Swimmer Puppy - Page 3

(I'm not a breeder )   (I'd be in big trouble if I was.... I'd end up keeping all the puppies...lol)

This must not be too common cause I have never seen one, but thinking back I think the board has seen a few posts but would be curious on how often this shows up.

My very first 2 litters has swimmer pups.. . it's usually caused by more than just overeating.. although a singleton can overeat.. same bitch, 2 totally different males had swimmers in each litter

We laid 1/4" hardware cloth downover the top of the bedding we had and I would say within 2 days both pups were roound again.. it forces them to draw their legs underneath themselves.... you want ot be sure that he/she starts laying onits side and notits stomach.. takes a lot of watching and moving him around but it should help.. have to be careful that the bones don't become misshapen.. that can happen very easily because they are so soft.. Luckily, they are also soft enough to sort of massage back to where they shold be.. if its early enough....

Unfortunately, both of our pups also had megaesophagus and one had a malformed jaw... not a good way to start off but here we still are some 20+ yearslater..

I suggest seeing your vet with the pup.. and good luck

I had a swimmer many yyears ago he died .

It's common enough that I read about it in more than one source before I started breeding, as I was doing my research, and was warned about it by other breeders.  My boss breeds dobermans, and recommended to me indoor/outdoor carpeting (the soft, thinner stuff) to line my whelping box with to help prevent it and give the puppies some grip. It's pretty inexpensive, I throw it out after each litter. When they start being weaned I get rid of it and go to newspaper.

I have also heard of breeders using medical tape to bind the front legs closer together, below the elbow, straightening the front legs so the puppy cannot splay out. Has anyone heard of this? I have yet to have a swimmer so of course have not tried it, just curious.

Swimmers are most common in small litters, where pups can live on the teet of a milk laden dam. You won't often see swimmers in a big litter. The pups figure out that they can get to the teet, just by using their front legs. 30 yrs ago, a DVM at the Colorado State University Vet School, told me, to tie the legs in a diagonal manner. In other words make an X. Tie the pup's right front, to its left back, and so on. The tape will get messy and will have to be changed quite a bit. This makes the swimmer use it's hind legs when it motivates with the fronts.   After a few days, one should see dramatic improvement.

Nice avatar there Abhay.  Relative?

The Lovely Lady in my Avatar, was my date at Vickie's Shindig!! She's a Hottie

Kewl.  Should we be expecting some nuptials in the near future?

One can only hope!!