request of my vet. Yesterday for a little while her stool was normal for a dane pup. But today it has been back to Diarrhea. I've never had a pup this young before so I am freaking out. My husband says it is no big deal.. she will be fine as long as we follow the rules from the vet. I feed her when she is hungry.. but for the most part she is eating about a half a cup of food every 4 to 5 hours so it equals out to about 5 or 6 times a day. She is also very clingy to me. Is this normal? Despite the Diarrhea she is not acting sick and she is very playful.. EXTREMELY Playful and Active. I guess my lack of knowledge about 6 week old puppies is what is getting me. I trust my husband and his knowledge of dogs but he is in the army and gone a lot. I may be making this situation out to be worse than it really is.