Oops, wrote the message to Erin when we were on the way out the door to
the Redskins football game (Yeah, we won!). Just noticed that I forgot
the punch line....the pup that the Vet wanted to operate on for bones growing
incorrectly is now over 2 years old. The owner dicided agains the
operations because they sounded painful and not necessarily successful.
Anyway he is absolutely fine and his legs are perfect. I would be
interested in hearing more about this condition. It sounds pretty
scary.
Charlotte
Jack & Charlotte Perry wrote:
Welcome Erin.
I am so sorry to hear about your puppy problems.
In my 30+ years of being owned by Great Pyrenees and trying to learn all
I can about health problems in the breed, I had never heard of this problem
with the bones of the front legs growing inproperly and requiring several
operations. However, I have heard about this several times in the
last year. Could all these pups be related? Is this the new
"thing" with Vets? I will say that one puppy buyer whose Vet had
told her that her pup needed this operation happened to call me.
After determining that the pup was not in pain or limping, etc. I suggested
that she get another opinion from an othopedic vet. and NOT to have the
surgery done until she was sure that it was absolutely necessary.
In my opinion, Pyrs and especially the ones that are going to be large,
go through all sorts of odd growth things that they grow out of.
It has been our experience that some of those phases seem to get better
if the pup is not allowed to get fat and is put on adult food with a lower
protein (under 23%).
About finding a new pup, where do you live?
There may be a Great Pyrenees club in your area that can be of help to
you in locating a puppy from a reputable breeder or a rescue dog
that needs a good home.. You can go to the GPCA web site at http://clubs.akc.org/gpca/
for a list of club along with other info about the breed. Good luck
and do let us know how things go.
Charlotte in VA
Brian McGinley wrote:
Hi!
I have been trying to sign in to your guest book to ask a couple questions,
but it never works for some reason. Also I have tried the chat room but
so far I have not come in at the right time. I am not sure if anyone will
recieve this or not...please confirm? To give you a little backround on
why we are trying to get through....we are a young family and my husband
and I always had dogs as children, and we decided to finally get a family
dog for our son to grow up with. We discovered that this breed is wonderfull
with children, and then my brother got one, and we fell in love. We gave
up on the area breeders, and bought the litter mate to my brothers puppy.
Yeah, at a pet store. I worked as a vet tech and should have known better.The
next day I noticed she had a bowed front leg I had seen this before. I
took her to the vet...she has varus. The radius in her leg is basically
growing incorrectly....is this common in this breed? We had to tearfully
take her back. We are not prepared to take care of that kind of problem...a
series of surgeries is required. A young couple with no children took her
and is taking her through all the treatment she needs. They would not give
us our moey back, we have to wait for the next litter and pick one from
those. What do we look for? How do we pick a good Pyr puppy ? Our son breaks
our hearts every day asking for his white pretty puppie....We tell him
he will have her back soon. This is our dillema...we feel beat up, and
lost.Any ideas anyone?
Erin
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