My girl had a litter a few months ago,there were 6 babies in total 1 still born,1 with a cleft 2 with limb and tail defects( 1 was quite severe) and  2 that appeared normal and they were the only ones to survive but both have now been diagnosed with caterects.Both parents have been dna tested for pra and both have been bva tested yearly.Its the first litter for my girl but the dad has sired multiple litters,his offsping have too and none have catercts.As far as im aware my girl did not come in to contact with anything that may have caused this but it was a very upsetting experience andf even the vet is baffled.Has anyone else experienced this?

Many years ago when the wellknown genetics expert Roy Robinson was still alive I asked him about a litter where there were several deformities. His answer was that when you see several different deformities in the same litter, it is almost always due to outside influences, i.e. something that occurred during the pregnancy. Genetic problems would usually be seen in a smaller number in a litter, with typically only one type.

Have you looked at her diet ?

Did she receive any(& I do mean any)medication just before or during her pregnancy including wormers ?

Also is she a scavenger when out on a walk, could she have eaten something that didn’t harm her but affected the puppies? I say this as I know what my golden retriever is like over anything she finds that is remotely edible.

Only meds taken is panacur liquid 10% and i have used that for many years for mums and also pups,not sure if she picked anything up on a walk,we walk in a forest and the dog run in and out ofthe trees etc so its possible she did and i just didnt see.Some of the pups had deformed feet with only 3 toes,short tails it was just awful.You would never have known that there was anything wrong with the surviving pups until they were a bit older.

I would be thinking about exposure to pesticides.  It's almost impossible to totally avoid these days.  Grass verges are sprayed with all kinds of crap by councils.  Fields are sprayed by farmers...

> Fields are sprayed by farmers...

Ain't that the truth even if they should post warnings.   I had a young litter out back enjoying the sun on their backs.   Horrors, I heard a crop sprayer coming up the field alongside the back garden and only had time to fling a rug over my little dears before it went by right close to the property.  I thought they were ok but as it happened all of them were lost, in old age, to various cancers.   I couldn't be certain, but I'd lay odds that was because of that one incident concerning crop spraying.   There are things to be said for living in a mainly livestock area, even if then you get ticks.

OP your experience is truly awful and would put me off for good I'm afraid.    We had one with a deformed (club?) front foot and given how much weight is born on the front of my main breed, both my vet and I felt it was kinder to put him to sleep, early hours.    We had another in another much earlier litter who was clearly affected by a slow birth (oxygen starvation).   We kept her to 18 weeks, but again she was so very slow, with no bowel or bladder control that again with our vet's view about her condition, opted to let her go rather than try to keep her in my pack and I certainly couldn't send her out into the world, perhaps with her owners getting so frustrated with her re house-training at least.   Broke my heart as she was the lemon/white bitch I so hoped for.   But in each case, it was just one in a good-sized litter.   I don't know what I'd have done with multiple problems like in your litter.