When puppies grow, they can face specific diseases, the main cause of which is feeding. This period is the most difficult for dogs in the physiological plan. This is because in this period of time the formation of the tissues of the animal's organism takes place both qualitatively and quantitatively. For proper development, veterinary knowledge will be needed to take the necessary measures and to conduct timely treatment of diseases. Using the knowledge of dietology, you can determine how much the change in the diet of a dog can affect the growth of the body, determine the violations and their clinical manifestations. Disturbances can arise due to a lack or, on the contrary, an excess of the components of the feed, they can manifest themselves at the level of formation of bones or joints. In this publication we suggest to consider the most common diseases and treatment of diseases in puppies.
Improper formation of bones
When the bone grows, it constantly moves and is updated because of the activity of its own cells. If you strictly follow the hormonal balance, you can maintain the integrity of the bone of the puppy.
Delay in growth
Sometimes the growth of the animal can be interrupted. This happens due to malnutrition, parasites that may be in the intestines, hormonal disorders, and other anomalies. The veterinarian must quickly determine the growth retardation in the puppy, identify the cause and eliminate it, if possible.
Ricketism
This disease is the same in humans and dogs. Over time, as knowledge on the treatment of bone disease accumulated, which are associated with feeding problems, rickets almost disappeared. Rickets appear due to lack of vitamin D in the body, it is characterized by insufficient mineralization of bones. In recent years, there have been only a few cases of this disease in puppies, which were associated with feeding errors.
Calcium deficiency
Calcium deficiency in puppies leads to bone disease, which is called juvenile osteofibrosis. This disease occurs quite often, due to malnutrition. The disease usually occurs if the puppy feeds on home fodder, which is not ideal for him, as there is a lot of meat in it and there are no necessary mineral substances (we must not forget that the calcium content in food should exceed twice the phosphorus content). A small amount of calcium is the cause of the "syndrome of one meat", according to the expression of veterinarians, because of this, the calcium content in the blood decreases, so the body is forced to replenish the lack of calcium due to bone tissue. The disease breaks the bone and ligaments. There is deformation of the puppy's skeleton, there is a painful reaction to the pressing of the fingers, a deflection develops in the knees and hocks, platigradia (stopping) appears. The bone is weakened, it can break for no apparent reason. Such fractures are very difficult to treat, they have the form of a "green tree".
To successfully treat osteofibrosis in puppies, it is necessary to detect the disease in time and simply restore the phosphorus-calcium balance of food. It is necessary to transfer the puppy to the ready forage, which will be adapted to its size, which will be enough for normal development. The age of the animal should not be more than 6-7 months if the puppy is a large breed.
Deficiency of other nutrients
Deficiency of nutrients can lead to a serious disorder of bone tissue. Vitamin A is important during the growth of bones for the formation of the puppy's skeleton. If it is not enough, either a shortening or a deformation of the bone tissue can occur. Vitamin C plays no role in the formation of bones in the puppy during the growth period.
Excess Vitamin D
Excess vitamin D leads to a disease such as hypertrophic osteopathy syndrome. This disease is also common in puppies. Bone tissue with this disease develops haphazardly: "swells", the animal begins to limp. Excess in the body of calcium and vitamin D - a phenomenon often encountered, especially it is exposed to puppies of large breeds. Such a disease is incurable.
Excess of vitamin A
Such a pathology in puppies occurs much less often than in kittens. This is due to the fact that cats eat a lot of liver. In puppies, excess vitamin A appears due to the daily intake of fish oil. Because of the excess of this vitamin, growth retardation occurs, the tubular bones are deformed. This pathology is irreversible.
Diseases of the joints
Osteochondrosis occurs during the growth of the animal, this disease affects bone tissue and joints, usually in puppies of large breeds and manifests itself in the form of hypertrophy of the articular cartilage, which causes pain, joint deformation and bending of the bone. Sometimes lameness can lead to the dissection of articular cartilage.
Various complications cause a general increase in the amount of food consumed, which leads to excess weight, and this increases the mechanical effect on the joints and cartilages that are only being formed. To treat such diseases in puppies it is necessary to change their diet. Objectively assess the quality and specificity of feed. Such an assessment will be most effective.
Overweight puppy
Puppies of large breeds are slopes to diseases of bones and joints, and puppies of small breeds tend to slope towards early obesity, which is called early adulocytic hyperplasia. If the puppy overeats, then it increases the number of fat cells in the form of reservoirs, then they eventually fill with fat.