We just picked up our 12 week old pup on Saturday afternoon. He had a bout of diarrhea in his kennel on the way home (about 30 minute drive). He was quiet, calm, and anorexic. His loose stool continued through the weekend and this morning it was like water and spots of bright red blood were visible.

I took him to the vet and he tested positive for campylobacter and is on antibiotics, probiotic, an antacid medication and canine i/d. I contacted the breeder this morning to let her know he was going in and why. I then emailed her a summary of today's visit.

Her health guarantee requires the pup to be seen by a vet w/i 72 hours for a health assessment. Is it unreasonable to ask her to reimburse for the care for the sick puppy? It states that the guarantee does not cover Giardia, coccidia, or other intestinal parasites. However, this is a bacterial infection, not parasitic.

My vet also seemed pretty concerned that at 12 weeks our pup had already been treated for coccidia 3 times. He was on Albon 8/5-8-12, Marquis 8/19-8/21 and again 8/28-8/31. He was also on Amoxicillin from 8/21-8/26.

As my title indicates, we are new to this and I thought we had done our research to find a reputable breeder. We expected our first visit to be a check up and time to start preventative care due to the breeder contract stating dog is healthy upon pick-up.

Thanks for the great site. I've spent many hours here reading already.

I don't think this is at all normal. It's appalling.

I would be very concerned that this pup has had such a rough start and it's something I would ask my vet about....like how (or if )this is going to affect your pup long-term?

And yeah...I'd want the breeder to pay the vet bills for the bacterial infection.

I'm so sorry...this is not the way you want to welcome your new puppy home.

The vet was concerned and asked that I give them a call tomorrow to let them know how how he is doing. The vet would like to do another fecal exam as soon as the pup's stools start having some kind of form to them to rule out any other parasites or bacteria. However, she seemed confident that once we get him over this hump things should be okay. He is a little underweight as well, weighing only 11.3 pounds, but she thinks given his history and current condition it's to be expected and believes once we get his tummy feeling better he'll be just fine.

He's already improved since bringing him home this afternoon. He is at least eating now, which he wasn't over the weekend.

I agree it's not the ideal way to start off with a new pup, but he's so sweet and we've already fallen in love with him so we're committed to keeping him and giving him a good life, even if the breeder doesn't reimburse. (But I hope she will since she guarantees a healthy pup and says she cares about their well-being even after they leave her kennel).

I had a mutt I got from my dad's dog first litter that had a similar start. Her problem turned out to be hookworm, but it took taking her to a second vet (who charged half as much) to get the correct diagnosis and treatment. Her only long term effect was she ended up being smaller than expected. But she was a great dog! Miss her tons.

Looking at that little face I know I couldn't return him.

A good diet is going to be really important for this little guy and you may want to ask your vet about adding probiotics, either while he's on the meds or after he finishes them. Probios will give his taxed-out system a healthy boost.

And you may know this but it's worth mentioning: If you plan on vaccinating, don't do it until he's 100% healthy.

And congrats on your new pup! Before you know it he'll be raising hell and chomping you to death.

He is on probiotics now (Dia-Robe) to introduce good bacteria to his little digestive tract and keep the antibiotics from causing more harm than good. Our vet also encouraged plain yogurt to help with that as well or acidophillus tabs.

He's due for his vaccines but the first thing I told them was that I wasn't vaccinating til he was better. Yes, it's later than they like but his health his more important than a vaccine schedule. I wouldn't vaccinate an ill child and won't vaccinate an ill puppy. And we are doing selective vaccinations. No bordatella or lepto. I haven't decided about the Lyme disease yet...our state has low incidence but we've had a really wet summer and the deer tick population is up. So we'll see when it comes time.

I'm waiting still to hear back from the breeder. We won't return him, but reimbursement would be nice since he wasn't in good health at pick up like the contract says. We'll see.

Poor little guy!

I would be totally wondering about the ethics of this breeder.
Im sure they noticed the pup had diarrhea before you picked him up. And that is ALOT of medications for such a young puppy's system to have to deal with!!!
Im talking about the ones given for coccidia and the amoxicillan.

IMO the breeder should definately be covering your expenses.

Let us know how it goes, and congrats on the little guy.

Well, I heard from the breeder today.

This is what she said about the coccidia treatments:
"I periodically de-worm my pups as a preventative measure, so he did not "have" coccidia several times... I just de-worm them for everything frequently to attempt to make sure they go home healthy."

As for the amoxicillin it, too was prophylactic as some of her other pups developed a mild upper respiratory infection.

She says this is the first time she's had campylobacter infection reported, although it is a normal gut flora. His just happens to be overgrown which could be a result of the amoxicillin and the wet mucky weather we've had. She is however, reimbursing us for the vet bills. So this may not have been something she could have prevented, she is still stepping up and doing the right thing.

And Kazak is doing much better today. He's definitely perked up, more playful and has an appetite. Still dealing with loose stools but the vet said that may last through the week til he gets over the infection.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

 Quote: Danity Siebenale

is on (...) canine i/d.

Please, please, please, for the love of dog, get him off the Hill's crap-in-a-bag and feed the pup something species appropriate (i.e. meat based). Your dog needs a decent food if he's going to be healthy!

I agree Angela,
Decent food for the pup is important for the long term health of the dog. However, would he want to change the pups diet in the middle of trying to get him to some kind normalcy?

Just a question.
Randy

If it were my pup Randy, yes I would.

I think it is good to point out that diet change can affect a dog's system in some cases. (For example, switching from a really crap diet to a healthy one can cause temporary detoxing symptoms, and introducing new foods can take a bit to adjust to as well).

However, the dog needs nutritional support while it is sick. I think of it like trying to recover from the flu or an infection while eating only McDonald's big macs and french fries.

Maybe the puppy should eat a bland diet, say boiled rice, pumpkin and chicken to help his system rest and recover. Afterward transition him to better quality food.

Just my two cents for today!