Is my puppy ill?

petersullivan5

My puppy is 6 weeks old and we got her two days ago. As we are trying to potty train her ive been keeping count of her passing stools. When we received her her stools were a dark brown and quite solid. I'm not sure what food she was eating at the owners house. For the first day we let her eat Pedigree wet puppy food and stools remained the same. Today she was eating a mix of the Pedigree and Bakers dry puppy food. Her stools today have been quite loose and lighter in colour. Is this normal? She has also been letting out random short cries a few times this evening, could this be tummy ache? She hasn't eaten a lot today to be honest, maybe 2 cups of food maximum.

coathanger

6 weeks is very young to have left the mother....

If the breeder or the shelter didn’t give you a small complimentary bag of the food the puppy was eating, call and find out what it was. A puppy’s digestive system is still immature and switching puppy food brands, on top of the stress of moving to a new home, can result in indigestion and diarrhea. By adding a little of the new food to some of what the puppy was already eating, she stands a better chance of adapting without tummy distress.

DBB

This thread has been moved to this forum from Zoology.
Please be aware that the A&PI forum charter now applies.
Thanks,
DBB

DBB

Hello OP,
Can I ask how you ended up with a pup so young? She's way too young to have been taken off her mother
However, you have her now, so you must move on.
First of all, stop, now, feeding her either Pedigree or Baker's. They are both utter crap and will put her digestion mad. A sudden change from one brand to another would upset most adult dogs' tummies, so a 6 week old pup is terribly vulnerable as they have not built up a robust gut microflora to be able to deal with a sudden change.
I'd suggest that you feed her some really bland stuff... I would give her boiled chicken with a small amount of mashed boiled potato (no butter or salt), and whilst her tummy is recovering, go and get yourself some decent dry or wet puppy food: go for something with NO grains. If you can't shop online, then go to a half decent pet shop and get James Wellbeloved puppy food, or Barking Heads puppy food, or I'm sure others here can recommend something more appropriate than what you're feeding her.
You may need to soften her food a little as she's so young, and may find hard food difficult to deal with.
I would also plead with you to contact a good trainer or behaviourist to get some solid advice on how to rear a pup that has come off its mum too early... such pups tend to develop problems with aggression towards other dogs, and may suffer from separation anxiety more than pups taken from their mum a little later. Get yourself signed up to www.dogstardaily.com, as you'll not get better advice on rearing a pup anywhere else online.
You should also contact your vet to ask their advice about when this pup should be vaccinated, and about worming and flea-treatment (I'm guessing whoever was prepared to give you a 6 week old pup didn't bother their butts addressing these issues).
How often are you feeding her? A pup of her age needs 4, maybe even 5 small meals a day... I personally like to feed pups to satiation up until they reach 12 weeks or more, rather than apportioning amounts.
How is she settling in? Is she settling at night?

itsnotmyname

Hey DBB ...hope all's well with u.....u were very kind when our Westie passed away. We have since added to the family with a lapso/bischon puppy. She's hard work , but none the less so worthwhile. My query is how much food should we be feeding her ....she's like a hoover at the mo ...she's a very small pup , and i really wonder if we are under feeding her ?

DBB

Congrats on your new pup
What age is she?
Like I said above, I like to feed pups 4 meals a day up to 12+ weeks without particularly limiting the meal sizes... Within reason of course! They're growing so much, and so active at this stage that they need the feeding.
They often tell you themselves when to cut down to 3 meals, because they'll pretty much stop eating one of them.
Assuming all worming is up to date?