A person with a puppy asked me this question, does any know about this? (this seems to happen every 3-4 weeks, it is occassional.

"The one thing that I’ve noticed is, right before the diarrhea starts, his breath has a funny odor (light odor =soft stools: heavy odor= diarrhea). The odor is similar to ammonia."

If anyone has experience with this, could you shed some light on it. thanks so much!

I work in medicine, and in people, ammonia breath is a sign of uremia (kidney failure). I suppose it might be the same in dogs.

Yes, uremia would give the puppy amonia breath. Take him to the vet ASAP. Kidney failure is very serious, and depending on the cause, it can be treated. The damage becomes permanent if left untreated.
Chronic/acute kidney failure can cause diarrhea, among other things.
Good Luck.

I agree. Get to the vet and check kidneys/function.

Are they sure the pup didn't get into anything toxic that can cause acute KF like anti freeze?

Prayers for this pup and the family.

If there is even a hint of "ammonia" smell to the breath there is definately something going on with kidneys. Catch it early. .. get to the root cause of the problem. I just lost a lovely girl to renal failure. Make sure a complete chem panel is done.