[fastfist99]

My pup has had a limp on his front left leg and has downed pasterns. He has flat feet and slightly splayed toes. His limp has gone after nearly 2 weeks of crating. But I am hoping his pasterns will correct themselves. I have read a lot of information on here and there is a lot to filter though. I am wondering if his pasterns improve? I would like to do tracking with him and hopefully SARs but most of all I want him to be happy. He is on RC GSD junior and raw diet. I am booking him into booking him into a swimming spa for dogs. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[selzer]

Down pasterns could be a nutrition deficit. I heard both and overage of protein and an underage of protein can cause it.

I would not feed Royal Canine. It is not one of the better foods and supplementing it with raw could be throwing whatever balance it does have off. If you want to do raw, do raw, but you have to know what you are doing. For most of us, it is better to find a good balanced adult kibble and stick with it.

Some good dog food brands, though others might chime in with others:
Orijen
Fromm
Solid Gold
Prairie
Earthborn
Wellness

Cheaper foods that are better than purina, blue buffalo, nutro, pedigree, Iams, and royal canine:
Diamond Naturals
Kirkland
Victor

These last three foods are not top-line, but they have better ingredients and are better suited than the more expensive foods that spend money on marketing.

 

[Heartandsoul]

I'm not sure if you looked at the older threads about downed pasterns but there is a wealth of info in this one Including success pics.

https://www.germanshepherds.com/for...ation/174578-paws-way-big-walking-elbows.html

Some of My take away on all of the discussions concerning this issue that I have read and the knowledge that members have offered from a nutritional stand point:

MSM high quality

Vitamin C in its whole food state (not ascorbic acid)

Omegas and amino acids (high quality pay attention to where it is sourced)

*****Bone broth.. can't say enough about homemade bone broth on so many levels from personal experience.

There are a lot of threads on the subject. Look for the successes and look for the key similarities of those successes and I think you will have decent anecdotal basis to start helping nutritionally.and exercise wise.

Fwiw, there were many threads including pics of pups whose pasterns were quite a bit worse than your pups who improved greatly.

I'm just passing on what I have learned. Hope it helps and you pups pasterns improve.

 

[Katsugsd]

Question - were his pasterns weak when he was younger? Also, do you have any photos of him standing with his front legs under himself ? He looks to be sitting with his legs stuck out a bit which may exaggerate the angle. Shepherds naturally have a slight angle in the pastern and shouldn't be straight legged like a terrier. His feet aren't perfect, but I don't think it would seriously impact him being a SAR dog or just a happy dog in general.


There can be an awkward phase in growth. My boy Steel is going through it at the moment - he's butt high right now and has ugly feet. He had a period where his pasterns looked slightly weak, but they have corrected themselves for the most part. I still think his feet are ugly though :wink2: I got lucky with my first who stayed pretty proportionate as she grew.


I would not be supplementing his diet with raw if you are feeding a kibble as you might throw off the nutrients. I'd imagine a raw meaty bone or two every now and then would be okay, but I'd keep the food consistent.


I will leave the diet and vitamin suggestions to those that know what they're talking about.

 

[fastfist99]

Thanks everyone for your input. Here is a photo of Cooper standing. He is starting swimming on Wednesday.

 

[Nigel]

Our now one year old wgsl came off the plane with normal pasterns. Approximately a month later he looked as though he was down on them, more so on the right side. Our vet had already examined him once before when his pasterns were normal and was not concerned. He believed it was due to varying growth rate and nothing to due with carpal subluxation.

Just the same my wife decided to follow a nutritional regimen similar to what Heartandsoul mentions and we also took him swimming, did walks on sand, and the same on river rock to help strengthen. His pasterns improved and he looks fine now, it did take some time though.

 

[Jax08]

I don't think swimming would help his pasterns? You need to get him on sand or something uneven and hard to walk on to work the muscles and tendons.

Try to contact Carmen. I suspect she'll change his diet too. Royal Canine is really poor food with very little of the protein content coming from meat sources.
https://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/development-socialization/182706-correcting-down-pasterns.html

 

[Jenny720]

You have be careful for pano also any limping take to the vet that can be genetics or poor diet to much or to little of what they should need. To much is just as damaging as to little. As mentioned exercise on natural surface nothing slippery or on concrete. A place where they can can get traction. Sand is great. I know someone who owned a mastiff and a lab who their pups who had down pasterns said swimming had helped with that. It more common in gsds but happens in other breeds. From what I either heard or read correct diet and exercise and depending on severity it seems to go away. Some mention vitamin c also a natural supplement but talk to your breeder or vet about this. There are many threads that talk about this on the forum that are very detailed if you put into the search menu.

 

[Heartandsoul]

Since he has access to water, would walking in the water just deep enough to keep the legs under for the resistance help. I'm asking because I don't know but it would seem to be a good strengthening exercise. I hope someone chimes in whether or not it would be good.

 

[Nigel]

i was never sure how much benefit the swimming would be for down pasterns, but it did help provide a low impact exercise to help burn off some puppy energy. In our situation (summer) the river was right there with the sand and rocks to walk him on so a nice way to cool off as well.