Runny poo in puppies

I was asked this question by Lianne about her new Akita puppy Lily,

Question;
I got my puppy Akita 2 weeks ago, I also have a 19mth old Akita too.
She was fine and eating really well. I wormed her with syrup I got from the petshop. It worked fine and she passed worms for a couple of days. It said on the instructions, ´worm every 2 weeks til 12weeks old´, so that´s what I´m doing. The problem I need advise about is 3-4days ago when lily went on paper to poo she was passing mucus. It was very jelly like. She also seemed to be scrapping her bum after too but she only ever does this when she has a poo like this. She also has hard poos throughout the same day too but yesterday i noticed she had another runny poo. I have noticed a couple of days she has nicked my older dogs dinner and the cat food too. Do you think it could be the richness of these? She´s due at the vets this week for her 1st injection. The breeder I got her from I don´t think they bothered with many vet checks and i also noticed mum was outside a lot then around and feeding pups which i´m sure didn´t help. I would really appreciate your advise as I´m very worried about her.

Answer;
Hi Lianne,
Occasional runny poos in puppies is quite normal, so long as they are well in themselves. Puppies are not only very curious, and will generally try to eat anything that appears under their noses, they are also eating everything for the first time. This means their guts have to learn how to digest all these new things, and so will often produce runny poo until they are able to digest them correctly. My general rule is to not worry too much about what comes out the backend, as long as the front end ( ie the puppy) is bright, happy, eating and drinking. If the diarrhoea is prolonged or contains blood, then I would contact your vet for further advice.

You are right to worm her, and it obviously worked. However, I think worming with products from your vets is always best. They are 100% effective, which pet shop products may not be, and they do not have to be given as frequently. They are also not expensive. As a general rule puppies should be wormed every 2 weeks from birth to 2 months, then every month until 6 months, then every 3 months as an adult dog.

The same advice also applies to kittens.

Cat