I have a question for all the puppy-experienced folks.

I sometimes hear (not from anyone I know personally, but on web boards) about breeders who say to owners that frequent diarrhea in puppies is normal.

I would love to hear what you puppy folks say.

I understand that sometimes teething puppies may have diarrhea, right? And I know that there are brief intermittent possibilities caused by overfeeding, maybe, or a quick food switch, etc.

These aren't what I mean. I mean ongoing mushy stools. (Of course, water-poop is always a cause for concern, but I mean pudding.)

So: pudding poop in a healthy puppy with no food transitions -- normal or not?

If not, why do we hear/read of folks dismissing it as normal? Anyone know?

I haven't heard that--nor is it my experience. I don't think there is such a thing as "normal diarrhea." Diarrhea is a symptom that something is amiss. Puppies may have more sensitive digestion than onlder dogs, making them more prone to diarrhea. To my way of thinking, it would be like saying that persistent vomiting were normal.

I also have never heard of "normal" puppy diarrhea.

I have had pups from the local humane society as well as pups from breeders. What I have found is that the pups from the shelter had diarrhea for a day or two when I was switching them onto a better food than they were used to. I had two pups from the shelter, at different times (fosters), that did not have any diarrhea at all. I have never had diarrhea when switching from kibble to raw.

I have also never experienced any "stress" diarrhea from shipping and I have never had a puppy that was teething experience diarrhea. Maybe I am just lucky, or maybe because we have a pretty structured environment, but I have not had the displeasure of experiencing these things.

This is what I wanted to read from puppy-experienced folks.

I've never agreed when I've read about "diarrhea in puppies -- it's normal," but I wanted this kind of feedback.

Thank you.

I have seen that pups tend to have softer stool sometimes but never ongoing dirrhea. I feed raw & it can sometimes be from having a slight variation in bone content from one meal then another. All my pups were weaned onto raw from their breeders, so I never had to switch a kibble dog to raw. I can see where shipping stress may cause a bit of it for a day or 2 but again not ongoing. I would be VERY concerned about a pup with this problem, due to dehydration. Pups can get dehyrated quickly & it can go from slight to life threatening very quickly. I can't believe a reputable breeder claiming this is 'normal' unless they feed crap food & pups get into things to munch on that they shouldn't regularly, causing the problem. I do realize that many breeders do not feed raw. I was lucky that all of the pups that I have gotten, did.

Is it possible that it may also be caused by the 'boatload' of puppy shots given over a short period of time before breeders rehome their pups & then many owners give to them by their vet's recomendation on top of that? I specifically requested that my last 2 pups not be given ANY shots. I gave Parvo & Distemper (seperate shots) at 12 & 18 weeks & Rabies at 1 yr. But neither of these pups had to travel by plane to me. I drove to pick them up. Don't know if that may make any difference or not. Those little bodies bombarded by all those vaccines in short periodes of time. Gotta wonder how much it takes a tole on their little immune systems & GI tracts.

i gotta forward this thread to my breeder! that s what m gonna do seriously.

Hey Connie,

Usually with my puppies and adult dogs a soft turd especially around food changes isn't something I worry about much as a one time occurrence. I tend to not panic about a soft log every once an awhile until I see a 2nd, and a 3rd occurrence even with fiber added or the poo gets softer or goes to water.

I assume we're talking about 8 week old pups as opposed to 4 week old pups in weaning transition. Stress, food change, minor bugs, etc can all cause upset in the digestive system which can cause soft turds. I think the mistake that this breeder uses is calling it normal as opposed to the word common and idiopathic. Normal means to me that no further observation is needed beyond routine. Common means that it's outside of normal and might indicate further action is needed.