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My 8-week bottle-fed puppy is constipated. Can I give her pumpkin?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Maltese | Female | 2 months and 5 days old | 3 lbs

I have a new puppy exam later this week but my 8 week maltese is constipated (over 24h w/o BM). She has only been bottle fed thus far. Normal weight. Should I feed her canned pumpkin, metamucil, or miralax and how much? Should I stop the bottle feeding and switch to something else?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on February 10th, 2020

It's time to wean the puppy onto puppy food. To help her wean and to get used to dry food, I would soak a high quality puppy formulated dry food in warm water until soft. Then mix that with puppy formula such as KMR to make a mush the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next two weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry puppy food and decrease the amount of water and KMR you use until she is eating the dry puppy food only. You can add a teaspoon of pumpkin puree to her food to see if that helps with the constipation. If this doesn't help, she needs to see a vet.

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