The American Beagler Forum

my 17 year old bought his first treeing walker coon hound he is about 9 weeks old
his right foot started to go crooked we took him to the vet they took exra's and they think
it is caused from an over active thyroid,
Well I have been doing research and I think its rickets
there were 2 litters his Dam's milk went bad and him and his litter mates were put on the other
female total of 11 pups on good momma raised hers and the other litter.
any ways the owner of the litters was helping mom out feeding formula
I think he didn't get enough of what mom could give him. just my thoughts
I gradually switched him over to purina puppy chow mixing her food with the puppy chow " I can't remember what she was feeding"

so I went and got some pet tabs vitamins and started giving him a half a tablet a day
and also got some cod liver oil not sure how much to give him he only weighs 3 lbs when he was at the vet on Sat.
the week before his weight was 2 lbs he gained a 1 lb in about a week so I am trying to figure out how much to feed so I don't get him to fat
and balance everything out to get him to pull out of this. I will be calling the Vet in the morning to ask some questions thinking about
casting them splinting them or possible just wrapping them.

looking for advice and any experience with rickets I will try and get a picture on here off of my phone
thanks Mike

here is a picture taken yesterday

I don't know the proper dosage for the cod liver oil but I had a beagle pup that had legs just like that and I gave him a full needle 3 cc of cod liver oil everyday and it made his legs straight and now he runs at about 7 1/2 on speed and you can't tell he ever had crooked legs. I don't know if that is your pups problem or not but mine's legs looked just like that and now they are straight.

did you inject it or give it to him orally I would hate to have to stick him every day

Cod Liver oil you can not give him to much. Oral But personally I would get another pup. Probably genetic. JMO

I had an English Setter that was diagnosed with rickets at about 5 months old and looked similar to this, but not as severe. My vet told me to give her calcium tablets as rickets is caused by calcium deficiency. I think I gave her 600mgs a day until she was done growing. After a couple of weeks her leg began to go back to normal. She never had any problems after that and made an amazing grouse dog and family pet.
I hope this helps with the pup. I hate to see any pup have problems like this.
Patrick Cable

mike, my buddy had a bluetick out of an old bitch and two of the pups in the litter had rickets. He used calf replacer, a powdered milk supplement for cattle with a high calcium puppy food. It is important to try to keep the pup active too. It straightened his legs out. It seems like the big hound guys try to wien pups too early and they have a lot of that stuff. Good luck.

Quality of food, not quantity, no weight to add stress . Vitamin D, cod oil on food and sunlight(mercury light will also work) . Soft footing, grass or saw dust. Since he can't move around well, one of those collapsible portable pens would be good to move him around each day on fresh grass.
I think your right, early weaning or poor milk quality, lack of sunlight.
For him, swimming would be better than walking.
Hope he straightens up for your boy.

I had a beagle pup with the rickets. I used a mixture of cod liver gel tabs and powdered calf starter. It will take a few weeks to notice a change but it wil work if it is in deed ricketts.

GOAT'S powder milk work best --the pup can digest a lot better --mix with puppy chow or any good dog food

i had a bluetick pup with rickets and have seen a few others. get that thing in the sunlight all day long. i also used the calf powder milk and cod liver pills but it didnt work until i caged the pup outside. the sun produced vit d is what is needed to help the pups body use the calcium you give it in the powder milk. i also used the self adhesive wrap to help support the legs. good luck with that little thing. my dog ended up with good straight legs that i know the sun helped.

later, dave

thanks guys,
he stays out side in my above ground kennel the only this the kennel is under a nice big maple tree for summer shade
I think he spends most of his time in the box only to come out to eat and drink and do his buisness.
Ive got him on a teaspoon of Norwegian Cod Liver Oil its narual and arificail orange flavored it has
4556 IU which is 91% DV of vitamin A and 430 IU which is 108% DV it is a liquid and he loves it
its the only cod liver oil I could find found it at Wally World.
the first one home either the kids the wife or me gets him out so he is in the sun from about 4:30 til dark

I would put him in an open pen under the maple,...filtered light is better than none and he needs plenty of it...
Artificial light will work also, plug in a mercury vapor light in the box if you'd rather.

i used the cod liver oil gelcaps from walmart or meijer. just stck them down the throat or in food. i dont know what the vitamin a is for but what is needed is vitamin d to process the calcium into the body structure. here is a little link to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D
i got the wrap for the legs at tsc.

keep us updated. my pup ended up with some good legs and was one heck of a swimmer

later, dave

looks like I forgot to put the vitamin D on the 108%
thinking about dosing him twice a day
5ml in the morning and 5ml in the evening what do you think would that be too much