Laura Trunk wrote: > > > Are they born with flat chests or do they develop flat chests because they > have weak muscle tone and don't get around/move around as much as their > litter mates? And why are they always fatter than the others? Maybe > because they don't move as much and spend more time eating? I guess I'm > asking the chicken or the egg . . . > > Laura Lang > Roycroft Cavaliers >
The first time I saw a swimmer was in a litter of 3 - all 3 were swimmers to differing degrees. I had asked 2 long time breeders (one had been in the breed forever) to come and look at the pups. Both told me they were just slow to walk and that they would walk when they were ready. I guess they were about 4 wks at this time and just lying in their own pee. I was constantly cleaning them and I just knew something wasn't right. Eventually I took them to my vet (not a repro vet but has some breeders as clients) and he immediately diagnosed the problem - swimmers. I was told that it can be caused by crowding ie. all three (large) puppies were crowded into the same horn and there had not been room for proper in-utero muscle flexing. I was told it is quite common in horses and considered to be positional. Hey, I was also told that I could do some physio exercises with their little legs and either they walked by 10 to 12 weeks or they never would. Nothing was mentioned about taping (I'm talking about 10 yrs ago) and I did the physio several times a day but I didn't like the idea of nothing being done between sessions. I sewed up a body harness out of 1/4" elastic and put that on the puppies when they were resting. This kept them on their sides and if they moved one leg they moved all 4 because they were interconnected so they exercised themselves. It took about a week for everyone to get on their feet and the most affected one still wasn't walking just right when he went to his new home. The new owner's vet recommended mild exercise. The dog went through all kinds of tests and nothing was ever found to be wrong with him. At 1 yr. the owner finally phoned me and asked for my opinion on exercise. I advised her to start with short walks and keep extending to tolerance. Within a couple of months this dog showed no signs of ever having had a problem and he's still doing well. Brigitte Falch Kibergo Cavaliers Reg'd Maple Ridge, BC, Canada http://alescosys.com/kibergo ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
