How do you remove a stubborn dingleberry?

[Alex & Mattie]

Hi everyone,

Well, I didn't expect my first post here to be about this!  We recently brought home our new beautiful red/apricot double doodle puppy, Mattie.  She will be 8 weeks tomorrow.  She's sweet and playful and so cute! 

We're having some issues with soft stool (not runny, just not firm) and with a persistent dingleberry that is both smelly and seems uncomfortably lodged next to her rectum (excuse the graphic descriptions here!)  We've tried giving her pumpkin for two days in a row and it didn't seems to help the stools really.  Tonight I gave her some rice and chicken instead of kibble and will do the same tomorrow to see if that helps.  We have been giving her a lot of treats (lamb liver, not a lot of additives) so maybe that's part of the problem.  We'll check on Monday with the vet again to see if she has a parasite that we may have missed during our first visit.

As for trying to clean the dingleberry off, my partner and I are both new to raising a puppy.  We're not sure if we should just hold Mattie firmly and just get it done or not.   We're worried we're going to traumatize her as she starts into her "fear phase".  We want her to be comfortable being groomed and are worried we'll leave a lasting impression.  Has anyone else had this issue?  How did you take care of it?  Best ways to remove the culprit?

Help!!

[Jen and Annie]

..and Yes, if she is getting alot of treats, the richness of lamb and liver might be causing her to go softer than normal. Like others, I would suggest fewer lamb/liver treats. Surprisingly, most puppies are appreciative of just pieces of kibble.. thats what i use for training, because they are small...

[Alex & Mattie]

I'll do that instead.  Thank you!

[Balki & Ellie]

When Ellie was younger, the liver really did a number on her. I have to agree that it's probably the treats causing the diarrhea.

[Cherri Lynn Kading]

When Jacki was little she had very soft stools A LOT! There was no medical reason so I just gave her rice cereal (about 1/4 cup dry mixed with warm water) and 1 tablespoon of pumpkin mixed in with it. I gave it to her morning and night. It worked very quickly...in a day I could already see a difference. Now that she is 1 year old she rarely has trouble with this.

Did you try rubbing peanutbutter on Mattie's dingleberry??? Works with gum :)

Good luck!

[Alex & Mattie]

Thanks Cherri!  We wound up just clipping the berry off while she was sleeping.  She didn't even notice, just kept right on snoozing.  We also gave her some boiled chicken and rice for a day and that firmed things right up.  After a full day back on kibble it got a little soft again so I've just started giving her a chicken and rice breakfast with kibble for treats and dinner.  We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for your advice!  Glad to hear your Jacki doesn't have to deal with that anymore.  Another question for you, did you have any troubles with puppy vaginitis at all?  I've heard many puppies deal with this and it will just get better with time but I'm curious to hear how others have dealt with it.

Thanks!

[Cherri Lynn Kading]

Well, that was a great idea! Much quicker to just snip it off :) I'm sure it won't be your last dingleberry!! (I love that word!!) Jacki had soft stool SO many times. Rice cereal and pumpkin was a staple in my pantry :)

She also had issues with urinary tract infections but not vaginitis so if you ever need advice on that let me know!

[Alex & Mattie]

Thank

[Pam & Trixie]

Trixie had puppy Vaginitis. We used baby wipes on her...Especially important to use one right before bed...Thats when the bacteria sits & can make things worse I read.
I also decided to spay Trixie after her 1st heat cycle. I read that was often a cure for the vaginitis...Which she does not have anymore...But who knows- she may have outgrown it by a certain age anyway.

but that is what I did for it.