My 12-week Shih Tzu puppy has diarrhea after vaccines. What to do?

It could be a reaction. A dog can have vaccine reactions at any point in life. Reactions usually occur within 24-48 hours after vaccination. For the diarrhea, withhold food for 12-24 hours then feed a bland diet (plain, boiled boneless chicken and plain white rice) in small, frequent amounts until the stool is normal. Transition slowly to the regular diet. If t doesn't resolve, see your veterinarian. In the future, separate the vaccines to determine which vaccine caused the reaction. Your veterinarian can pretreat with an antihistamine to avoid reactions. Call your veterinarian and report the possible reaction.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Pj. I'm sorry to hear that he is experiencing vomiting and diarrhea. If a dog is going to suffer a vaccine reaction, it typically occurs the same day as the vaccination. So this is likely unrelated. He may be experiencing GI upset secondary to all the new treats. I would stop those for now. Being so young and small, he should see his veterinarian if symptoms persist. In the meantime, encourage him to eat and drink small amounts. It will be easy for him to become dehydrated at his size. I hope this information helps!

It is a vaccination reaction if they are excessively vomiting. So if he vomited once or twice I just have people watch them. If you are concerned because it has been more then that I would recommend calling your veterinarian so they can treat him. There are injections you can give that will stop the vomiting and make Thor feel much better. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Either one of these things can result in diarrhea. At less than eight weeks, Buttons really should not even be receiving a vaccine as of yet, as that is the age when it is licensed at a minimum. Dietary change should always be done over a gradual period, approximately one week. Diarrhea can also be called by GI parasites in puppies this young. I would bring in a fecal sample to your veterinarian to be looked at to verify if any of this is occurring. If so, a dewormer can be administered and rid Buttons of the nasty bugs. Regarding vaccination, if you are concerned about reactions to the shots just make sure that Buttons is never receiving more than one or two at a time. With larger dogs, I don't hesitate to do up to four at any given time, but with a tiny pup I won't give more than two. Hope this helps.

Very small and very young dogs can quickly get dehydrated and develop low blood sugar if they have vomiting and diarrhea, so I would recommend taking Tinny Bubbles to the veterinarian as soon as possible to have her evaluated. If she is dehydrated your vet can give her fluids under her skin. They can also give her medication to stop the vomiting and diarrhea. We will sometimes recommend giving oral electrolyte supplementation such a Pedialyte at home to prevent dehydration with diarrhea, but if Tinny Bubbles is also vomiting, then she will likely just vomit it up, so she should see her veterinarian. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and that she feels better soon. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I am so sorry to hear about Copper! That does sound very frustrating! Some diarrhea after getting vaccines may not be unusual as we can see diarrhea as a result of a stressful incident in dogs, so if the diarrhea resolves in a few days, it is likely that is the cause of the recurrence. It sounds like your vet has done extensive testing and you are seeing a specialist, so it sounds like he is in good care. Other things we consider in these cases is testing for exocine pancreatic insufficiency https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952034 though these dogs are usually losing weight (not sure if your dog is experiencing this), and sometimes unfortunately a biopsy of the intestines may be needed in severe cases where we suspect something like inflammatory bowel disease https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951476 though often we will try trials of a drug called Metronidazole which has anti-inflammatory/immune modulating effects on the GI tract.

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