Rickets in GSD - Page 2

The photos are not very good for really seeing the problem, but, what I see is perhaps what is called "cow-hock". This is not the same thing as the disease ricketts, and as the dog gets older, the problem with the "elbows on the back legs" may go away or get better. That would mean the "elbows" would not be so close together. 

If you can take another photo, have someone stand the dog with the head facing straight away from the camera. So what we need is a better photo of the back legs, from the back, looking directly at the legs. Do you understand?

yes, do need a pic of the dog standing.  a pup at 1 month or 4 or 5 weeks old is much too young to be away from the littermates unless it is necessary.  Puppy food, puppy food puppy food and only puppy food is necessary.   Please do not add supplements, do not give calcium tablets, etc as these things do change the nicely balanced Calcium / Phosphorus ration of a well made puppy chow. 
If you want to add anything for health, give a couple of spoons of organic whole milk yogurt with the food and that's it until the pup has had about 4 months of growth.  Right now, you are in a stage of a lot of bone development. 
Hope this helps.

 

Nancy Rhynard
www.westwoodkennels.com
 

I had a pup many years ago with rickets. As said before it is a vit. D deficiency. It can be cured, but how do you know it is the correct diagnosis.

I doubt it is pano at this age. Usually you will see pano in the front first on one limb and it can and will travel. Also pano shows up very clearly on an x-ray.

If a vet told you it was rickets, then supplement with vit. D. It will clear up.

Best,
Rik

Pano does NOT always show up on x-ray. But sometimes it does and if someone wants to see what it looks like, post here and I can add a photo.

I will not argue that pano always shows up on an x-ray.
 
In my experience it always did and was very evident on the long bones  It also traveled from limb to limb. Some dogs recovered (grew out of it) and some never did. I dealt quite a bit with this issue, especially with dogs from Don Kille's breeding from Mike. 

Piano is a genetic issue. I would never breed a dog that had pano. It's like missing teeth and bad elbows, it never goes away.

Best,
Rik

I do not see rickets on this dog.  I have communicated with someone in India who was worried about his dog which had Rickets and his vet subscribed him calcium which is a big mistake since calcium must come in balanced proportions with other minerals like Phosphorus, Mg, Mn,...Oversuplementing too much of one of these minerals will actually lead to mineral deficiency because body is then taking the other minerals from the bones and teeth in order to digest over supplemented mineral. Rickets is caused by deficiency of vitamin D and  is  extremely rare. Diagnosis of a deficiency can be made by measuring circulating levels of vitamin D metabolites and by measuring growth plate width. Increased width is not associated with low-calcium/high- phosphate diets but is a strong indicator of rickets. Excess vitamin D can be dangerous and  cause hypercalcemia, hyperphosphatemia, anorexia, polydipsia, polyuria, vomiting, muscle weakness, generalized soft tissue mineralization, and lameness and even death. In the growing dog, supplementation with vitamin D can result in marked disturbance of normal skeletal development, primarily as a result of increased calcium and phosphate absorption.
More here:
https://www.msu.edu/~silvar/hips.htm
 I suggest to feed meat and and boil bones on soup. Meat has all proper minerals in proper ballance in it.  Make sure that the dog gets some time on a sun every day. 
 Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com