Stress can cause constipation in puppies.
The stress of a new home and environment can often cause minor constipation in puppies. If your puppy has not had a bowel movement in 24 hours, there are several things you can do to soften the stool and hydrate the puppy, which generally will stimulate a bowel movement. Although rare, a bowel obstruction can occur if a puppy swallows a foreign object too big to pass through its digestive tract. This is an emergency situation that requires immediate veterinary care. Most cases of puppy constipation, however, are minor annoyance caused by stress and are easily rectified.
Instructions
1. Add a tablespoon of canned pumpkin or oat bran to the puppy's food for two or three days. These are very high in fiber,and will soften the stool making it is easy to pass.
2. Keep the puppy well-hydrated. A dehydrated puppy will have a slower-acting digestive system and will have trouble passing stools. Encourage the puppy to drink water, or offer beef or chicken broth to stimulate interest in drinking.
3. Add 1/2 tsp. olive oil to the puppy's food daily until stools pass without straining. Alternatively, you could offer 1/4 cup of milk daily to stimulate the bowels.
4. Increase the amount of exercise your puppy gets. Exercise keeps the digestive system working normally, and being outside encourages the puppy to go. If you are in the middle of house training, your puppy may be holding in the stools until they become too hard to pass.
5. Trim away any long hair around the puppy's anus. In long-haired breeds, this hair can become tangled and matted with fecal matter, causing it to form a "shield" that physically prevents stool from passing.
6. Switch to a puppy food that contains at least seven percent fiber as labeled. Along with continued exercise and hydration, this will keep constipation from reoccurring.
Tags: puppy food, your puppy, bowel movement, constipation puppies, digestive system, soften stool