Puppy's on and off diarrhea worries me

[Florinator]

My 4-month old puppy has been having very loose stools lately. Or maybe I'm paying more attention now than I did 2 months ago when we got her... Nothing changed in her diet, so at first I started freaking out about parasites, viruses, worms and whatnot, but it's weird, because she'll have 2 perfect stools and a totally watery one, all on the same day. Some days she'll have 1 good one, 2 watery ones, some days all her stools are loose. I don't remember her ever having *ALL* her daily stools "normal". She's my first dog, so I have no baseline for comparison, I have no idea what "normal" is. My browser history is full of pictures of puppy doo-doo...

I started giving her a spoonful of plain yogurt twice a day a few weeks back, and it looked like it was helping at first, but now I'm not so sure. She looks and acts normal, no behavior changes. We feed her the Blue Wilderness Puppy kibble, and half a can of the Blue Wilderness puppy wet food at dinner. She gets less than a handful of treats a day (which I cut into smaller pieces than as they come, because I don't want to fill her up), as we train her to do tricks through the day. She chews on a beef tendon or a bully stick once or twice a day (as I alternate them, any one of these lasts her more than 3-4 days), and before bed I give her a piece of a cow or pig ear. I cut the ears into long strips about 1 inch wide, so she never gets a full ear at once.

She had the 3rd round of shots a week ago, and got Pyrantel (de-wormer) on every visit. I did start taking her on walks in my neighborhood before she had all her shots, which is why I'm freaking out somewhat.

I'm baffled at the randomness of it all. I would expect all of them to be bad if she were sick. I'm going to take her to the vet, but it'll be a few days until I can get an appointment, so I figured until then, I can see what the collective Border Collie nation has to say about this.

[D'Elle]

I would cut out the treats and pig ears and tendons and all that stuff first thing. that's a lot of stuff for a puppy to be getting, and you don't know which thing is disagreeing with her. See if anything gets better. If not, try just cooked chicken (no bones!!) and white rice for a couple of days; that's what I always give dogs who have diarrhea.

And by all means get her to the vet. If the vet finds nothing then change the food you are giving her. And stay away from the tendons and pig ears. They often give dogs stomach issues of one kind or another, in my experience, and are not all that good for dogs. If you want to use something for training, try just her kibble for a few days  until you get her to the vet. 

[GentleLake]

Diarrhea is a way of getting rid of toxins and other indigestible and/or irritating materials out of the digestive system quickly. Normal stools should be well formed and solid, but not so hard and dry that they cause constipation. IMO every dog owner should do some research so that you know what normal stools look like and pay attention (which you're doing) so you know when there's something off.

I do think it's a good idea to consult the vet. It may be something as simple as that the food you're feeding doesn't agree with her, or that some of the different kinds of treats don't. If you're giving all the canned food at one meal rather than spread out among several, it could be that's what causing the different consistencies throughout the day. You may have to dial back to just the kibble for a while to see if they become more consistent. (You can use some of her kibble as training treats during this period.) If not, you might want to try a different brand of kibble. If they do, then start adding the other things back one at a time for at least several days before adding the next one. If you get a change in consistency, then that's most likely the culprit.

The good thing is if it's just that something isn't agreeing with her (rather than being toxic) diarrhea is usually more of a nuisance for us than a real danger to the dog, which is probably why she doesn't seem to be phased by it. There are exceptions, of course, so it's good that you're paying attention.

Why is she being dewormed at every vet visit? Does she have fecal samples that are positive for parasites each time? Diarrhea is a way of getting rid of toxins. Anthelmintics aren't necessarily benign; the pharmaceuticals and even some natural ones are poisons that you're introducing into your puppy's body. I never worm a dog, with the very occasional exception of food grade diatomaceous earth or ground fresh pumpkin seeds, unless I've had a stool sample checked and it's positive (and specific) for parasites.