My dog had puppies and is now loosing weight urinating blood. Why?

Our question this week was:

My dog just had 5 pups, about 5 wks ago now. I noticed she has not been wanting to eat and she has lost a tremendous amount of weight. My husband noticed last night that she is urinating blood. What would be wrong w/ her?

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Elsa Equia

Answer

Hi Elsa – thanks for your email. Many dogs will loose weight while nursing their puppies – as it takes a lot of energy supplies to keep five pups well fed. However, the weight loss should not be tremendous and she should keep eating. The blood in the urine is abnormal.

She could have a urinary tract infection, bladder stones or a uterine infection. Either way, I'd recommend that you take her to your veterinarian for evaluation. I'd recommend that you start weaning the pups over to regular puppy food.

We have a good article on how to do this – I recommend that you read it and start doing that immediately. An article that might be helpful to you is Weaning Puppies.

Best of luck!

Dr. Debra

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