[bluelf]

we recently adopted a puppy from a shelter and all seemed well. but today when walking her she began to bend the joint over her paws almost as if she were walking on her tippy toes. after doing that for awhile she fell on her face. we helped her up and took her home. she continued to do this as she walked around inside our home. is this something we should be concerned about? or is she just going through a phase where she isn't adjusted to her legs yet? she does have rather long legs for being only 3 1/2 months old. any advice as to what to do to make this stop?

 

[luelf21]

HI, i am bluelf's brother. I wanted to add that the puppy is a retriever/shepard mix. Also, that the puppy did take a fall off of 1 stair when it was wet outside. After the fall she seemed to have rear leg/hip troubles as if it was very sore. At first we all thought hip displaisia, but at 3 months it seems unlikely to show that severly and the vet thought it was just from the fall. then today the front leg trouble started. When we all went to the kennel to adopt her we never noticed any troubles at all with her legs. she was hopping around like a rabbit.

Sorry, not trying to steal the post but I wanted everyone to know all of the details.

hopefully you guys can find out whats going on

 

[Pepper]

I would talk to your vet. Falling on the face doesn't sound like a growing problem.

I would think if this continues a visit would be in order, since she was fine when you got her. But the fall off the stair could have pulled a muscle of some sort.

 

[bluelf]

she was just at the vet on wednesday. but at that time the whole front leg thing wasn't an issue. her back legs are doing better ( they are the ones that had the problem after falling). but now her front ones are acting up. for instance, this morning i took her for a walk and she was fine, but when we got home her front legs started to do that thing again. she doesn't act like it hurts her or anything but it does make her fall down. so i don't know what to do. do we wait it out for a week and if she continues then take her to the vet again or what should we do?

 

[Pepper]

Call them, ask to get on the phone with your vet, and see what they say to do, they may say wait it out for a few days, or they may think its something serious. It could be a calcium deficiency(far fetched) but it can happen, I had a large breed puppy I adopted a few years back and his legs were all bent and he fell a lot, the vet said it was a calcium thing and we had to give him a supplement and he got better.

It could be something as simple as a torn muscle(which it doesn't sound like) or it could be bone cancer, which usually starts with limping/falling in the legs.

 

[RRM_Mom08]

Is it similar to this ?

 

[bluelf]

ya it looks like that. but only after she has been running around on it for awhile. after it does that then her legs begin to bow out a little. what is that and how do you fix it? she is on glucosamine tablets once a day (being as she only weighs 16.8 lbs and that is the dosage for that weight range). is there something else we should be doing? we don't want to call the vet too quickly but at the same time we don't want it to get worse. advice?

 

[Pepper]

ohh that's what you meant.

Usually that is called knuckling over. It is due to uneven growth pattern between the bone and tissue/muscle of the puppy and it is cause by dietary imbalances and/or missing micro-minerals and/or minerals that are not available to the body - difficult to assimilate.

It usually does need to be seen by a vet so they can tell you how to change the diet and give any supplement or vitamins needed.

 

[bluelf]

ok. but it is something that can be fixed rather easily? or will this be a lifetime problem?

 

[RRM_Mom08]

high quality diet helps...they really don't have a definite on what causes this, BUT you really need to brace the legs or you can stretch out the ligaments and muscles (you can splint yourself or go to a specialist and purchase ones).I had a boston with this and it did correct in a month or so with braces (her's wasn't as bad as some I have seen).and she wore the braces all day and night we only took them off for a few hours at night

Well IMO the pasterns will always be weak but no lifetime problems as long as it corrects, some dogs do have to get surgery if they stretch out the muscles and ligaments ...

 

[bluelf]

well the shelter we got her from was feeding her science diet puppy food. that gets rather pricy so we switched over to purina puppy chow healthy morsels. she seems to like it and it seems to have pretty much the same if not a little more nutrients and such in it. plus like i had said earlier she is on glucosamine tablets once a day for joint care. about the splints, how would i go about splinting them myself? and will she need to wear these splints all day during play and walking and such and take them off at night to sleep? i was wondering if we needed to do something to help her support her legs until she grows into them a little more/ develops more. also i guess knowing her breed will help. she is a german shepard/lab/retriever mix.

 

[RRM_Mom08]

Well I spinted my dogs front legs all day and night except for an hour or so in the evening.Now you have to rember that my dogs are boston terriers.They are small she was like 2lbs when splinted.I used finger splints (from CVS) and used pliers to bend them to fit and then used gauze to scure it.If you have a larger breed dog you may HAVE to go to a specalist for braces.

Also your food really is not that great IMO (check it here http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ )...Also How much glucosimine ect.. is your dog getting in every pill ???

 

[bluelf]

we called our vet and they had the spoon splints for under $10 and the vet wrap for about $1 so we just got those things. we started with just wrapping up her leg for the day but that wasn't giving enough support so we picked up a splint this morning. her right leg in the front is much better and is doing well on it's own. but we are going to splint the left leg because she is having trouble with that one still. it is starting to build up strength but doesn't have enough yet to support her active lifestyle. lol. so we are going to splint it for a week or so and see what happens.

 

[Pepper]

It also won't get completely better unless you get the pup on better food.

 

[bluelf]

i wasn't aware of the food being bad...she seems to like it and her energy level has gone up as well as her mobility. would iam's be a better choice? or what dog food would be better? i don't want her to get sick because of something we are feeding her...i just wasn't aware that it was bad....i want a healthy pup. as far as the tablets, we picked them up from walmart in the pet section. she only takes one tablet a day because that is the amount needed for her weight....if you have suggestions as to something else i should be doing please let me know. i want her to be as healthy as she can be.