Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, and thank you in advance for providing this wonderful service! Three weeks ago, we brought home a six week old Saint Bernard puppy. When we went to choose the puppy, we didn’t expect to bring her home, but the breeder said the puppies were weaned and had their first set of shots the day before, and expected we would take her. Her first stool was normal, but after that she began having horrible, frequent loose stools. I tried her on rice and chicken, but she got explosive diarrhea with that. We took her to the vet, who put her on sulpha, dewormed her again, and put her on an intestinal disorder bland diet. Finally after these three weeks she is on proper puppy food and her stools are actually normal! However, my question to you is regarding vaccinations. I have done lots of reading now on the dog vaccination issue and understand that the 6 week vaccinations were completely useless (if not harmful) due to the mother’s immune protection. Now I am unsure as to how to proceed. If she had the initial vaccinations later I know she would be protected, but because she had them so early, should she get any more shots? She had the whole gamut….distemper, parvo, lepto, hepatitis, rabies, bordetella, parainfluenza, and coronavirus. I would like to forgo any more vaccinations, but she will be camping, etc where there will be plenty of other dogs. I just want to do the right thing….thanks so much for your advice. Jody

The best way to stop diarrhea in a newly weaned puppy is to put it on cheap raw hamburger for a week. The stool firms up in a few days, if you don't feed anything else with it. As for the vaccinations, the 6 week shots are often useless, but one shot for parvo, distemper, hepatitis, at 12-16 weeks is sufficient to protect the dog the rest of its life. Forget coronavirus, leptospirosis, bordatella, lyme disease, and give rabies at six monthsm or if required earlier, four weeks after the last shot.