It is not my intent to scare anyone.

People who choose to feed raw, should do some homework! THey shouldn't feed it because they 'heard' it is good and kibble is evil. (even if I believe that).

Breeders who feed raw, raise puppies on raw have an obligation to educate puppy buyers and 'be there' with advice/encouragement.

Those who 'fail'at feeding raw are those that don't do any research, don't seek to understand/ learn etc. These failures are often the BIGGEST proponent AGAINST raw feeding and love to discourage others who are beginning with horror stories. When in reality they were NOT feeding a balanced raw diet. It is the people that fail to feed balanced diets that give the vets amuninition to the general public about it.

Thankfully the vet who saw my pup is not against raw feeding, supports it but also wants to educate people to feed it in a balanced way. He is seeing an increase in certain problems (ricketts and simular problems) on some breeds (usually the LARGE breeds of pups).

THIS CAN be prevented.

Perhaps I am talking the "extreme" person who buys the cheapest meats they can find, feed only one type of meat/bone and very little of anything else.

Personally, I DON"T feel it is hard to feed a raw diet to puppies/dogs, pregnant bitches etc. If we can feed ourselves/children/family a balanced diet we can feed our dogs one without being a 'nutritionist'' Generally, I feel that most people will feed it correctly right from the beginning. Most people who feed it do some reading, learn along the way and change the diet they are feeding accordingly.

I do feel raw is the BEST choice for a healthy dog, healthy immune system and healthy bones/growth. I DO feel that raw fed dogs have less problems. I DO advocate for people to feed raw. And I DO educate /encourage/support anyone who emials/phones/ and so on.

Is not rickets a Vitamin D deficiency? I believe dogs make Vitamin D the same way we do, using sunlight. I imagine that if the dog see sunshine for several minutes everyday he makes enough to avoid rickets. People make enough on a sunny day with hands and face exposed in about 15 minutes I have read. I do not know how much exposure a dog needs to make sufficient Vitamin D.

Hugh

Soureces of Vit D: sun exposure, sardines, salmon, mushrooms, eggs, milk, cerals, herring, LIVER, tuna, cod liver oil.

Vit D dificiency is most seen in small children/animals. shown as: irreversable bone deformaties, rickets, delayed tooth development, weak muscles, softened skull.


Those that live in areas where the sun is not all year around are particularly vulnerable. I live in an area where we often don't see the sun for MONTHS on end.

Vitamin D also regulates the amount of calcium in the body. D can be produced in the body through a photosynthetic reaction when the skin is exposed to sunlight. The resulting substance is only a precursor, however, which must then undergo two transformations--first in the liver and then in the kidney--to become the biologically active substance the body uses.


With the above puppy that was returned We added sardines- cod liver oil..sm amount daily. Yogurt 3x wk...kelp 3x wk...egg yolk 4 x wk. Fixed the problem.

Feeding this in the first place would have prevented the problem.

Thought I would also note that this puppy actually had
Nutritional Secondary Parahypothyroidism.

In domestic animals it is due to an unbalanced diet; there may be insufficient calcium, excessive phosphorus that competes with calcium, or (in ruminants) oxalates that bind to calcium and form insoluble calcium oxalate crystals. The most prominent symptoms are swelling of the mandible and maxilla, loosening of the teeth, and lameness.

It is also found in young pups/dogs that are fed an ALL MEAT diet.

 Quote:

Thought I would also note that this puppy actually had
Nutritional Secondary Parahypothyroidism.

In domestic animals it is due to an unbalanced diet; there may be insufficient calcium, excessive phosphorus that competes with calcium, or (in ruminants) oxalates that bind to calcium and form insoluble calcium oxalate crystals. The most prominent symptoms are swelling of the mandible and maxilla, loosening of the teeth, and lameness.

It is also found in young pups/dogs that are fed an ALL MEAT diet.

Do you know why it happened with him? He was eating chicken backs, right, and not an all-meat diet? I think chicken backs have a good calcium-phosphorous ratio, Or were they feeding him a bunch of muscle meat besides?

Oh, maybe I see the answer, re-reading. He was on the right calcium-phosphorous ratio but severaly lacking in Vitamin D?

He likely had too much phosphorus (the right ratio is found best in chicken wings...most people feed back/neck). He also did NOT get enough Vit D (via organ meat/liver etc) that is essential for the body to also use the cal/phos.

 Quote:

He likely had too much phosphorus (the right ratio is found best in chicken wings...most people feed back/neck). He also did NOT get enough Vit D (via organ meat/liver etc) that is essential for the body to also use the cal/phos.

I understand the Vitamin D part, since they were evidently not feeding organ meat at all, but I'm still not understanding the excess phosphorous. Chicken backs, unless they were removing the bones (?) or adding quite a bit of muscle meat, are well within the ideal range of calcium to phosphorous. I could see if it were just chicken legs or other weight-bearing bones. The calcium-phosphorous ratio goal, from what I have read by Billinghurst et al, is 1.1 to 2.1, and wings, backs, whole carcasses, all fall in there.

But I completely get the Vitamin D part. How long did it take to reverse the problem, if you don't mind another question? (The raw diet I feed has all the items you mention, and I think they are all beneficial, so this is not in any way an argument! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I do a ton of canine nutrition research and this is an interesting case. I'm glad you were able to get him back and reverse the damage.)