Why is my 6-month GSD puppy losing teeth, has diarrhea, and won't eat?

At 3 months she should weigh anywhere from 22 – 30 lbs (10 – 14 kg). The teeth start to fall out between 3 and 4 months of age and continues until 6 months of age. At 6 months old all the adult teeth should be in.

Sudden loss of appetite and weight loss in a puppy is very concerning and may be related to fever, infection or a bowel obstruction, particularly if accompanied with nausea or vomiting Please have her assessed urgently by a vet, reduced appetite is never normal in a growing pup

I can certainly understand being concerned about Apollo! Given that he is up to date on his vaccines and deworming treatment, it could be that the diarrhea is caused by a GI illness, eating something rotten, or a foreign body. Keep in mind, however, that at 10 weeks of age he isn't old enough to be fully vaccinated, so there is always a chance it could be something more serious like parvovirus or distemper causing the diarrhea. I would keep a close eye on him, and if you see blood in his diarrhea, he starts vomiting, he becomes lethargic, he starts having diarrhea more frequently, he develops a high fever, he becomes very lethargic, he has reddened eyes, and/or he develops a nasal and eye discharge, have him seen by a vet immediately. Having diarrhea three times over a nine hour time period with no other signs isn't excessive enough to warrant a trip to the animal ER, so I will give you a home remedy to see if that helps. Withhold food for 6-8 hours, then feed a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) and white rice in small amounts several times a day for a couple of days. Then slowly add back in his normal diet. As I said above, monitor him closely for the signs I mentioned earlier in my answer, and rush him into a vet right away if you see any of them. Good luck, I hope this helps and thank you for contacting Pet Coach with your concerns!

If lethargy is not present, you could try, as a first approach to start feeding with a bland diet based on boiled chicken and rice in small portion every 6 hours for the following 48hours. Then gradually reintroduce the normal diet over 5 days. I would definitively recommend a veterinary check up if the signs persist or you notice more vomiting, lethargy or inappetence. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Hello, congratulations on your new puppy. Most puppies will begin to exchange their teeth around 3 months and may last until they are 8 months of age. In some instances with large breed puppies, their puppy teeth fail to fall and they need to be removed by your veterinarian, however this occurs more often in small/toy breed dogs. Hope this helps and best of luck with her.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. In general I find German Shepherd's to be pretty physically tough but every dog is different. For the running - do remember that at 5 months, Sweety is an uncoordinated teenager who's legs are growing faster than she can keep up! It is natural for her to miss her steps sometimes while running and to scuff herself up in the process. I expect this to improve with age. As for the gums, she is about the right age to be losing the last of her puppy teeth which often come out during tug of war games and may have minimal bleeding for a few minutes. I am not very concerned about this. I do find German Shepherds to be a little overrepresented in terms of sensitive skin and stomachs. But regardless of breed, almost every dog who eats mud/rocks is going to vomit and/or have diarrhea. Sometimes this part will improve with age, sometimes the only solution is to prevent her eating those things either by keeping her indoors and under close supervision outside, or by means of something like a basket muzzle. All in all, Sweety sounds about normal for a dog of her age. Best of luck to you both!

I am sorry to hear that your dog isn’t feeling well. Many different problems can cause the signs your are seeing. These include Addison’s disease, kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and exocrine pancreatic Insufficiency , and even cancer. EPI is common in shepherds and this could certainly happen in young dogs. Ideally an examination and blood work should be done by a veterinarian for a diagnosis. If that is the problem then adding pancreatic enzymes such as Prozyme and feeding a bland diet such as hills i/d can make a big difference. Best of luck and I hope you get an answer soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.