9week old puppy and some gait oddities

[lehughes]

Laurie,
Thank you for the response to my email about the puppy with clubfoot. I saw this puppy (George, a 9wk old Cane Corso) Wed afternoon.
I have attached pictures of the puppy standing. The hind limb paws are the most affected, with the left in being the worst. When the puppy stands, it looks like the stifles are laterally rotated and the hocks are medially rotated. The paw rotates laterally and the toes rotate and deviate medially. I had our surgeon look at him, and he felt the rotation of the paw was occurring at the tarsal-metatarsal joint. He does have luxating patellas. No pain on manipulation of any of the joints or when rotate the paw into a normal position. The owner said that the paws have improved greatly since he was born. When I first talked with the surgeon about the case (prior to seeing him) he also felt that a splint would be the answer. Once he saw the puppy, he did not feel that a splint would be beneficial. Do you agree, or is splinting still the best option?
I also noticed that the more George moved around, that his carpi (left worse than right) would flex when he was in the stance phase of walking. The carpus would also fell when he was standing, and he would essentially be standing on his toes. Do the front legs need to be splinted as well? The owner said that she just noticed the front leg issues within the past couple days, and it only happens when he gets tired. She is more concerned about the hind legs than the front.
George is not act painful. He will run and play. The owner is concerned about how he will be when he is full grown.
Sorry if some of the pictures are blurry. Even with treats, it was difficult to get him to stand still.
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
L.W., VMD, CCRT

[lehughes]

Hi L.,

Sorry for my tardy reply. I'm very behind in my e-mails!

So, I don't think that a splint is what you want. I think your best treatment goal would be to strengthen. If he had a slow start, then he likely didn't get to develop his movement streategies or build muscle like a normal puppy. (The only thing I would contemplate bracing would be that carpus - and even then, I wouldn't use more than a Therapaw Sports Wrap (i.e. just some neoprene... nothing more rigid), mostly just as a 'reminder' . But I could very well be talked out of using any wrap at all!).

He'd likely be a good candidate for UWT, and some sort of a mini obstacle course (cavalettis, weaves, backing up, tug of war, sit to stands facing up hill, 3-leg balancing)
I really think that if he was set up on an exercise program, you'd see improvements in fairly short order.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Laurie

[lehughes]

Laurie,
Thank you so much. I realize you have much to do, and know that you will respond when you can.
George's mom sent me an email saying that George has already improved since last week. His right hind leg is almost normal and the left carpus is normal now.
The thought that he can be normal will make her very happy.
Thanks again,
L.