I ♥ Puppy Hips

I know it sounds funny, but I’d like to take this opportunity to declare my love for puppy hips. Truthfully, there are few things I care about more than puppy hips. So much so that I wish I had a bumper sticker that read, “I ♥ Puppy Hips.”  From the moment a puppy emerges at whelp, until each little rascal goes home with his or her adoptive parents, every step I make^[1]The Natchez Trace Puppy Enrichment Academy and every breath I take puts puppy hips first.

Before I started breeding English Shepherds, I arranged a conference call with the nutritionists at Purina.  Following the dietary program we came up with, I keep my pregnant bitch on her normal diet of PPP 30/20 up until 2 weeks before whelp.  At that point, she’ll be moved to PPP Puppy Formula.  She’ll stay on PPP Puppy Formula while nursing. After weaning, she’ll be gradually moved back to PPP 30/20.  Her puppies will be weaned directly to PPP Puppy Formula.  I know from experience, and from consultation with the professionals at Purina, that puppies who are weaned to PPP Puppy Formula maintain a lean, healthy body weight that’s easy on the hips.  That’s how we work towards a lifetime of good hips.^[2]Peaslee, Effects of Dietary Restriction on Hip Health  In the next paragraph, I’ll talk about why experts care so much about puppy hips.  Those experts are cited in the bibliography at the end of this post.

All puppies are born with perfectly normal hips.  Hip dysplasia is not a congenital defect; it is not present at birth. Multiple studies have demonstrated that all normal puppies are born with “perfect” hips; that is, they are “normal” for a newborn with no signs of dyspepsia. The structures of the hip joint are cartilage at birth and only become bone as the puppy grows. If a puppy is going to develop hip dysplasia, the process begins shortly after birth ^[3]Beuchat, The Ten Most Important Things to Know About Puppy Hips. We know that puppies that weigh more at birth as well as those with higher growth rates (so they get heavier sooner) have a higher risk of degenerative changes in the hip joint ^[4]Vanden Berg-Foels et al 2006.  Growing puppies need to eat enough to support growth but they should not be fat, because any extra weight can increase the risk of developing hip dysplasia ^[5]Hedhammar et al 1975, Kasstrom 1975. An additional problem is that puppies getting too much food could also consume too much of specific nutrients. Puppies provided a quality commercial puppy food that is fed in the proper amount will have a nutritionally balanced diet and should not receive any supplements. Dietary supplements, especially of calcium, are not only unnecessary but could cause serious problems. ^[6]Beuchat, op cit..  There is no evidence that supplemental protein or vitamins will reduce the risk of hip dysplasia ^[7]Kealy et al 1991, Nap et al 1991, Richardson & Zentek 1998.

The photo is of Vixen out exercising this morning.  She should be about 26 days along in this shot.  Hopefully, you can see that Vixen is at good working body weight.  She is fit and will be ready for whelping and nursing a healthy litter.  I can’t wait to get me some puppy hips. You can learn more about Vixen’s litter here.