Possible "Rickets" or "panosteitis"? - Page 1

Hello..
Am from India. Am new here and I need some medical advise here regarding my 4 months 20 days old GSD puppy.
He was very healthy at his arrival in the world and growth was good. but lately his foot bones seem to be overgrown to me and they have started bending outwards. Also his rear feet ankles are pointing inwards. Since a week or so, he has started limping while putting his front right leg. No injuries have been happened to him. I feed him royal canine junior fod and take him on regular walks (about 1.5 to 2 km twice everyday) besides his playing time. I asked many so called "knoledgeable" persons here but they all say something different. As far as I am concerned, I have never faced such problem before. Those names (rickets and panosteitis) I hav seen somewhere else in an old thread and I hav mentiond them here hoping that it will catch the eyes of some expert and they can throw some light on reasons and rmedy of the problem.
I am posting pics and a video for reference.
Me and my wife are very much worried aout him, so please someone guide us.
Thanks a lot.


http://youtu.be/pt445M-1IQU

Hi, are you feeding him any supplements with his food, like vitamins ?

I was advised by a vet here to giv him some multivitamines and calcium powder. And today he has suggested me D3 injections. (6 nos. alternate days.)

I was advised by a vet here to giv him some multivitamines and calcium powder. And today he has suggested me D3 injections. (6 nos. alternate days.)

Here are a few threads, newer and older, on rickets/pano and other considerations: http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/forum.read?mnr=641463#641573

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/forum.read?mnr=6724#6738

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/forum.read?mnr=550899#31865


Sunlight, calcium, Hokamix,   That's all I got for "knowledge". 

Welcome to you and your wife. Good luck with your puppy!

It is interesting that there were at least 2 or 3 posts are from India on the same topic. Is there some environmental correlation and subsequent cause for that?

 You must give balanced nutrition. But one sided  supplements like Calcium will make the problem worse. Read the other threads.  Excessive Calcium supplementation alone  will actually lead to rickets!!! 
 Hans

Actually all I see is overangulated dog with Pano. Feed him meat which was cooked enough to be consumed by humand but not over cooked to kill enzymes. 
 Hans

It looks, from the pics, that his ankle bones are enlarged....excess bone growth ? I've seen that in horse colts, it's called epiphysitis. It looks like all four limbs in the ankles.

Calcium supplements can cause epiphysis, so I would stop feeding ALL vit and cal supplements. They cause too rapid growth and lameness.

Calcium from synthetic sources (such as what is found in supplements) do more harm than good for growing dogs.  Only calcium from raw bones/raw food can be correctly absorbed by dogs. 

Take him off the puppy food, by 4 months old a large breed puppy should be on adult food so that it does not grow too fast. 

I do not see rickets in the photo or video.  Most likely your pup has pano.  The most common cause of pano is growing pains from the puppy growing too fast (excess protein and synthetic calcium will cause this.)

When walking your pup, try to avoid walking on very hard surfaces as much as possible (like cement/asphalt)

Your pup is a typical showline, very angulated and gawky.  This is normal for showline pups with lots of angulation.  Most veterinarians are not familiar with this and think that something is wrong. 

I never give my puppies any kind of supplements, I never feed my pups puppy food after they are 4 months.  I do give my pups and dogs raw bones (as part of their total raw diet.)  I never have any problems with pano, rickets or pups growing too fast.   And yes, I do have showline dogs.