Thank you for everyones input...good food has already brought them up,,,every day goes by, is getting a little bit better.

Could it be possible that she had extremely long toenails when she arrived at the shelter causing her toes to splay but they trimmed them before putting her up for adoption?

This is my dog Yasko at 5 months old and then again at 15 months old. Still not "perfect" but he is about on-par with the other dogs in his (very good) pedigree that all seemed to have the same issue.

Both my pups had weak pasterns, Tikos were never so bad and are the better of the 2 now, so I chose to show you the worser of the 2 pups here.

I would have fed raw if I had access to the ingredients here, but instead the improvement is thanks to a quality kibble (Orijen), salmon oil, vitamin E, and I live in the country on a dirt road that leads to the trails through farm fields, so their walks have always been on surfaces ranging from loose sand to hard packed sand with a ton of rocks and stones that forces them to balance and exercise their paws in every direction.

They will never be 100%, but this doesn't affect agility at all. I mean, Yasko is a genetic mess, his pads on his back feet are too big causing a splay between his 2 middle toes, his back feet face outwards, his front feet face out, he has one testicle, his snout is long, his ears are huge (and were soft as a pup), but he runs like a cheetah and jumps like a kangaroo (quite literally, its funny watching a dog with back feet facing out jumping up in the air... LOL ). I will be finally switching to raw this week. i have to drive to Holland for the ingredients, so I will see over the next 6 months if that yields any additional results.

(sorry for my choice in photos, in one he is peeing and the other is his "pre-furminator" picture, but they are the photos I have that most accurately show his pasterns. the others they are either covered by grass or covered by snow)

Before:





After:

I am thinking my almost 6-month-old GSD has downed pasterns. This thread actually gave me a name for it. I have noticed at times when on a walk that she seems....uncomfortable(?). I've been watching her shoulders and elbows but not seeing anything alarming there. It just occurred to me the other day that she does not stand straight up on her paw but it has some angulation. Her toes also seem to spread even though I do not hear toenails on the sidewalk. Other than a 15 - 20 minute walk once every couple of days, she is on grass or in the house on tile or laminate floor with a room rug.

I googled "downed pasterns" and one site said it can be the result of a too high of a protein diet! And to keep the dog in the crate and only let it out for potty breaks until it is corrected, possibly for a couple of months. That just does not sound right to me.

I feed her the Blue "wildnerness" kibble in the am and raw in the pm., so she is on a high protein diet.

How can I help her? My first thought is a foot othotic.

It is not as bad as the post above mine here in the second picture. I would compare it more to the first picture of the pup.

Can you post a link to a side-view picture?

 Quote: barbara fisher

.... How can I help her? My first thought is a foot othotic. ....

 Quote: mike j schoonbrood

... their walks have always been on surfaces ranging from loose sand to hard packed sand with a ton of rocks and stones that forces them to balance and exercise their paws in every direction.

Something I read by Fred Lanting:
http://www.gsdhelpline.com/carpal.htm

Mr. Lanting definitely agrees with you and Mike about moderate daily exercise -- not crate-rest.

It's a good overview, and he does point out some nutritional "fixes" to ignore/avoid, but the protein advice is based on commercial diets.

If I were facing this, I'd be inclined to make the diet all raw. I can't offer authoritative backup for this, though. JMO.

 Quote:

The interesting and surprising thing that I learned from recent reports is that improvement to the point of resuming normalcy is possible with manipulation of the nutritional intake of the dog. While much of the survey response had nothing to do with the disorder, a recurring theme and the most likely approach to use in improving both the weak pastern and the true subluxated joint, is the lowering of protein level in the diet. Less calcium and phosphorus (though in the same recommended ratio) also may be beneficial. Conclusions of the GSDCA survey that might have currency include the elimination or considerable reduction of such additives to a commercial food as meats, eggs, yogurt, milk, and cottage cheese, which are all high in protein, and some rich in phosphorus and calcium. If your affected dog is eating an otherwise acceptable ration, you can change the protein/carbohydrate ratio by substituting some of the meal with “buttered noodles” or other pasta. Poor thyroid function may play a part, although that may be coincidental. Since it is usually reported to be familial (CSS appears in dogs closely related to each other more often than random occurrence would account for), the wise breeder will avoid the lines in which it appears. Nutritional remedies may merely be masking a hereditary problem.

*** Mod note: Above quote is from http://www.gsdhelpline.com/carpal.htm ***

His premise appears to be not adding real foods: meat, eggs, cottage cheese, etc, to commercial food and even recommends adding grain as in noodles. Muscle is supported by protein. I don't understand his basis for this.

My Justice's main place of exercise is my yard which is thick grass. She is on a concrete sidewalk as I mentioned before for only 15-20 minute walks every couple of days. I don't have any gravel around and don't really know of any places that would have gravel. I am moving and could possibly put a gravel area in
our new yard. I do not have a time frame for moving, it depends on my current house selling, so I can't do that immediately. Should I not walk her for a while? I hate to do away with that.

I will try to take some side pictures to post. I just bought a new camera so she will be a good trial to learn the camera. I will probably need my dh to help as she generally stays too close to me outside for me to get a good picture of her, especially if I stoop or kneel down. She will be all over me, lol. It may be a few days.

I like definite's and I am not seeing any real definite's in either cause or treatment.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (07/15/2008 08:29 PM)
Edit reason: credit text

This

site even recommends adding Maalox to the diet. But it also recommends very limited exercise so maybe it is all a bunch of huey.

 Quote: Barbara Fisher

His premise appears to be not adding real foods: meat, eggs, cottage cheese, etc, to commercial food and even recommends adding grain as in noodles. Muscle is supported by protein. I don't understand his basis for this.

High-calcium high-phosphorous foods, anyway.

But his basis is a commercial diet.

I don't understand it, either. When I don't understand it, then I tend towards the food the dog was designed to eat.

Well, I tend that way, anyway.

But JMO.

 Quote: Barbara Fisher

This

site even recommends adding Maalox to the diet. But it also recommends very limited exercise so maybe it is all a bunch of huey.

That link didn't work.

But I can tell you that Maalox is largely calcium.