Hi, just hoping for some advice from anyone who may be more knowledgeable than I am.

My 16 week old pug puppy has been poorly since this morning (Sunday). When he went to bed on Saturday night he seemed his usual happy, bouncy self, and his last poo of the evening was normal-looking... however when we came downstairs this morning he was lethargic, didn't want his breakfast (extremely unlike him!!) and didn't seem to want any water. He then vomited twice in quick succession. It was yellowy bile. At this point, there was no diarrhoea. He really looked very sorry for himself and so I decide to call the vet's out of hours number. I did this for two reasons a. he's only a baby and b. on his first visit to the vets for his puppy check and first vaccination, he was found to have a small umbilical hernia; at that time, the vet told us about the symptoms to look out for in the situation where the hernia might become strangulated, and so I didn't want to any chances with this being the possible cause.

We saw the vet mid-morning. He checked him over - normal temperature,normal coloured gums, felt his abdomen and said that fortunately there was no sign that the hernia was causing an issue or obstruction or anything. He gave puglet an anti-sickness injection and advised us to feed some small amounts of chicken and rice a bit later in the day, and if an improvement tomorrow (monday) then we could gradually re-introduce his usual food.

On arrival home from the vets, he went outside and had an extremely urgent, runny bout of diarrhoea. He also retched a bit but wasn't actually sick. He slept most of the day and evening, except for a brief period mid-afternoon when he voluntarily came out of his crate and sat on my husband's lap and did seem to temporarily perk up for about 15 mins, but then he took himself back to bed.

Later in the day about 4pm we gave him a couple of spoon fulls of boiled chicken and rice and he ate it. We gave him another small amount around 7pm. We have given him cooled, boiled water to drink and tonight, he's had two horrible bouts of diarrhoea which is just yellow water squirting out of him, poor thing, this seems to have been after he's had some water. He looks a sorry sight and I hate seeing him like this. He is usually so happy and into playing with everything.

So now it is early Monday morning and I am sitting here worrying about him, I am wondering how long I should give him to show an improvement before calling the vets again. I know tummy troubles are unfortunately common in pedigree dogs but he's only a baby pug and means the world to us to I am just worried?


thanks x

if he's still got violent diarrhoea tomorrow i would ring the vet again for advise.....at 16 weeks he could deteriorate quickly and if he's hardly drinking he will quickly become dehydrated. i wish him a speedy recovery

Check up with the vet today. He hasn't suddenly been introduced to a new food has he? I went through this with my Yorkie when he was a pup a bit younger, and I was as worried as you was because of the risk of dehydration. My rule of thumb is that if they are eating and drinking then that is a good sign.

I would keep him on rice and chicken until the squits clears up, too. If the vet says there is nothing else wrong, then there is not a lot you can do. I think this must be quite common in pups. The vet seemed more unconcerned than I was.

Obviously as he's so young you need to see or speak to the vet but there seems to be an awful lot of it around at the minute. One of mine had liquid poo on saturday but she's ok now. Some dogs are intolerant to rice, I always give them white fish or chicken and mash if they have a bad tummy. Hope he's ok.

I would go back to the vet, he might need some macrobiotic for the diarrhoea.

My cockapoo had three bouts of sickness and bloody diarrhoea within a couple of months, she was treated for symptoms, and the vet suspected a very sensitive tummy, had it happened again they would have run tests, it could have been Addison desease, fortunately that was a year ago and she has been fine, and can eat normally now.

It might just be a nasty infection or virus, but he needs help with the symptoms.

How long have you had your puppy? Some puppies get upset systems from the upheaval of being taken from their mother and put in new strange surroundings. Yellow bile is usally an indicator that the stomach is empty, which is why it's normally seen first thing in the morning. I would be going back to the vets ASAP, and also contact the breeder. This is why it's so important to buy from a good breeder, so you've got someone at the end of the phone to help and guide you. If the breeder is a good one, they will want to know and help and be as concerned as you that one of their puppies is seemingly unwell.

Just as a thought, could he have eaten something he shouldn't, that has either upset his stomach or caused a blockage?

Thought I would post an update:

Poor thing looked very sorry for himself all of yesterday. This morning however we came downstairs to a much more cheerful puppy who was probably 80% back to his normal character, if a little bit subdued. Unfortunately, early this afternoon he had one bout of the squits again, followed by some vomiting, so I called the vets, and they told me to bring him in. Saw vet at 4pm, who has given us some cans of Hill's ID diet, to be given to him little and often for the next few days, as well as a 3 day course of Promax syringe.

He has had a couple of small helpings of the Hill's food this evening which he seemed to eat happily - 10 mins ago he did have the squits again. Going to keep a close eye on his progress tomorrow.

Hows your little one today OP xxx

My dog had a similar problem when she was around the same age. Is your pug teething at the moment because our breeder said that could be the cause. Their bleeding gums makes them vulnerable to infection which means that their immature immune system is stretched to the limit, so even a normally trivial bug can have a big effect. Probiotics worked on our girl but it took almost a week (with a good day or 2 in the middle).

As well as the Promax you could try Fortiflora from Purina, it is another probiotic but in powder form you can add it to food it smells like gravy and I've yet to meet a dog that doesn't love it. We always have a box on standby.

As Riversmum said rice isn't always the best, we gave ours mashed potato with the chicken and added the Fortiflora with water to keep her fluids up. So she had a proper chicken dinner with gravy!!!

I hope your pug is doing better today.