In our litter of 8 pups there was 1 with a funny shaped leg, the vet we saw said it was just where he was lying at an awkwaed angle in the womb & it would correct itself before a year old & not to worry.

We decided to keep him as we did not want to pass on any problems to the new owners.

He has allways been slower than the others & could not jump up on things as well.
It seemed to be getting worse so I took him to the vet today & he has severe elbow dysplasia leading to valgus & will need an op to correct it so he will still have use of the leg :-(

We have been refered to a specialist vet on friday.

I am assuming this is hereaditory? Sire & dam have both been hip/eye tested ok but not elbow tested.

If I get his mum tested & litter sister tested for this would it be ok to breed from them or would it be too risky? (If they scored OK) I am not planning another litter in the near future but would like to know.

I will be informing the stud owner also.

Any tips on this condition ie. slower walks, less running around off lead etc.

Would anyone advise the buyers of the rest of the litter to be on the lookout for symptoms? I would feel awfull if they had bought a puppy from me that had this.

Sorry to ramble, I just feel very sad that this poor pup is 7 months old & has had to live with this without any pain killers etc & feel guilty I did not elbow score

Hi Tenno

Like hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia is not 100% hereditary.  It is termed a polygenic, multifactorial condition of continuous variation, which means that the inheritance is complex and the severity of the condition is variable and influenced by environment.

Odd cases of ED do crop up in breeds that are not normally associated with the disease and this is true of HD too and probably most hereditary diseases.  Rushing into a programme of scoring/testing for diseases that have a very low incidence may not be the best course of action. 

The fact that the leg was deformed at birth certainly does indicate that this could have caused the ED to develop and hopefully the specialist you see wil be able to give you reassurance on this.  I would also be guided by her/him on diet, excercise etc.

If ED isn't a known problem in your breed, I wouldn't worry too much about the hereditary aspect of this.

Julie