I've always been a firm believer in keeping toe nails really short and that will help keep feet nice and tight. As well Vit C makes a big difference.

I am not for giving calcium supplements.. but I've always been told make sure your dog is getting plenty of it. Maybe try cottage cheese or yogurt.

Also supposedly being on gravel tightens their feet. I've heard this from older people in the dog world. Taking them for a walk on gravel or throw the ball of gravel. I've heard limestone for whatever reason makes the biggest difference. Dunno... I've heard at least three Judges say this. Take that for what it's worth, may work, may be a old wise tale.

 

Also supposedly being on gravel tightens their feet. I've heard this from older people in the dog world. Taking them for a walk on gravel or throw the ball of gravel. I've heard limestone for whatever reason makes the biggest difference. Dunno... I've heard at least three Judges say this. Take that for what it's worth, may work, may be a old wise tale.

I've heard the same thing about sand tightening feet. Does the puppy have long toes? Are they splayed? Is she down in the pasterns?
Sometimes there's nothing you can do if it's a structural issue.

 

I am hoping to help them a little. Her toes don't seem overlong, but flat feet are pretty common from her lines. She is a little down in the pasterns. She was on concrete/pavement for the first 10 weeks so I am hoping that contributed to the flatness. I have also heard the gravel. I might have to make a gravel path just to work on this.

Thanks!

 

I am hoping to help them a little. Her toes don't seem overlong, but flat feet are pretty common from her lines. She is a little down in the pasterns. She was on concrete/pavement for the first 10 weeks so I am hoping that contributed to the flatness. I have also heard the gravel. I might have to make a gravel path just to work on this.

Thanks!

Just for thought... I have a area of my yard out the back door, that's normally muddy b/c of all the traffic. So we put in big landscape stone, like flagstone, that's actually limestone. Then between the large rocks, I used a gravel type rock. Fixed the mud issue and gives the dogs that gravel area (doing assuming it actually helps), and it actually looks nice.

 

I would try Sure grow... or puppy gold JMO

 

I know some people will give prenatal vitamins, but I'm no expert in nutrition and I know (like olddrum said) giving supplements isn't always the best idea, so it would be important to look into how it would effect their diet.

Not necessarily recommending, but adding what I know has given results for other people for the sake of discussion.

 

I've seen puppies go down on their paws as a reaction to being cropped, and just as part of a growth stage in an older puppy. In both of these situations, time itself solved the problem.

 

What kind of feet do the parents of this 10 wk old puppy have or any grandparents...?? Flat feet can be an inherited structural thing...
At 10 wks it could be like you said on to much cement flooring...That will break down a growing pups feet and pads...Can the puppy get to an area of grass?
Also vit c is good as Old Drum Said...and it is pretty safe, as what the body doesn't utilize will be excreted in the urine....
What kind of dog food are you feeding? Try a large breed puppy formula of good quality...It is formulated for growing large breeds...and has the proper calcium, phospherous, etc, for growing bones...Supplementing with calcium, etc is not a good idea unless you talk to a vet nutritionist first...good luck.

 

The mother has fair feet, the father good feet. The mother is a little down in the pasterns as well. The puppy now has lots of grass/dirt but was on concrete at the breeder's house. So far I am feeding TOTW with some raw meals too.

I am going to try some vit c and gravel and see what happens.

 

I have absolutely seen puppies that have flat feet from being on concrete and when moved to a natural surface their feet almost instantly improve to what they should be genetically. (in whippets, not dobermans)

 

Running on sand or loose dirt like in plowed farmer fields may be other options too to help stregthen the muscles.

 

Guilty's left front foot was down from months 4-6. She had plenty of exercise on grass and loved in my carpeted house. I gave her vit c but I don't know if it helped any. She now has lovely tight feet. For her, it was just a growth stage.

 

I need to resurrect an old thread here, needing some advice. I let one of my puppies go to her new home five days ago. The puppy was eating ProPlan Focus puppy food and her feet were really tight, and the rest of the litter is the same way. Well, I saw her today to post her ears for the new owner and went to stack her and her feet are very flat. She had switched her to raw diet, and I immediately thought too much protein, but looking at the protein level on this raw, the protein is very low and the fat is very low. Now I'm wondering, is she not getting enough protein and fat? The ProPlan is 28 per cent protein and 18 per cent fat and this raw puppy mix is only 20 per cent protein and 12 per cent fat. What do you all think?

 

I need to resurrect an old thread here, needing some advice. I let one of my puppies go to her new home five days ago. The puppy was eating ProPlan Focus puppy food and her feet were really tight, and the rest of the litter is the same way. Well, I saw her today to post her ears for the new owner and went to stack her and her feet are very flat.
...

I wouldn't think a diet issue would manifest so quickly physiologically, unless there were muscle relaxants in the food.

Could it be stress and excitement? Can't say I have much of any experience with this, only that Kira did it a little on a visit to the vet. It wasn't that the flooring was much different than anything she was used to, she was just being goofy and rolling back on her rear feet. And really only that one time, I haven't noticed it since. Going to a new home would be at the top on the list of "big life events" for a pup, I'd think she'd be settling-in after a few days, but there's a bit of new stuff she'd still be taking-in.

 

Is it a premade raw? What brand?


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Some of it is Blue Ridge Beef Puppy Mix and she is also getting Tripe and Venison and Quail all with ten per cent bone.
She also gets pieces of chicken breast with bone.

 

is she teething?

kinda quick for the diet change to affect her feet I would think, as you said it happened in 5 days.

some pups feet do go a little flat or loose when teething, but return to the way they were before, after teething.

 

Yes, but my puppies' feet aren't flat, now I'm thinking it might be the changes she's gone through. Plus at nine weeks they wouldn't be teething yet. But thank you!

 

I would maybe up her bone and fat and see how she does.


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Thank you, will tell her to try that, and I was thinking it's also probably stress from a new environment and diet change.

 

We had a foot v diet exercise issue with Khaz @ 15 months.
I'd switched both our dogs to all raw for 6 weeks to bring urine ph levels down.

All the above brought on by a win pic where Khaz' back feet looked looser than previous photos and a diet change after a home+ confirmed tests @vet over alkaline ph levels.
/for anyone reading you can get a good idea what ph urine levels are with a $1 punch ladel & some ph strips out of any dept store aquarium supplies.

Other than that i was warned against compulsory exercise - even chuckit sessions for longer periods - just let them run 'at will' while growing.

Also was suggested areas to run on sand help feet.

 

I feed Blue Ridge Beef but not as 100% of the diet . Mine get kibble a.m. and raw p.m.

When I had one with pano, a switch to pure raw (BRB) made the pano rapidly improve. The dog lost quite a bit of weight. My dogs get quite a bit of exercise and the boys especially need some kibble to maintain weight.

I'm thinking the rapid switch may have caused this in your puppy . Maybe they should feed the kibble pup is used to for one meal per day and transition slower than before - transition over a few months not days.

 

Dog Breeders Who Only Feed Raw Dog Food Diets - Whole Dog Journal Article

"I know to increase the calcium and fat in their diets, and I can literally watch their crimped ears flatten and their flat feet knuckle up."

well, the above was mentioned for raw fed 4 month old pups when they start teething.......

now I noticed you said the pups are only 9 weeks of age, but I guess it is possible a lower calcium and fat content could be the cause as AuraDobes mentioned.

Interesting.

 

Lana was down in the pasterns at some age around 12wks. She wasn't mineralizing calcium into her bone well so I started supplementing her with more ground eggshell and VitC.

I had xrays done by the Vet - Lana was on a raw diet.

We continued to monitor progress and by the time she had her first heat, her bones were as strong as you would like, the Vet was happy with the xrays and I reduced the extra eggshell. Now they all get the shell with the egg and love it plus any extra eggs I use, they share the shells.

Lana has very tight feet - they got a little loose when she was down on her pasterns but now they are gorgeous.

 

I used to 'air dry' my egg shells and then powder and capsule them.

if I remember rightly........one whole large egg shell equals 1000 mg calcium....

will have to double check that though.

 

oops

 

Have them add raw chicken feet to the diet. A couple of small ones or 1 large one per day should do the trick. Great source of natural glucosamine and chondroitin. 1 medium chicken foot contains: 19% protein, 14% fat. Calcium/Phosphorus is 30mg:28mg.

 

I supplement with Ester C..it tightens the paw up quickly.