Flat feet in 6 month old pup - Page 1

My friend has a 6 month old GSD pup.At 3 months of age the pup dug out of his run.The owner put a 12x12 wood floor in the intire run.Since then the pup went completly flat footed on his front paws.He took him to the vet after seeing his feet and the vets advised him to take him off his puppy food and put him on adult.Saying too much protein caused his feet to be flat.I seen this pup at 3 months old and his feet were perfect.It seems since the wood floor this has happened.

My question is "Can this be a rezult of smooth wood that he is kept on all day? Has anyone had experence with this type of thing?

thanks.

I don't know if wood would (sorry) do that. But if wood would do that. I wood would be the cat in the hat!

I would suspect a lack of protein, poor nutrition that can cause flat/weak feet and pasterns - puppy food has higher protein/calories than adult so if anything I'd keep him ON puppy food, which may help the feet - also get him off the hard surface, put him in a soft footing so his toes need to dig down when he's moving around, this will help strengthen and tighten his feet/pasterns.  Sand, or deep sawdust or shavings, or pea gravel will help.  Hard for a dog to dig through gravel - but if you have a pen that is ground, put wire fencing down flat on the ground around the sides, then lay down the gravel or sand or sawdust over it - to solve the digging out problem (he could still dig but not escape).  Or, get pavers from the home center, and lay them all along the edge of the kennel so he can't dig - and put deep footing in the rest of the kennel.  If you have to keep him on the wood, then maybe rubber matting would help cushion.  But mainly, change his diet, make sure he's getting enough protein and calories, make sure he is not carrying too much weight also.

molly