My unvaccinated puppy is vomiting and has diarrhea. What should I do?
Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Coco. Vomiting and diarrhea have many causes including intestinal worms, inflammation, infection, dietary problems (including dietary indiscretion or eating things pets are not supposed to eat, food sensitivities/allergies), ingestion of foreign bodies or exposure to toxins, bacterial overgrowth in the gut, problems in the stomach, intestines, or even problems outside of the intestinal tract/stomach including pancreatitis, kidney/liver problems, metabolic disease (diabetes,etc), endocrine diseases (thyroid or other hormone problems), etc. Usually, in puppies, we worry about intestinal parasites, infection (parvo/coronavirus), foreign body ingestion or dietary indiscretion. A thorough history and physical exam with resultant diagnostics such as fecal tests, blood tests, imaging studies such as x-rays/ultrasound can be done to try to determine what is going on. Puppies should be dewormed starting at 2 weeks of age and then every 2-3 weeks. This should be done multiple times and should continue for 3-4 times after weaning. When puppies nurse, they continue to get infected with intestinal parasites from their mother. Good luck
Updated on September 23rd, 2025