My 6-week-old puppy won't eat and is constipated. What should I do?

You can wipe her perianal area with hypoallergenic baby wipes every 2 hours to help stimulate her to poop. Mother dogs generally lick their puppies perianal regions throughout the day to simulate them to pee and poop. A 6 week old puppy generally should still be given puppy milk replacer via a bottle every few hours. Increasing drinking will improve hydration and help facilitate pooping as well. Cake is not recommended for puppies or dogs, and boiled rice and chicken is very easily absorbed compared to puppy chow. Many dogs on just boiled rice and chicken will not poop for 2 days at a time. I recommend adding puppy milk replacer (you can get this from most pet stores) to Gyspy’s daily diet and slowly adding a high quality puppy food (canned and dry) such as Royal Canin medium dog breed puppy chow. Good luck!

Hello. It is very uncommon for puppies to have constipation, so I would be worried that maybe a piece of stick or mulch or bone (most common culprits) may be stuck in the colon or rectum. You can always look and if something is stuck try to gently manoeuvre it out, however be very careful not to cause a cut, as a cut in the bum is hard to heal due to the bacteria in the poop. If you are seeing something stuck it may be best to have it removed by a vet. If it is constipation, I would be switching the food that you are feeding to a better quality food. Canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, just plain canned pumpkin) is very good as well at increasing the fibre and helping with constipation. Also, if you are feeding any bones then stop this, and it could be that Boo has a colon full of re-formed bone bits and this will require a veterinarian to remove bit by bit, likely under anaesthesia. (yet another reason to never feed bones to dogs). I would overall recommend that Boo be seen by a vet as there could be many different things causing his issues. Good luck with Boo.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Lily. There are two common causes for a dog struggling to defecate. The first is constipation which I suspect you are hoping to remedy by adding the pumpkin to her diet. This can be helpful, but she needs to eat it. With constipation, the dog can become so uncomfortable that she will refuse to eat. The second common is scenario is actually diarrhea. The dog can strain to pass very small amounts of liquid stool. It is easy to miss and most people will assume they are not defecating at all. The treatment options are different for the two causes. Since she is refusing food, she is not feeling well. She will need to see her veterinarian. In the meantime, continue to give her water so that she does not become dehydrated. I hope this information helps!

And in terms of the food -- he should be willing to eat wet food, if not dry food, at this age. So if he's not, I would highly recommend a check up with your vet to make sure everything looks ok. He may just need more time to adjust, but with such a young guy, he can get low blood sugar and dehydration very quickly, so it's important to act sooner rather than later.

Make sure you are simulating her to poop. Puppies this young cannot defecate without this. (Rub the anus gently for 10-20 seconds with a warm wet cloth/paper towel.) This needs to be done before or after every feeding (about every 2 hours). If that is not working within 8 hours, you need to see a vet. Do NOT attempt an enema on a puppy this small. Also make sure you’re feeding the puppy mild replacer EXACTLY as directed on the can. Diluting it or feeding too little can cause problems. Hope this helps and best of luck to you and Topani!

Thank you for the clarification. Puppies often get constipated when they are on formula. It is best to dilute the formula a bit more with water and usually that helps. You can also give the puppy a drop or two of mineral oil or olive oil (NO other types of oil) on her tongue. DO NOT force it down her throat. Only do it once, don't keep giving it to her. These things should help. If they don't, you may need to take her back to the vet for an enema.

I recommend taking diamond to a veterinarian due to her young age. It is possible diet or parasites are causing the constipation and painful rectum. Unfortunately their are not great ways to fix this without a veterinarians help.