The American Beagler Forum

I have a 15 week old puppy with bad front legs. I never noticed it until today. I was doing some work on my kennel and let the pup run around for about three hours. By the end of the three hour period the pup's front legs were very bowed and when he would run it looked like his legs were swinging out form his knees down. A guy told me to to give the pup cod liver oil. Has anyone ever had this happen to thier pups if so please help.

Could be rickets a supplement could help. I don't know though?

Had one the same way. The cod liver oil did the trick!

yep i would say rickets also. i had a bluetick coonhound pup have this a few years back. the cod liver pills will supplement some vitamin d that could help. but the best thing for the pup is sunlight that he will naturally use to create vitamin d. if i remember correctly the vitamin d is what helps the calcium build bones and such.
what i did with my pup who had rickets was a little powder milk to add some extra calcium and stake him out in the sunlight. i also used cohesive wrap to help support his legs straight. i had good luck with my pup and his legs were good in a couple weeks.

later, dave

I agree with the consensus that your pup has ricketts.

Ricketts essentially develops from 2 basic problems: poor nutrition and lack of sunlight.

If you are feeding one of the cheap, kibbled feeds (Pedigree, Puppy Chow, etc.), then already you are feeding something that is essentially grain-based and devoid of the proper nutrition that a developing carnivore needs to achieve optimal health. Corns, wheats, glutens, and beet pulps (something all cheap kibbles are made of) are simply inadequate nutrition for a dog or puppy.

Second, seeing as it's wintertime, many owners keep their puppies indoors and/or in their garages or basements, which means the developing puppies aren't getting any sunlight. Sunlight is essential for the body producing and utilizing Vitamin D, which in turn is essential for the body's proper assimilation of calcium.

Therefore by depriving a pup of sunlight, and by feeding them cheap kibbled feeds, is how basically every case of ricketts develops ... when an owner suddenly finds themselves with a malformed puppy, right about at the age your pup is.

Fortunately, ricketts (if caught in time) can be completely reversed, and (you guessed it) the best way to reverse the process of ricketts is to (1) provide your pups with some time in the sun every day, (2) to feed a better-quality feed, and (3) to supplement with Vitamin D and calcium. As has been suggested, the Vitamin D can be supplemented with a dash of cod liver oil, and the calcium can be supplemented with a nice glop of yogurt added to the feed.

And if you're feeding kibble, what would really do your pup wonders would be to throw kibble away forever, and instead switch him to raw, whole chicken quarters, bones and all, whole soft-boiled eggs, shell and all, and to never feed kibble again. But that is a whole other subject

Best of luck.

Had one the same way. The cod liver oil did the trick!

Same thing here. Cod Liver Oil did the trick for me. That was about two years ago and someone on here told me about it and now I use it regular since it cost so little.

i love the whole other subject hehe