I put a deposit down for a puppy. When they were born, there were only 3 of them and 1 was a stillborn. Is this a cause for concern? The mother also has pannus.

I wouldn’t be as concerned about the number of pups in the litter, except that pannus is known to be an auto immune mediated disease. This (for me) would be a red flag that the pup may have some inherited issues like pannus, as well as coming from a dog with a compromised immune system. Take if from someone who purchased a pup that has inherited auto immune problems. I unfortunately was not given the information about the pup I bought until weeks after I got her home, and she had all sorts of issues. It’s taken years, and many alternative therapies and hours to get her healthy. Pups do inherit the immune system damage from their parents, and not many puppy buyers think about that until they have a pup that shows a lot of health problems.

If you do a google search on pannus you will come up with a lot of info. I had a friend who treated her dog for pannus for several years only to lose him to cancer. Upon further research she found out the eye drops the dog needed each day are known to cause cancer with long term use.

Whether a pup from this litter will be affected or not, we can’t know. You will have to decide if you are willing to go into this knowing there may be a problem months or even years down the road.

If you decide to take a pup from this litter, I would be very educated on vaccinosis and diet. For information on vaccinations and the problems they cause please read our vaccinosis article.

I would also recommend these 2 books, Shock to the System and Vaccine Guide for Dogs & Cats.

Read this article on feeding a raw diet. It’s a work in progress but there is a lot of good information there.

I would also recommend these books, Natural Nutriton for Dogs & Cats and Raw Dog Food.

You can also go to our Feeding Dogs Page for a list of articles and books that will be helpful to you.

The best way to help this puppy will be to boost the natural body defenses through diet and no more assaults to the immune system.