I have posted before on here about my BC puppy who had the nursing problem(milk coming out nose) Well He is now 5 weeks old after all that tubing, vet visits, antibiotics, he is finally able to eat solid foods and can drink from a rabbit water bottle on his own. If he drinks from water in a bowl he still always has it come out his nose. The vet wants me to let him get his lungs completely cleared up then he will put him under to scope him really well, hoping to find the problem. I'm hoping by then maybe he will have worked things out himself. Anyways I was so happy with his progress and was letting him sleep and play with his brother for the first time in his life. All was going well till last weekend. He was playing with his brother and suddenly went lame in his right from leg. He would hold it out not putting any weight on it. I let him rest for a while and when he woke up he seemed fine. A day later when I woke up he was just laying by his brother and would not get up. He was non weight bearing on the right front and right hind. So I took him away from his brother thinking he is definatly beating him up(his brother is almost double his size). So he gets a little better finally able to walk and he started feeling frisky so he tried to run. At the snap of your fingers he was lame in 3 legs. I talked to the vet who seemed unconcerned saying his brother has just roughed him up just keep the 2 seperate and let him heal. Then yesterday he did the same thing. Ran 2 steps fell to the floor crying and just layed there wimpering. This morning he seems better. He is walking and I'm trying everything to keep him from moving around too much(hard to do with a 5 week old who is determaned not to be stopped). He walks very gingerlly and seems to be week behind although still wanting to run. He gets up slowly and his hips seem stiff when he moves. So ? what should I do for this little guy. What a struggle he has made to get to this point and be held back by something new. I just don't understand how running a couple of steps makes him dead lame! Any suggestions on how to keep him quite and opinions on if I should push the vet to look at him. Sorry so long.                                                                              Thanks

I would definitely ask the vet to look at him asap. :-)

In the meantime, keep him confined on his own in a large crate or puppy pen.  If it is an injury it will need plenty of rest to heal.

Hi,
I feel for you. Take the little chap to the vets and ask him to
do a complete overall. He has fought so hard, he deserves a chance,
doesn't he!! would your vet be honest with you?
Would a cuddly toy keep him company?
Regards
Denese

I put a call in to the vet to ask about bringing him in. The problem with keeping him confined in a crate is that he gets upset and starts trying to climb the walls, which I feel really can't be good for his hips. He just starts to get himself in climbing position then falls which is not helpful. I must admit he is aweful spoiled and the best way I can keep him semi quite is if he stays right with me it seems. Of course with all the personal attention he has recieved from me to keep him alive I quess it only makes since he is spoiled.

Hi divenride,
I would be spoiling him to, What have you called him?
I bet he has a name already! When he gets well, you wont want
to sell him.
Regards
Denese

My vets once told me that when a puppy as young as yours hurts itself for the first time the poor wee mite just doesn't know how to cope with pain so will keep very quiet and look withdrawn. Could be that the older pup has given him a bit of a bump and he is more cautious now.  I do agree in having a vet give him a good doing over if only for your peace of mind also I have been told arnica is very good for injuries

Margaret.

Yes i agree with everyone else get him checked over by or vet and elimenate anything serious.  I wish you the best of luck with him.

Warm regards Susan

Your puppy really needs a full going over by the Vet including blood tests to check that everything is working as it should be & that all of his levels are normal.  How much smaller is he in comparrison to his littermates?  I don't like to be pessimistic (sp?) but none of the info you have provided on your puppy sounds particularly promising :-(  JMHO

Are you on any of the BC lists?  Are you upto speed on the health conditions that can affect our beloved breed, even the really rare ones such as TNS?

I would also recommend you put your puppy into either a puppy pen or a large crate to help rest him & to give him some Arnica.  If he's getting upset when you leave him then give him one of your jumpers or a pair of your worn socks so that he has your scent with him & maybe give him a stuffed puppy kong or a bone to keep him entertained.

If it were me I certainly would have the full works carried out by the Vet and wouldn't even be considering letting him go off to a new home in 3 weeks time.

All JMHO

Good luck & all the very best

I have named the little guy Wicket. The decision has already been made that he will remain with us. First I must say I have allowed myself to become too attached and second I would not feel right selling him to someone with all his problems. He has an appointment with vet.

Borderpride, I am aware of most of the problems which can affect BC's but am unsure of TNS. Wicket is
5 pounds and his brother is 8 pounds. There were only 2 in the litter. He does seem to be a little better today. Very fiesty! And I agree with blood tests, I even wondered if he could be deficiant in some vitamin.
I know some vitamin deficancies can cause pronounced limb lameness. I will have the vet test for this also.

Hi TNS is very rare but here is a site that will give you a little information.

Thank you for the link. I'm sure this is not the problem. The only symptom he has that goes with that is lameness. I wish I could post some pictures so everyone can see he looks great. Beautiful shiny coat, alert expresionate face, good body tone and playful. If I did'nt tell you and you just saw him setting there you would never know this puppy has gone through what he has. Yes his brother is bigger but he has'nt had to struggle for anything and has had mom all to himself. This puppies attitude has always been very up and playful. Hopefully it's nothing that big and he can continue to improve.

Hi there, I think you have two things happpening here, firstly has your vet checked the roof of the pups mouth for a cleft palate. Puppies born with a severe cleft have difficulty feeding and therefore don`t do nearly as well as siblings, are never the same size due to the milk going into the nasal passages, hence the milk coming from the nose. Life is a constant uphill battle, sorry to be so blunt, but if detected at birth, it is kinder to have the puppy put down. I say this because I have in the past nursed along and tube fed these pups to get them past the point of starving to death and onto solids, however with that comes a new set of problems. Cleft palate pups if they survive to adulthood are very suseptable to infection and are often suffering throughout their little lives from one complication or another. Your second problem seems to be muscular-skeletal, and it would seem to have been caused by rough treatment by the sibling, seeing as you suspect there is some happening. I had a litter doing well until the 5 week mark, when one pup couldn`t use his legs properly, seemed in discomfort but nade no sound -  we later found out that he had been in so much pain he could cry no more, (broke my heart to hear this). The pup in question had been grabbed around the neck which had caused the disc to move slightly, which caused nerve damage, which ran down along the back and into the sciatica region, hence causing so much weakness that he couldn`t use his hind legs and eventually (3days) couldn`t use his front legs either. Now a Vet will not be able to fix this, it`s a case of horses for courses. You need to find an animal Chiropractor, the one I found specialised in horses, but he knew what the pups problem was, what had caused it, by the injuries, how to fix it. He manipulated the pups neck on the first visit, I could see a litle improvement by the next day, 2 days later another manipulation and the next day he was back in the thick of it with his siblings. The Chiro assessed him again 2 days later (day 5 of treatment) and said there was nothing further he needed to do. Now I stress to you, the pup will not have been able to feed well while incapacitated, and if you get the oportunity to get to a Chiro don`t think he`s fine and leave him to it, every four hours during the day make sure you are satisfied he`s had enough from mum and solids from you, alone away from other rivalling siblings. I`ll add at this point, the pup I endured this with, went on to have a wonderful life, he was bought by a lovely couple who do a lot of obedience with him and he is brilliant. I do feel the experience has altered him in that he seems to be a wise young man, full of love and devotion. I do hope this has been of some assistance to you. Kind regards, Heidi.