This sounds like undiagnosed giardia/intestinal infection/or coccidia to me.

If she came into my office I would put her on Flagyl and deworm her. I would do this because it's hard to diagnose giardia, and some worms and coccidia are also easy to miss.

The treatment rules out the problem and is in my mind more practical than repeated fecals with waiting and wondering.

Also, ask the breeder if there have been any problems with other litter mates having diarrhea, or if they have had giardia/coccidia in the past at their kennel.
I would feed her cooked chicken and boiled rice and not too much at once.Do that until you see logs for a few days, then try to re-introduce the raw.
I personally am not a huge fan of raw food for infants. It's terrific if it goes well but not all pups can do raw.
When you do re-introduce the raw WASH IT OFF with hot water, hot as your hands can stand, and don't feed skin and fat.
2 lbs of food is a HUGE amount and could be the problem right there. Think hamburger patty sized amounts fed thru-out the day several times.

 Quote: Anne Jones

Sometimes it take several times testing to confirm giardia.

 Quote: Laurie Hill

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

.... Everything to me sounds a lot like giardia (or coccidia)...

I can definitely have her checked again on Monday. The vet did take a sample "fresh from the tap" last week, and didn't find any bad stuff at all.

As Dr. Betty says above, it's not a simple negative.

DId I miss something about 2 pounds of food? How much does the puppy weigh? That does sound like a ton of food, and yes, a possible cause right there. I have to go back.


I just wanted to add that when the giardia or whatever is wrong in treated and the puppy has log poops, Anne's post on page 2 needs to be re-read. If you stay with raw, we can help, but a growing baby needs a careful diet. It's not the time to learn about raw (just my opinion, and I'm a long-time raw feeder). If you do it, it means really learning about it. It might turn out that THK with RMBs is a better start while you read .... a good "bridge."

Of course, right now, this diarrhea is top priority.

Found it from last night:

"Just to double check...she has been getting approximately 1.5 lbs, maybe as much as 2. Is this a good amount? She's a small girl right now, like, only 10 ish lbs."

This could certainly be the (or "a") problem. Could you tell us how you arrived at this amount?



PS

Don't worry. It will all get sorted out. It's good that you posted.

Kasey had this exact same problem at the same age. Is the vet using the Elisa test for giardia? - it costs a bit more but it's more reliable than the average fecal test.

Kasey could not do leg quarters at all then, and can only do an occassional one now, not sure why, but it makes his poop loose every single time. We stick with backs or if I debone breasts for us he gets the rib bones. Wings have too much fat and are way too hard to skin.

I totally agree with the 1.5 - 2 lbs of food being much too much. Kasey is 85 lb and that's how much he eats.

When Kasey gets loose stools, I do rice and raw cut up raw chicken breast meat. You can put just a little no salt chicken stock over it to make it more appealing, but I would do that for a few days until his poops straighten out. If they don't straighten out with that, I would suspect there's something like giardia going on. And don't over feed the rice and chicken either - I would do 3 small meals a day for a couple days, maybe a third cup raw chicken and a third cup rice at a meal.

Ok...now that I'm looking back at the calculators, etc, I see that it's very likely I'm feeding her too much. I guess I just totally miscalculated. My sources all say 2-3% of adult weight, 5 to up to 10% current weight for puppies, adjust as needed. Even 10% of her current weight would only be about 1lb food...so 1.5-2 lbs would be too much.

I did get her THK Thrive, but haven't started her on that at all yet. I didn't want her to have too many changes all at once, but if you think it would be best for her to start it, I can certainly do that.

Thanks!

For me, it would depend on whether we're still talking just loose stools, as in thick pudding, or actual runs. If just loose, I would probably do a chicken back at one meal, and THK at the other. If the runs, then I'd do rice and raw chicken breast meat in very small meals 3 times a day till the poops firmed up. AND, the Elisa giardia test Monday.

Someone may have already mentioned it, but what about a tablespoon of organic pumpkin puree. That has helped my pups many times. Not pumpkin pie mix, but canned organic pumpkin. Just a thought. sharon

Well, I have found that after feeding her chicken back pieces and wings yesterday, she is still pooping out chunks of bone, and yet the rest of the poop is mushy. So, I will have to lay off the whole bones I guess. I am currently trying to find a local, if possible, source of ground raw for her. I also have THK Thrive for her. Is THK truly something I can feed her as a stand alone diet? What about her desire for chewing? THK (or even ground raw) definitely doesn't satisfy the need to chew, or even have teeth cleaning benefits. Can I be getting her larger, non-consumable bones to chew on? Or should I stick with the bully stick sort of thing to satisfy chewing?

Thanks!

 Quote: Sharon Empson

Someone may have already mentioned it, but what about a tablespoon of organic pumpkin puree. That has helped my pups many times. Not pumpkin pie mix, but canned organic pumpkin. Just a thought. sharon

Often a very good suggestion!

This particular case has other factors, though, beyond simple dietary-indiscretion squirts.

Still, always a good idea to remind folks always to have a can of plain pumpkin on hand (and, IMHO, the simplest and fastest way to make baited water for a dog who may be in danger of dehydration: http://leerburg.com/icepup.htm ).

As Sharon says, the pumpkin should have one ingredient only: pumpkin (and sometimes water).

Yep, I didn't mention using it, but the canned pumpkin hasn't made a noticable difference. :-)