Hi,
I am a proud new owner of a 3 mont hold male rat terrier. We bought oreo from a puppy store three days ago and he has had diarrhea ever since we bought him home. I am taking him to the vet tommrow for his first visit. I am beginning to think that the cause of this diarrehea could be all the vitamins and supplements they sold me at the store. This is what they sold me - Prozyne (enzyme food suplement that i'm supposed to add to his breakfast), vitamin pet tabs (daily vitamin), linatone shed releif (i was told to add to his food at night and encerite (the stuff in a tube). All this cost me about $200 and as a first time pet owner i really don't know any better. His diet consists of a mixture of nature's recipe dry puppy food and merrik wet puppy chow. My question is are all this vitamins necessary ?
Thanks
Peter

mrscoltweaver

Pet stores make me CRAZY! The only thing you dog needs at this stage is a monthly heartworm and intestinal worm preventative given according to his weight and a premium DRY puppy food. Period! Your vet will give a routine dewormer and should take his temp. Has he had all of his vaccinations? Hopefully they were given correctly. If he is vomiting with the diarrhea and acting lethargic, see your vet right away. Leave off all the other stuff they sold you-maybe you can get a refund. Best case scenario, he has stress colitis which causes diarrhea and can be taken care of with special food and meds. Leave off all wet food and only use it if he has to take pills for something someday so he will few it as a treat and take the pill for you! Good luck!

labman

No, not if he is on a decent puppy chow. All but the cheapest puppy chows are carefully formulated to give the puppy exactly what it needs. None of that stuff is needed, and some of it may domore harm than good. I agree with the dry chow. Canned and moist chows make the owner feel better at the expense of the dog's teeth and jaws that need the exercise and cleaning the dry chow provides. The marketers know how to push all your buttons.

The vet visit is the best thing you can do. They should have given you a record of all the shots and other treatment. Take it too.

There are several things that can be causing the digestive upsets including a sudden switch of chow. Tell the vet all the symptoms and let him decide the best course. It may help to take a stool sample.

I would never advise anybody to buy a 3 month old puppy from a pet store. You risk a poorly bred and poorly socialized dog. You may have a tough time of it. Start at the ''What does a puppy need?'' section of the sticky, http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/in...tml#post251802 See also the sections on housebreaking and suggested books.

In addition to heart worm, you may need to add a modern flea remedy. My home is a relatively poor flea habitat, and for years when I only had one healthy young puppy in the house, I did nothing, and they never had any fleas. Three years ago I added an older dog that developed a flea allergy before the good stuff was in wide use. I have used Revolution on both dogs the last 3 years without a sign of a problem.

oreosdad

Thank you for your quick replys. I will read the suggested posts. There is no vommitting and he definately isn't acting lethargic . I'll keep you posted about the vet visit.

mrscoltweaver

Good, then it's probably the stress of a new enviornment and all the food and junk you got from the pet store! Good luck! Oh, and if a food change does happen, stretch it out over a good five days combining old food and new food until he's eating only new food. Abrupt diet changes make tummies unhappy sometimes!

oreosdad

Well, ever since I stopped giving him all the pet store stuff his stool seems to be a little firmer. I will discuss his diet with the vet tonight. Will the vet recommend a monthly heartworm and intestinal worm preventive or is that something i need to do on my own ? I tried getting him off the wet food but he won't eat the dry food without it. I'll add less and less each day until he eats the dry stuff only.

labman

I hope you made sure the wet stuff didn't come from menu foods. The sooner you have him off it the better. Unless you are in one of the few heart worm free areas, any competent vet will test him and want him on heart worm medicine. Routine deworming is much less important, although the Heartgard+ and Revolution do act on other worms. Flea preventative is a maybe. The first sign of fleas calls for fast, thorough action.

mrscoltweaver

A routine dewormer is included in the monthly heartworm pill and it is neccessary-especially if you have kids or your dog shares a yard with other dogs-parks, apartment potty areas. If your dog comes into contact with infected dog's feces and is not protected he can get roundworms or hookworms. Both of these parasites can kill a dog over time (rare) and new studies have found that these parasites can be transmitted to kids through contact with the soil where an infected dog pooped. It is a whole lot easier just to give the monthly pill for the rest of the dog's life and be safe! The most effective heartworm/dewormer is Interceptor and the most effective flea preventative is Advantage. Your vet should offer you a six month supply-if not, ask for it! About the wet/dry food issue. A dog that has been getting the fabulous wet food will try to hold out until you put it down again. Trust me, he won't starve himself and anyway, the less food you put on top of an upset stomach, the better-it keeps coming out "ugly" until the intestines have a chance to rest!

oreosdad

Ok, Oreo had his first vet visit. I bought in a stool sample and will find out the results tomorrow. Everything else looked good. Thanks for your help.

oreosdad

Hey Labman, what do you mean by "menu foods" . I am guessing that you mean table food. Anyway i purchased a 12 pack of the canned wet food last week and will not be buying anymore so i'll begin to ween him off of it.
I have another issue with excessive crying when ever i put him in his crate but i'll read some past posts and reply in the appropriate category if need be.