Swimming Puppy Syndrome - Page 1

Has anyone ever heard of Swimming Puppy Syndrome and do you know any "fix" for it?  The pup I am speaking of is 3 weeks old and the vet said he has swimming puppy syndrome.  Information on the net is limited. 

Thanks

The legs are having a difficult time working together and not being splayed out.  Often times this can be caused by being on a slick surface which whelping boxes frequently are, even newpsaper can be slick for puppies to start walking on.  Try getting some towels instead as a footing.  Start "helping" the puppy get up on all fours and walking, basically doing physical therapy with it.  You may have to hold under it's belly so the legs can be in a normal position as it "walks" for a while.  But first get it on something the feet won't slide out from under it.

Thank you, do puppies recover from this?  I have heard of "wrapping" a puppy I am not sure I understand the concept and my vet did not know anything about wrapping them.

if the surface of your whelping box is slippery go and buy a rug that will fit the whelping box . I usually use this the first 2-3 weeks then use half rug half newspaper so the pups do not have to eliminate them selfs where they sleep.

Every day 2-4 times a day take the pup and do some physical therapy place its feet under it make sure the surface is not slippery. This is a long process and it takes a days to see changes. I never had one myself but have had expirience being a vet tech for years . last week on the animal channel they had a mixed pup with this problem and this pup recovered and by age 8 weeks ran around like all the other litter mates.  I have never heard of someone wrapping a pup   I would think if you wrap the pup will not learn how to place it's legs under neath it self ??

Good luck and keep us posted

Pia

Sometimes the swimmer is the heaviest pup in the litter and a singleton or a member of a small litter where it is getting more than it's fair share of calories. Never heard of wrapping a swimmer either, but have heard of gently rolling the rib cage in one's hands to try to help flatten the sides so the puppy can gets its leg under it's body.  All swimmers I've seen have round rib cages too. As already mentioned, good footing is necessary. I don't think I've ever heard of a puppy not recovering from this as long as it's handled right.

I found several sites with quite a bit of info, bulldog and cocker people... our first 2 litters, many years ago had 2 swimmer pups

I think the cause is genetic (same bitch 2 different stud dogs, both litters had swimmers in them.. she was done after that!).. the footing in the box possibly has something to do with it.. these pups need help getting their legs underneath them.. sheepskin type material is what I now use in my whelping boxes... they get excellent footing. Some say, pups that get too fat can become swimmers.. both of our litters were small so the pups got a lot to nurse and were large

We also used 1/4" hardware cloth, on top of the bedding and that helped both pups to come around..

Blitzen described the massaging motions that help because the bones are so malleable at this age you can actually change the shape of the dog, just be sure to massage in the right direction and evenly....

I believe hobbling is what you are referring to such as what is done to horses and cattle.. I've never done that but have seen it recommended quite a bit..

You can notice this almost days after pups are born... I am always putting pups on their sides and tucking their rear legs under neath them until they can get up on their own... I'm always on the lookout for problems....

BTW, those first 2 swimmers (also called pizza puppies, frisbee pups) also had mega-esophagus and other issues... one of them lived to be 11 1/2 years old.. the swimmer in the 2nd litter recovered and was normal...

Good luck with your puppies

I have found that this condition may result from a selenium-vitamin E deficiency (similar to "white muscle disease" in pigs).

Years ago, I had an American-bred (Zeus of Fran-Jo ex Covy's Felita of Tucker Hill) stud who produced at least one swimmer in nearly every litter. At the very first sign, the vet was recommended giving the pups IM injections of Seletoc (selenium--vit E). Unfortutnately, these injections were caustic and tended to produce a muscle necrosis at the injection sites.

In the next few litters, for a period of several weeks, I gave all suspect pups (I could actually palpate a slight ridge along the sides of their rib cages almost from birth) one drop of Seletoc orally under the tongue along with 400 I.U. water-soluble vit E casule squeezed on the tongue. These pups never developed swimmer characteristics.

Finally, I began giving the stud oral supplementation of selenium yeast and vitamin E. When bred to the same bitches with whom he had previously produced swimmers, there were no swimmer pups. When this oral supplementation was discontinued, this male again produced swimmers! As long as the male received oral supplementation, he produced no swimmer pups.

The breeders of this male assured me that he had never been a swimmer and that there were no littermate swimmers. For what it's worth, there were no second generation swimmers and no suspect pups requiring supplementation. Furthermore, there were no swimmers when people linebred on this male.

Of course, I was a very young breeder. Today, I would not allow such a dog to contribute to the gene pool.

Very interesting Louise, have not heard of that..... thanks for the info