My puppy is very tired after lots of exercise, is this normal?

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Cornelius may be tired from the trip indeed. Other common causes of lethargy in a puppy include fever, ongoing infection, abdominal or musculo-skeletal pain and more. As long as Cornelius had something to eat and drink and is resting comfortably, you should monitor him at home. However, if he is still lethargic tomorrow morning, you should take him to your local vets for an appointment.

Let him rest, make sure he has plenty of fluids, and feed him normally. If he gets worse, not eating or drinking, then please bring him in for treatment right away. He could be dehydrated, just exhausted, or have some muscle or bone pain from the run. Puppies shouldn’t run with their owners until their bones are fully grown, usually about 18 months old, depending on the breed. They can run around plenty on their own, just not a run at a steady pace for miles until they are grown up. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for puppy.

Yes it sure is possible, especially for a large breed fast growing puppy like the Pitt Bull. For future purposes I would recommend only 20-30 minutes twice a day of excessive activity. You have to make puppies take a break, because they don't know any better and will over-exert themselves unknowingly. Once Boomer is over 1- 1 1/2 years of age he will be fully matured and able to handle longer periods of exercise. He will also be more aware of himself and able to take breaks on his own without having to be prompted by you, his owner.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Dogs can get tired to the point when all they want to do it sleeping. However, most of the time they get more energy after 2-3hrs of rest. Please, give Tadashi 3-4 hrs to rest and then try to feed him and offer him some water. He should be brighter and should have a drink and eat some food. If he remains lethargic, sleepy and off food, it could be a sign of muscular of joint pain from excessive exercising. In that case, you should get him checked by your local vets in the morning.

In general this is ok. As long as she seems to be enjoying the activity. She will catch up on sleep when she gets home. If something were to change in her health (like a chronic illness), then this behavior would be detrimental but for a healthy young dog, it's generally ok. Watch her for signs of stress like diarrhea, anxiety, increased vocalization or a predilection for illness. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

For puppies that are still eating and drinking but lethargic and no signs of GI issues I would be suspicious of a couple of things: 1) puppy is just sleeping more now because he is still growing, Pitt Bull terriers and other large breed dogs can go through pretty fast growth spurts and this can definitely cause pups to sleep more. 2) If puppy is overly lethargic and running out of breathe easily or becoming intolerant to exercise or play I would be suspicious of a cardiovascular abnormality. I would recommend you schedule an appointment to have a vet do a heart auscultation (listen to the heart with microscope) to ensure your pets heart does not have any arrhythmia's or murmurs.

Eight week old puppies will sleep a lot. But when awake, he should be active, alert, and hungry. Many times it takes multiple deworming treatments several weeks apart to clear an infestation, I would recommend having a fecal sample checked by the veterinarian. Be sure that he is getting his vaccinations, the vet will recommend a series of vaccines every 3-4 weeks until 16-18 weeks old. Until he is fully vaccinated he may still be very susceptible to parvo or distemper. If he is very lethargic, vomiting or diarrhea he needs to see a vet right away. At 8 weeks old I recommend feeding 3 times daily. He should be on a high quality large breed dog food (some great brands are Science Diet, Royal Canin, Eukanuba or ProPlan). At this point you can base what you feed him according to the directions on the package. Be careful when playing that you don't tire him out too much. Be sure he stops for breaks and snacks. Until fully vaccinated I would not take him outside much and avoid public parks, dog parks or petstores with Twix. I hope this helps. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.