Is there an equivalent of osteoporosis in dogs? A work colleague has a poodle (10 months old) who fractured a leg for the second time in 3 months last weekend (he fractured his front right 8 weeks ago and now his front left last weekend). She doesn't know his breeding as he was a rescue dog (she got him at 16 weeks old as his previous owners couldn't cope with him). She is not a novice dog owner, she had a cross breed that she lost last year (at 17 tears old) and has a 7 months old cocker spaniel. The first time he fractured it he wasn't insured (as all her other dogs have been very healthy) but she did insure him after that as the total bill came to over £2000 (as he had to have a plate put in his leg).

We were discussing it at work and the only thing we could come up with was that he could possibly have weak bones or something similar. Is there any way of testing for this? The poor thing has also been shaved completely as where he was on crate rest for 4 weeks, his fur had got very matted.

Would be grateful for any ideas.