I have a litter of pups that will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. Their mother developed a nasty skin infection a couple of weeks before whelping. She's had this before and successful treatment consisted of putting her on Cephalexin and bathing her with a medicated shampoo. Of course, while she was pregnant, I did not give her any meds, I only washed her with the shampoo to try to make her more comfortable (the infection causes extreme itching). I checked with my vet to make sure that I could give her the Cephalexin once the pups were born and she said that was fine. I had to go out of town the week the pups were born, so it wasn't until they were a week old that I started her on the Ceph. It has helped her a lot, the infection is clearing up and she is no longer itching like crazy. However, I've noticed that some of the pups, but not all of them, have this strange yellowish, runny stool. The best thing I can think to compare the color and consistency to is strongid (the dewormer). Could this be due to the Cephalexin that mom is on? Should I be worried? The pups are all nursing well, growing as they should and seem very healthy otherwise. I've looked this up in one of my breeding books and it says it could be due to overeating. But I've had fat, really well fed pups before and never seen this. Any ideas? TIA!

Actually sounds like coccidia... Does it have a strong, sweet/sick smell? They can pick it up off the mom's udder. Not serious - they just need a little Albon or Tylan. You can get Albon from the vet.

My repro vet has told me Cephalexin is safe for nursing puppies; however, it can make the milk taste funny so some puppies may not want to nurse. Also, ANY antibiotic is capable of causing gastrointestinal upset in mom or babies. Are they nursing well?
I would be very careful about using a shampoo with nursing puppies on the teats. Even if you rinse it off well, there can still be some residual left, and may be causing the G.I. upset in the pups. If you need to use the shampoo, try to avoid the teat area and rinse and rinse again.
Being that you were out of town the week the puppies were born, and didn't start the antibiotics on the mom until a week later, she was probably trying her best to take care of her newborns, and having to deal with severe itching and a bacterial infection at the same time, not fun at all for her or the babies. The stresses of all this, plus her primary caretaker being gone for a week can certainly contribute to illness. Does mom have diarrhea? What kind of food is she on? You may want to give her some yogurt to help overcome the effects of the antibiotics.
I'm sure you had someone looking in on her and the babies, but it's never the same as if you, the breeder of this litter were there to take care of things the right way. This is not a flame, just a gentle way to let you know that these problems may have been better handled earlier on, or be nonexistent! Also, if treatment in the mom was delayed, the puppies are at risk for getting the same skin infection.
You may never know the cause of the diarrhea, but I would start treating with a probiotic like Probios or Benebact to try to overcome the upset flora in the babies' G.I. tracts. You can also feed them room temp yogurt; I put it in a syringe (without needle, of course), and gently squirt it in the puppies mouths.
If the diarrhea continues, call your vet.
I'm betting you will plan to be there when your next litter is born.

Again, everyone, please be careful about saying it "sounds like this" or "smells like this" and give recommendations on the forum for medications. Giving 2 week old puppies medications they don't need can kill them!
We don't know what's going on inside based on someone's description of what the diarrhea looks like!!! A vet can run a fecal parasite check and look at it under the microscope to tell you what it is.
I would recommend you bring in a fecal sample to your vet.

Remember though - coccidia has a lot of false negatives on fecals.

Thanks for the responses. To clear a few things up, mom is doing fine. No diarrhea or any other signs of upset from her. She is on a powdered probiotic and I do give her yogurt occasionally as well. Out of the 8 pups, I've only noticed the weird stool from 2 of them. I have seen firm stool in the box as well, so I know that not all of them are affected. Also, when I went out of town, my girl was not left alone. My fiance stayed home with her and was here when she whelped her pups. He is actually the breeder and has been since long before he met me, although I do share puppy duties and I have helped raise this particular girl since she was a puppy herself. Still, I don't believe my absence would have caused any stressful effects on her as she is just as comfortable with him as she is with me. He is just terrible at remembering to give medications consistently, so I started with the Ceph when I returned home. I have been watching the puppies closely to make sure they have not contracted the skin infection and so far, so good. No signs of it on any of them. I did use the shampoo on her teats because the infection is primarily on her belly and the insides of her back legs. I made sure I rinsed really well, but it's certainly possible there was still some residual there. As for whether the Ceph is making the milk taste funny, you'd never know it by watching them nurse. They love to eat! I am going to take a stool sample in to my vet tomorrow and have it tested. I'll also give the pups some Benebac.

I had a litter once where the dam had to be on Ceph due to a c-section. Very young pups had almost milklike poops....really scared me. Anyway, my vet said it was ok to give them a bit of Pepto-Bismol. That and the pro-biotic seemed to help.

good luck with your guys.

You might want to check before you use Pepto. The vets that I have don't recommend it.

Just a quick update. I took a sample in to the vet yesterday and it was all clear. My vet said the problem was due to the Ceph and I shouldn't worry. Nonetheless, I gave all of the pups some Benebac yesterday. This morning, their poos have form to them and are darker in color. Their eyes are all starting to open as well and they're starting to walk, so they're all doing very well. Thanks again!