East West Front On Puppy

[hilaryo]

I have found an earlier topic on this and the main recommendation is to feed good quality adult dry food and some suggest vit C.

The puppy in question is younger than the puppy in the previous topic and is only 15 weeks. The owner tells me his front legs are starting to look a bit east west. He previously was dead straight in the front. The main problem with this puppy has been diet. He just wouldn't eat dry or soaked puppy food. The minute you mixed it in with anything else he wouldn't touch it. He also wouldn't eat barf. In fact he has been a nightmare to feed, didn't matter about competition for food. I know people say that a dog won't starve itself but the little he ate was not enough and he was getting thinner and thinner.

He has improved over the last couple of weeks and will eat, but not a complete diet (balanced) that may fix this problem. What would you recommend in this situation. Obviously a dry food would be best but he will not eat it.

What would you suggest that you can be sure has the correct ratio of nutrition to perhaps help this problem, eg. calcium, phosphorus, protein and fat? His diet may have contained more protein than anything else by the sound of it.

This is a puppy we sold to a pet home by the way but may be shown. I want to get onto it early in case diet is the problem.

Much appreciated!

[puggy_puggy]

So if he wont eat dry and he wont eat raw what has he been eating? Was he eating with you?

Get him onto minced chicken carcuss that can be mixed with veggie slops for breakfast and dinner.

Lamb bone for lunch.

[centitout]

What is he currently eating?

Mine are all on adult from 8 weeks+ raw.

A whole orange squeezed including the membranes etc over the food is what i do once or twice a week,bu ti f he is fussy that wont help.

Have they tried cat food-a spoonful mixed in his feed might help him eat more biscuits,something like tuna or sardines etc.

[whippets]

It could be structural and nothing to do with diet. It was a common thing in my first breed (Newfs) to see pups with shallow chests and slab sided ribcages (overall narrowness) to be also east-west in the front. Some improved as they matured and some didn't.

Is the east west coming from the pasterns or from the elbows?

Have you taken puppy to the vet? It could be something else (medical) that is affecting appetite therefore growth.

Have you tried nutrigel? chicken broth and meat (boiled chicken) on the kibble? Calcium Sandoz to help with bone growth. Unless it is something else medical then making the food palatable is the way and you'll have to try different things.

[Stitch]

Not knowing how he got to be a picky eater makes it difficult.

You can often create a picky eater by changing the diet trying to find food that the dog will love to eat.

Often I have found that just by feeding boiled chicken in chicken broth for a while and then gradually adding say Advance Puppy Rehydratable to it will work.

Other times it is the boiled chicken broth warmed mixed in with Dr. Billinghursts BARF.

It is often said that feeding these kind of dogs only once a day as much as they will eat is better than feeding small meals as it stretches their stomach.

Feeding childrens Pentavite multivitamin drops will often help as it stimulates the appetite.

I currently have a very light eater who has to be crated before she will eat much. In the crate she will eat heaps, and especially likes chicken necks - go figure!

It can be a case of experimenting slowly with different foods and in my case environments, or it can be a case of just putting the food down for say 15 minutes and taking it away until the next feed time.

I have a litter, 4 of whom are really big eaters, and 2 only light eaters - and as far as I can see there is no reason for it.

The east/west front can be genetic or it can be dietary. It can be caused by the ulna and the radias growing at a different rate to each other, or weak carpal tunnel joints which bend inward, causing the feet to turn out. It may right itself or if you have seen it in the parents, probably not.

I hope this helps as it can be very worrying when they don't eat well - and I think they know it too!!