3 Week old puppy with swollen stomach - Page 1

Hi everyone. I'm asking this question because I am unable to get to my vet until Tuesday. I called and they said it doesn't seem like an emergency, but I will still need to take the pup in. Here is the question; I have a 3 week old pup who has a big belly. It's kinda sorta hard and swollen looking. He has been wormed at 2 weeks and again at 3 weeks. He is active, walks, releases himself and does not whine. Acts like a normal pup. I'm not sure what the problem is with him as I have never encountered a pup with a belly like this through the 11 years I have been breeding. Any thoughts or has anyone else encountered something like this? No negative comments please, I have already contacted my vet and because we live in such a rural area I have to wait until the veterinarian is in which is Tuesday. We don't have a 24 hour vet service. We have a population of only 5k, so that should tell you something.

are his gums pink? what does his stool look like?

Like Stormins, I am wondering if there are other signs of any ill-health ?

However, it is not unknown that worming occasionally fails to work properly; pups do at times continue to retain a worm-burden even when worming has been done properly, and so they keep that pot-bellied look until this gets sorted. This puppy may have something in its genetic code that means it responds differently, less effectively, to the product used; so sometimes just a change of wormer can sort out the deficit. (Not all drugs suit every individual).

Just curious, but what do you do to get veterinary attention in a real emergency ?

@Hundmutter There are no signs of illness. I am now researching what other wormer may be more effective. Right now I use evict. I would appreciate if anyone knows of a good wormer that is aggressive enough to rid the worms without hurting pup. And to answer that question on what do we do in case of a real emergency, the answer is not too much. There is no 24 hour vet service or animal hospital here where I'm located. I'm pretty much at the mercy of the Good Lord and finding a solution until I can be seen. I had a pup a few years ago that ran in middle of the big dogs playing fetch and the 9 week old pup got a tooth right near the eye. Needless to say I freaked out and called our local vet. They were not open but did have a emergency number to call and when I did they basically told me to wait until the office opens. BTW I check on the pup several times a day and with this last check in I did see some debri around the anal area. It looks like a white smidgen of something so I am guessing it may be worms. I would like to give him a 3 or 7 way wormer if there are any safe for 3 week old pups. Any help on this matter is appreciated.

Stronger wormer is not the answer. If worms are the problem you could wind up killing a bunch and causing a problem that the pup cannot recover from either because of a blockage or blood loss.

Do smaller doses over more days with what you have if that is all you can get if it is worms or not will not hurt the pup.  Feed food that is easier to pass but not cause a loose stool.

Take temp several times a day at the same time.

Evict, if properly dosed at 2 and 3 weeks should have cleaned out roundworms. Any other swollen bellies in the litter?

Sometimes pups get gas from sucking on nonproductive nipples and they fill their bellies with air. I have only seen a couple times where a pup filled with air and still produce stool. You can try manual stimulation if mom is not doing it often enough, Keep an eye on the temp too.

Evict hasn't been reliable in many years. I've seen extremely wormy pups who have been dewormed with it and other brands (Nemex, etc.). I use fenbendazole at 3 weeks.

You need to describe stools though- color, consistency, frequency. White stools can be indicative of serious problems.

**UPDATE** Thank all of you who have given input on the situation that was at hand. The puppy is doing well, and it turns out that he was full of gas from suckeling on skin instead of teat. I ended up being determined to find out what the problem was after using fenbendazole (thank you, Jenni78) I sat, waited and watched and there he went, started to suckel and suckel hard on mama belly flesh instead of teat. I went out and gave him infant gas x drops and by Tuesday he was perfect. My vet appointment is set for Friday to get the pup looked over. He is eating moist food along with mama's milk and the weaning process has started. Again, thank you everyone.

Great to hear !

(Good call, Emoryg  ;-) .)

Nice to get an update and hear that all is well with puppy. Thanks for letting us know, MooseBrook.