Diarrhea in Nursing Bitches

Question

Atrix & Pup   QUESTION: My Champion Mini Poodle has a 3-day-old Singleton Pup and has had a typical (for my girls it seems)case of bad diarrhea all night.  Tomorrow it is off to the Vet with her and a fecal sample, but I was just wondering how you support your nursing mothers to keep them hydrated and eating in these situations.  I'm boiling chicken as we speak.  Thought you might have ideas I hadn't considered.

ANSWER: I use Kao-Pectin on my dogs for diarrhea (I get it from Fleet Farm), and it is safe enough to be used on nursing bitches (and newborns, too, for that matter).

I would also give her some plain yogurt and a bit of canned pumpkin (the real stuff, not the pie filling... a tsp. or so). I would go easy on the food, as you are doing, but leave her water to drink.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your answer. I had forgotten about the Kao.  It's not so easy to find any more (usually can find at pet store), and Kaopectate is now the same stuff as Peptobismul.  I've been looking for canned pumpkin and have had no luck at all finding any in the grocery store--don't know what's up with that.  My girl doesn't want to eat anything this morning, and she's not wanting water either.  I'm making sure she is getting some water by feeding it to her through a syringe.  My Vet isn't in today...She still has milk, the puppy is fat, and nobody seems too stressed out.  I just don't want her to run out of milk and end up having to feed the puppy myself!  Thanks again so much...nice to have a sounding board at these times. We were supposed to have 6 puppies in there--appears the other 5 were reabsorbed...I'm having post-partum depression!  Thanks again, Cindy

Answer
Try looking for the Kao-Pectin at a feed store. This stuff is pink and is intended for livestock. The dogs actually like its flavor.

You didn't ask, but I am throwing this in since I had an entire litter resorbed many years ago. *HAVE YOUR BITCH'S THYROID TESTED!*

Mine is a long story, but suffice it to say that I ended up at the U in the hands of a reproductive expert and she said to me that a bitch that is hypothyroid will often resorb before six weeks and abort after six weeks (my bitch had been palpated as having a "pot-load" of puppies). A dog's well-being comes first and the body will do whatever it needs to maintain its status quo, so the two things that a hypothyroid bitch can do without, but still maintain itself in reasonably good shape, is losing its coat or losing puppies.

My bitch tested low-normal and we were able to only get one litter from her; she always had decent coat. And, of course, I am sure that you also know that this condition is hereditary.

Good luck!