Why Does a Nursing Puppy Have Diarrhea?

1 Overview

The causes of nursing-puppy diarrhea are as follows:

1. Breast-milk problem

If the mother dog is on medication while the puppy’s main food is breast milk, the puppy is easily affected and gets diarrhea. At this time, the owner can first pause the mother dog’s medication or feed the puppy goat milk powder, and keep them hydrated to avoid severe dehydration. If the situation does not improve, consider other causes.

2. Digestive indigestion or stress reaction

A newly bought nursing puppy was drinking mother’s milk or the pet-shop food before; after bringing it home the owner may buy new food, and the puppy whose digestion is not fully developed gets indigestion and diarrhea. Also, suddenly changing to a new environment without vaccines or deworming lowers immunity when stressed, causing gut problems.

3. Cold and chill

Nursing puppies are frail and sickly; keep the dog warm, otherwise it easily catches a cold. If a nursing puppy has a cold/chill problem, the owner should promptly protect against cold and keep warm, especially the belly area.

4. Parasite infection

After birth, puppies basically drink the mother’s milk and do not eat wrong things to cause diarrhea, so a nursing puppy’s diarrhea likely comes from the mother. If the mother dog has internal parasites, the nursing puppy gets infected through breast milk and then diarrhea. If the puppy shows reduced appetite, vomiting, blood in stool, or even worm bodies, the owner should deworm.

5. Viral or bacterial enteritis

Common viral or bacterial enteritis shows lethargy, vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and bloody stool. After diarrhea appears, check the puppy’s temperature. If a nursing puppy’s temperature is abnormal and exceeds 39.5 C with vomiting and diarrhea, take it to the hospital immediately.