WORRIED!!! Puppy staffy bowed front legs

Hi all,
My new approx 8 week old rescue staffy Dexter,( which we've had for a week ) was very under nourished and a very thin coat when ceased seems to be developing a serious front bow leg problem, he has been checked by the vet when he had his 1st jab and the vet said " keep an eye on them and we'll see how it goes" , how ever the problem is getting worse,and is extremely bad towards the end of the day to the point where he is limping, when rested for a while it seems to staighten out( the morning sometimes un detectable )he is generally of good nature and it doesn't seem to bother/hurt him........WORRIED ,ANY ADVICE PLEASE.......

gosh, if this was me i would be back to the vets no other option this must be very worrying for you!

so sorry but welcome and please keep us updated

Hiya and welcome. Not something I have come across, can the vet tell you a little more?

Young pup, what sort of exersize do you do? A little more info may help Xx

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Welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry you have had difficulties. I believe it is called knuckling, and it gets better over time but I think you can get help with it.

Some of our other members will know a bit more on this condition.

Hi all,
Dexter's exercise consists of play time with toys and the run of house down stairs, his "condition" does resemble the highly publicised "knuckling" case in the sun newspaper recently, we're feeding him iams small puppy and he is gaining weight at a reasonable pace....!!!!!

Have you had any x-rays done? Xx

The vet had a good manual check and told us no point in doing an X-ray since they wouldnt do anything at this stage, the vet said the problem may just correct itself naturally

I can get common knowledge off Google, not something I have ever experienced, what do you feed as it can help, but from reading it seems a problem that you manage, cope with. Not a be all and end all Xx

Dexteroid wrote:The vet had a good manual check and told us no point in doing an X-ray since they wouldnt do anything at this stage, the vet said the problem may just correct itself naturally

One of our members has a pup called Alfie who experienced knuckling and it did improve over a bit of time. However, if it will make you feel better don't be afraid to ask another vets opinion

Here's Alfie's story and things worked out well for him

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t30696-front-leg-worry

Thanks mat
Read Alfie's story and it sounds very similar to dexter
Dexter had his health check on tuesday just gone and his legs were looked over then ,the mrs has booked him in again on sunday coming because it's getting worse is vet visit going tobe of any use

Well if you feel that you haven't got enough support go to another vet and ask their opinion.

I had a dog before Logan and she became sick and I had no idea why, the vet I was with just said put her to sleep. But she was otherwise very healthy so I went to another vet and they worked out she was diabetic and she could live a happy life if we managed it. She lived for another 2-3 years before passing at the age of 14-15(ish).

Alfie's owner Iain was given tablets to give him and they seemed to work. So when you are speaking to them mention would there be anything you could give to help.

If it is knuckling which it seems it might be it will be easily solved

Keep us updated on it.

Thanks for all your imput

Cheers
Richard

Hey Dexterous, welcome from me and Marley. I hope he gets better, keep us posted. This forum is full if great help and support. Your in the right place.

Dexteroid - android typo, apologies

Welcome sorry I can't be of any help, but sounds like you've been given some good advice, so I hope his condition does improve

Hi and welcome from us and Suki

Hi and welcome from Me n Steffi Sorry I can't offer any more advice..

welcome to the forum and well done for giving a loving home to your dog keep us posted

Hi all,
Can anybody give me an exact weight of food I should be feeding dexter and break down ie how much , how many times daily as I've had conflicting advice , I want to rule out the idea of over nourishment , to fast weight gain putting his undeveloped legs under pressure

Hello and welcome to the forum from me and the kids

Only thing I can say is if you're not happy then go to another Vet

Dexteroid wrote:Hi all,
Can anybody give me an exact weight of food I should be feeding dexter and break down ie how much , how many times daily as I've had conflicting advice , I want to rule out the idea of over nourishment , to fast weight gain putting his undeveloped legs under pressure

The feeding is really down to the food you are giving him and following the guidelines , what are you feeding him at the moment ??

At his age he should really be on 4 meals a day , make one some scrambled egg (make it up with goats milk not normal milk) and the rest can be kibble , (Or raw if you want to go down that route) but Tommy , on the advice of the breeder we fed a 2nd meal of mince from PAH (think its called Prize choice , can't remember exactly) , 12 weeks you can think of reducing to 3 meals a day . Tommy certainly didn't suffer on this advice

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

See if you can ask the vet about some physio for the problem with the legs.

welcome

hi from me and the boys

Hello and welcome! As others mentioned it could be knuckling; but as you said that he was very under nourished it could be to do with something else. However, not to worry if it is as if you catch it early the problems and deformations in the bones will sort themselves out with correct diet and nutrient supplements you can get. If you don't catch it early enough the dog will have to undergo surgery to fix them.

Two of these are called Rickets and Metabolic Bone Disease: these are pretty similar as they're both basically due to a lack of vitamin D, the wrong calcium to phosphorous ratio in their body and only in Metabolic Bone Disease - a lack of magnesium. Symptom of these both cause bowing of legs, displaced hips and weak and discolored teeth; as well as blood in urine and bleeding from the mouth. I don't really think it's those, but that might give you something to think about. The vets can do checks and x-rays for all of these too

As you can guess I'm not a vet or anything but I leant a lot about nutritional factors that can effect a dogs health and welfare and that's just a few I can remember! A few other things could be that the ligaments in the pups foot haven't properly developed yet, or developed to fast which would cause the leg to bow! These will be fine as they get older with the right treatment so don't worry

Congrats on your rescue pup though, I'm sure you'll have a lovely life together

Congrats on the rescue. Hello & welcome from us :-)

hia from me and sasha,i hope he improves soon

welcome from myself and spike and i hope it all works out for you

Hi & welcome to the forum

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and the zoo xx

Hi & welcome to the forum ><

Hi
Having read these messages, they sound very familar to what we have been experiencing, so I wanted to see if you had any advice. We have an 9 week old staffy puppy, who has just started showing signs of bowing/knuckling in his right foot. We think its due to the fact that we have slippery wooden floors at home. So we have now put down mats/rug for him to have more traction on. But we are still a little worried as he hobbles a bit. We visited the vets and they have said they want to do some neurological tests. They didnt seem very familiar with Staffy's or knuckling- so i wanted to ask this groups advice. What can we do to help Bentley recover from his knuckling? Do you know if we should be exercising him- or just limiting him to the house? Thanks so much for any advice you have.

Hi and welcome to the forum! Do pop over to the introductions section if you have a moment

Have you got another vet you could go to for a second opinion? I would say it does sound like you need a vet to advise you but you also need a vet whose opinion you trust.

At 9 weeks he'll not have had his full vaccinations so you probably shouldn't be exercising him out anyway, so just at home and in the garden is fine.

Thank you Liz, I appreciate your feedback

Hi & Welcome to the Forum from Flo and me

When you say “knuckling” I assume you mean the top of the paw bent under? If that’s the case then vets should check the reaction time to right the paw. If it’s slow it could indicate a spinal problem, not always as bad as it sounds and most often very treatable.

Let us know how you get on.

Knuckling can also just be a matter of week pasterns, which will tighten as the pup grows. It happens a lot in heavy breeds & bull breeds.

However, a word with the vet would be useful to rule out any neurological problems.