Fecal Concern

Question
We have a new Chihuahua puppy and her excrement has been cause for a bit of concern.  A lot of times it's normal looking and textured, but a couple of times it has been very thin and sometimes mucus looking, but that was rare, the main concern is that sometimes we will hear her belly gurgling pretty loudly and then when she goes to the bathroom, it's an odd red/brown jelly-like substance that comes out.  This is not happening daily but from time-to-time it does happen and we're worried.  I'm not sure if she's eating properly or enough (we make sure she always has food and I do see her munch pretty often) or if it's simply a puppy thing, or what.

She is seemingly healthy, she still jumps and runs around, she plays with us and the other dogs all the time.  It is a very curious little problem and I'm hoping that you're aware of what it is.

Any information that you can offer would mean worlds.

Thank you very much!

Answer
Hi Jay and thanks for your question.

I sounds as if she is having a parasite problem. This could be whipworm, hookworm, or possibly coccidia, but I would tend to believe it is one of the "worms". If she is eating, drinking, playing, etc, all pretty normally and possibly not gaining or maintaining weight as well as she could, then this is probably the problem.

Have a fecal check run on her at your vets and if it's positive, they will prescribe a de-wormer. You might want to have this checked twice a year or when you see some symptoms. If it turns up negative, then ask them to run a test for coccidiosis. This is actually a protozoa and doesn't show up in regular fecals.

Hope this helps. Let me know how it turns out :)