Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 1/31/2012

Question
hi my puppy is 3 months old and she has diahrrea all the time...she is active, wanting to eat all the time, drinks her water etc. i was told to give her alittle plain white rice....what should i do? and is this normal? please help thanks....

Answer
Well first of all it would be helpful to know what she is eating now. It might not be agreeing with her digestive system. Dogs this age that have chronic diarrhea can fall into a few categories:
Dietary intolerance, Parasite infestation and digestive disorders such as Mal-absorption syndrome, protein-losing enteropathy, colitis, etc.

The chances are that she has a parasite such as coccidia which needs to be diagnosed with a fecal exam at the vets. Typical wormers will not kill it because it is not a worm, but a protozoan. Because of that, she needs special medication to rid her of the infection and keep it from coming back.

When she gets her vaccinations she should have been getting a wormer for other parasites such as round worms, hookworms, whipworms, etc.

When she takes her monthly heartworm prevention this medication will also have other ingredients to keep her free of worms. But again, not a protozoan such as coccidia.

Dogs with chronic diarrhea need to be seen and cared for by a vet. This problem can make her run down, lose weight and her coat will become dull and dry. It can actually kill them so it is not something you just throw white rice at.

So as you can see, this is NOT normal and needs to be dealt with. Now if she is eating something like Purina Puppy Chow, which is garbage food, she could have diarrhea from the fact that they coat it in milk which dogs and cats are both intolerant to after weaning.

So get her on some quality food such as Science Diet Puppy Growth and this might be all you need to do to stop the diarrhea. However, If she continues to have it she needs to be seen.
Feeding her other grocery store brands can also give her the same problem.

Dogs can have a lot of food intolerance problems, but milk is one of the worst, along with beef, pork, chicken, soy and wheat.  

So if you want to let me know what she is eating, and her vaccination history, I may be able to help more or at least confirm that it is or is not a problem or a potential one.

I hope that this helps!