2 Puppies front legs shaking, bent at strange angle, falling over, especially after eating, possible neurological damage?

by Laura
(Nicaragua)

There are two puppies out at my father in law's farm in Nicaragua (the puppies are his), where I just arrived a few days ago. I want to clarify that because growing up with a dad who was a vet, I don't mess around with pet's health, but here it's not the norm to take animals to the vet or feed them dog food and that kind of thing. So I found these puppies here in not so good a state, and I'm trying to do damage control now.

Here's the story: They came from a litter of 7. The puppies are about 1 month, and were taken away from the mother, fed left overs, rice and beans, some milk, and that kind of thing.

Since I have been out here a few days I've given them some dry cat food mixed with rice and water (the cat food I happened to bring with me for a cat here). Both puppies, but the male in particular, have a condition where they generally shake a little bit continually, but also start shaking a lot in the front legs and the front legs buckle, with the front paws at about a 90 degree angle so they look like they're walking on their tippy toes, and fall over, etc. Looks to me like some kind of neurological problem, I don't know if it's a virus or deficient nutrition, parasites, or poisoning, or what. All are viable options. They've been around some bags of fertilizer here that could be the culprit. I've been around enough puppies to know this is definitely not normal what I'm seeing with them. Their stools look okay, but they probably have parasites. This morning they seemed better, but after eating they tend to get worse with the shaking and falling over.

There's an older dog at the farm too who seems fine, so if it's a virus, he hasn't caught it.

We're in a bit of an isolated rural area, but I'm going to try to take them to a vet as soon as I possibly can, but I wanted some expert opinion as well as I don't know how good the vet i'll take them to will be.

Can you give some possibilities of what might be causing this?

Thanks for your help!!







Hi Laura
From what you say there are a whole lot of possible causes for what's happening with these puppies, and it's impossible for me to give any kind of useful opinion because there are just too many variables. They absolutely need to see a vet, but I totally understand the difficulties you're facing.

There is one thing that is a possibility though, given the poor diet they've had, and that is 'knuckling over'. This can occur, especially in large breed pups, when their diet is inadequate to support their growth. This webpagegives you a lot of information about this condition, with photos that may help you to determine if this could be the problem.....Knuckling Over and Bowing in puppies legs.

It also has extensive information and advice on how to help pups if they're afflicted. Your pups are still very young and should be able to recover with the right help if this is indeed the issue. However, I'd have to strongly recommend that they are examined by a vet asap as there are obviously a lot of other possible causes which need to be looked at.

I hope this helps some and I wish you, and these little pups, the very best of luck - and a full recovery. Please do let us know here how it turns out.