Hi, was just wondering whether anyone had any experience with pups with a deformed rib cage.  Took my 3 week old puppy to the vet today and thought that he had probably just inhaled some of his mothers milk as he has laboured breathing, but my vet told me that he has a deformed rib cage on one side. It is so deformed that he is having to breath from his diaphragm and his prognosis isnt good. His rib cage curves right in and flicks out at the end, can't believe that i havent noticed it before as i've handled the pups regularly since birth.  He is feeding fine but is slightly smaller than the others and dosent seem to be struggling or in pain. I'm totally gutted and feel so sorry for him. I know that he'll probably have to be put to sleep, but i've got to try and help him so if anyone has any advice, please let me know. Thanks.

I am sorry you have a poorly pup and I know what I am about to say may not be well received but why allow this pup to suffer an hour longer than necessary, it the vet says it can be repaired all well and good but if it can't then PTS the sooner the better, sorry.

nova i do agree with you ,i was lucky we had 2 pups with this and was born dead ....not lucky but i mean i didnt have to have them pts ,..i feel so sorry for u tracey i hope you can sort this out soon so that the pup dont suffer (hugs) xx

Check with your vet, if it's this http://www.swimmerpuppy.com/  then there is information on the right of the page that may help.  

So sorry to hear your pup is poorly, but maybe he can be helped by the methods described.

I had this in a litter of Burmese kittens once, just one kit, very fat boy.   He grew up to be lovely and very healthy and lived a long active life, but always had a dip behind his shoulder blades and slightly wider ribs than normal, but in the early 80's no-one knew how to help pups/kits with this problem ;)  his mum was speyed and had no further litters.

Hope this helps

thats what i was thinking (simmer) thanks dill the name was driving me mad ....i havent read the link yet but i will ....x

Hi, thanks for all the info everyone, the situations looking grave at mo.  The deformity differs from swimmers as the flatness isnt underneath his rib cage it on the side so i don't think theres anything i can do but wait and see. If he gets distressed at all i'll take him to be pts straight away.  The vet says he could grow out of it (so thats a little ray of hope) but hes only got a 50% chance of survival at this stage. Poor little Rocky.

tracey was the pups early ?

you must be feeling terrible ,how long before you know if little rocky will make it

i know what your talking about with the flat sides thats how some of the pups looked that was born dead :(

i do hope hes the other 50% that makes it xx

Hi white lilly, the pups were born bang on time with text book whelp. Rocky was the same weight as the other pups. Only noticed something different about him over the last few days, hes not quite as vigorous as the others.  There is one more thing that i think may have caused this but its really a long shot - when mum was about 6 weeks pregnant one of my other dogs ran at her and hit her hard in the side winding her and could have possibly caused some damage to the unborn pup - who knows i'm probably just grasping at straws. The only other thing thats been wrong with the pups is that they've been constipated and are under the vet for that. Definately wont be doing the same mating again.

Hi Tracey, as Dill suggested, are you sure this pup isn't a swimmer.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=157516

If so go to the address above and read the topic.

I also had a swimmer in my last litter but she was only a week old.  Her ribs were totally flat by the time I realised.  She was having trouble feeding and breathing.  Now she is totally normal and doing very well in the show ring.

Hope this is the case and 3 weeks isn't too late to do something about it.  Also some vets may not know anything about swimmer puppies so you are better off speaking to experienced breeders.

Fingers crossed that the puppy is OK.

Are swimmers not generally rather flattened anterior to posterior?  By the description of the poster it sounds as though this puppy is flattened on one side laterally.

> it sounds as though this puppy is flattened on one side laterally.

That is what I had thought as well Isabel.

Just been looking at a thing called FCKS in cats that sounds similar to whats being described, this developes at 2-10 days which could be why it was missed by OP initially.

No expert, but just thinking our loud as to what this could be.

Hi, Rocky's deformity was on his side rather than underneath as a swimmer would be. Unfortunately Rocky had to be put to sleep this morning as he had started to struggle.  Three different vets at the same practice checked him out and they all came to the same conclusion that there was nothing that they could do for him and that he had a congenital defect. Thanks for everyones help, advice and good wishes at least hes not struggling anymore.

Very sorry to hear the news :-( I think you have taken the kindest step.

So sorry, RIP Rocky

so sorry tracey :( r.i.p little roccky xx

ahhhh, so sorry to read this news.RIP sweet puppy.

So sorry to hear about your baby. RIP sweetie

Sorry to hear he lost his little battle- i know how sad you will be feeling x

I am so sorry - R.I.P Rocky

So sorry to hear about your pup (((((Hugs)))))) to you.

Irene

So sorry to hear your sad news.

RIP Rocky. x

So sorry Tracey!

That's a shame, I'm really sorry. I think you did the best thing for little Rocky. xx

Im so sorry to hear such sad news on Rocky, god bless little one xx

Sorry to hear this.  xxx