Expert: Charlotte Sherrell, DVM - 8/7/2008

Question
Hello!  I have a 11 week old puppy.  Tomorrow will be 1 week since she came home from being treated for parvo.  She is eating normally (I started feeding her boiled chicken and plain rice and yogurt Tuesday), playful, and urinating normally.  She is still having diarrhea, though.  Since coming home, her stools haven't been bloody, but are still loose.  Is this normal?  I called my vet Monday and he said to give her pepto or kaopectate so I have been giving her that the last 2 days and she's still having loose stools.  She's not going to the bathroom a lot (usually 2-3 hours after eating), but when she does it's always runny.  Could it be the change of food (they orignally didn't tell me to feed her a bland diet)?

Answer
Beth -

Loose stools are very common after a dog has been affected with parvovirus.  Be careful not to overfeed her as her GI tract has been under an awful lot of stress.  Continue to feed her the boiled chicken and rice until her doctor says to go to her previous diet.  The stools maybe loose for up to 21 days; they will get back to normal as the GI tract normalizes.

Best Regards,

Charlotte Sherrell, DVM