BONEDADDY
12-20-2013, 08:28 AM
I was on pedsonline and the question came up about a pup that can't or won't stand. I feel that proper nutrition and the proper environment (nonslip flooring) will help cure this condition. What are your thoughts?
BONEDADDY
12-20-2013, 02:19 PM
Cali Jack, could you move this to the Health section for me. Was on my phone looking at the site and just missed the right one.
Officially Retired
12-20-2013, 04:10 PM
I was on pedsonline and the question came up about a pup that can't or won't stand. I feel that proper nutrition and the proper environment (nonslip flooring) will help cure this condition. What are your thoughts?
It has been my experience that swimmers (unlike pups with ricketts) can be perfectly healthy, so I don't think health/nutrition is an issue*.
Rather, as you mentioned, having a non-slip flooring seems to be the solution ... as well as not letting them get too fat ... because the swimmers I have had have usually been in 1- 2-pup litters, and consequently, they had an unlimited supply of milk. This, in turn, made them get SUPER fat ... and when you have hog-fat puppy (with little bitty legs) trying to get its footing to take its first steps ... and that flooring is a slick crate (or wood) with a greasy layer of piss/body oil ... you have pups that never can stand up properly and so start "swimming" to get anywhere.
Therefore, the solution is to 1) get the mama away for awhile so the pups can't continuously feed and keep getting hog-fat, and 2) make sure there's a blanket/straw or some kind of bedding so the pups can get some traction and build those little legs up :D
Jack