Having a puppy as a pet can be a lot of fun. Its happy and cheerful demeanor makes everyone around it feel good. So when a puppy is sick, it can be a scary and worrisome thing, especially when it is vomiting and suffering from diarrhea. In order to figure out how to treat the puppy, you need to narrow down what caused the illness in the first place, which could have been a variety of reasons.
-
Parasitic Infection
-
One of the most common reasons why a puppy would suffer from vomitting and diarrhea are parasitic infections. The most common of these are Giardiasis and Coccidia. Giardiasis is a single cell organism that your dog can pick up from drinking unclean water from a pond or lake. Coccidia is another single cell organism that lives primarily in the intestines of young puppies. It can be picked up when the young dogs are exposed to older dogs' stool droppings.
Bacterial Infections
-
Just like humans, puppies can be affected by bacterial infections like Salmonella and E. Coli. Salmonella is a disease that is caught when a puppy digests food or water that contains some of the salmonella bacteria. Along with vomiting and diarrhea, other signs of your pet suffering from Salmonella poisoning can include lack of appetite and weight loss.
While E. Coli is something everyone--humans and animals--lives with in their bodies, puppies can be infected with harmful kinds of E. Coli that can do serious damage to its intestines. Your dog can contract E. Coli a number of ways, such as digesting stool, drinking dirty water and eating raw food. Other symptoms of a dog suffering from E. Coli are a fever and a sad, quiet demeanor.
Change in Diet
-
A change in your puppy's diet could also be the reason for its diarrhea and vomiting. Feeding your puppy a different kind of dog food than usual can upset its stomach and make it sick. Even giving it a biscuit for being good can be the cause. The quantity and quality of food is important. If your puppy's food is of low quality and vast amounts, the poor physical state of your dog should not be a surprise. Adding fatty table scraps to your puppy's diet is not good either. Human food is much richer compared to dog food, and a puppy's system cannot handle it.
Stress
-
Stress is another trigger point for sick dogs. Stress can be brought about for a variety of reasons. A recent move to a new neighborhood or house could be making your puppy confused and scared. On top of the new scenery, all of the smells are different, which can overwhelm such a young dog. Another possible reason might be that the puppy's owner gets a new job that keeps him away from the home for a longer period of time each day. The puppy is not used to that, which could make it sick. Also, being kept in a crate with no human contact for hours can affect a dog's emotional and physical state. All of these types of stress factors can cause a puppy to become sick with vomiting and diarrhea.
Treatment
-
If your puppy is vomiting and having diarrhea, there are several things you can do at home to help it. First, make sure it drinks plenty of water. Vomiting and diarrhea leaves a dog very dehydrated and weak. It is extremely important to get your puppy hydrated in the first 24 hours of becoming sick. Next, feed it a bland diet consisting of white rice and chicken. Keep the size to half of what you were feeding it before it got sick. Slowly introduce this bland food to your puppy by combining small quantities of the bland food with its old food for a couple of days. If your puppy's conditions get worse, or if you are not used to handling this type of situation, it is best to call your veterinarian as soon as possible.
-