Hi, my family have just bred our first litter of 6 puppies in total. 5 of them are great but there is one who is showing signs of swimmer syndrome of the front legs (he is still making a great effort at feeding and just needs an occasional nudge in to the milk bar). At two weeks old is there anything we can do right now? His breast plate seems flat already and my family are concerned.

Thankfully although this is seen in Basset puppies, we've not had to deal with this one.   I did a quick search and found the link here

https://www.dogzhealth.com/swimmer-puppies.html

which may be of help.   It often appears in puppies who have become vastly overweight but it is possible to get them corrected.   I seem to recall something about using a sling to keep them raised off their flat chest??

I’ve had a swimmer puppy and have bound the chest with stretchy bandage and placed sponge under it so the puppy isn’t lying on their front, it makes the puppy more prone to lying on their side which allows the lungs more room to breath and the chest to reshape.

I carried out physio on the front legs in a cycling motion every three hours or so to help strengthen muscles.

I also placed rubber backed mats with the rubber facing upwards so the puppy can get a good gripping surface. Newspaper will just allow the puppy to slip and slide....a bathroom mat works perfectly and is washable.

You normally get this with heavy puppies who just lie, it’s a catch 22....they find it hard to move because they’re heavy which in turn flattens the chest and splays the legs making it hard to move, by being immobile they get heavier!

Good luck with the puppy..... with time and work it should come right.

Thanks so much for all your advice - however, the puppy isn’t fat, if anything he is probably the smallest in the litter, I’ll keep you all updated in the near future x