# Hunchback Puppy



## CoverTune (Mar 11, 2007)

Not sure where else to put this..

My 6 month old chihuahua walks with her back all hunched up.. I'm not sure why, and I don't know if it's anything I should be concerned about. I think it's mostly just annoying to me lol, it looks SO uncomfortable.

I've attached a photo, to give you an idea of what I mean.

She was just spayed on Thursday, but she has been doing this for as long as I can remember (have had her since 8 weeks old).

Any ideas?


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## MoosMom (Sep 15, 2009)

Has your vet ever said anything about it?


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## Max's Mom (Feb 24, 2009)

I would have the vet examine her.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

She's a ferret! Seriously, it does look uncomfortable. Sometimes they do it when they're in pain, so if she had just started after her spay I'd think it was that. But if she always does it, it might be an orthopedic issue. I'd consult a vet with knowledge in orthopedics and chiropractic.


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## yappypappymom (Oct 22, 2009)

Willowy said:


> She's a ferret!


Hilarious!! This gave me a great laugh!! I thought the same thing when I saw the pic!( I have a ferret too, so..I am pretty used to the stance).

As for the dog, I haven't a clue...interesting though..along with the others, I can't help but wonder what the vet has said about this too...humm....hope someone else has a more helpful idea though.


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## Jennyfur (Oct 14, 2009)

I found this online and of course it might not be at all reliable:

"Dogs with chronic kidney failure may appear fatigued, lose weight rapidly and start drinking excessive amounts of water. Dogs suffering from acute kidney failure may walk with a hunched back and stop urinating."

I would suggest you have her thoroughly checked out by the vet.


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## thatkidhugo (Nov 29, 2008)

My min pin used to do the same thing when he was younger.. but only when he was outside in -20 weather.


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

Jennyfur said:


> Dogs suffering from acute kidney failure may walk with a hunched back and stop urinating.


We have a Cavalier puppy with renal failure that comes into my work and it does the same thing. I noticed her horrible conformation and unusual stance when she came in for pre-op blood work and had to stay for the day so we could get urine. The doctor noticed it as well, but didn't think any thing of it because they're not familiar with Cavalier conformation and thought it was just regular puppy development. Of course once the bloodwork came back it was obvious that the was more wrong than just being a poorly bred puppy. It may be worth your while to have your vet run a complete bloodwork or have and orthopedic specialist examine him.


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## PappyMom (Jun 5, 2009)

Noodles walked around with his back hunched like that, all the time. Do have your puppy's kidney and blood levels checked.


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## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

Please get this checked out!!! A Chi should NEVER walk like this so there's SOME kind of problem, hopefully it can be remedied easily and isn't serious.


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## CoverTune (Mar 11, 2007)

In her short little life, she's been to four different vets already.. why wouldn't any of them make note of this? She had a full exam at about 10 weeks old, and just spent an entire day at the clinic last week.. I can't believe they would have performed surgery on a dog with renal failure.. 

Interesting..


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## Ayanla (Jun 11, 2009)

Does she do it on all surfaces? I notice in the picture that she's on hard wood. Maybe she developed the stance to counteract sliding?

As for the spay, I don't know how your vet handles it, but mine doesn't do blood work pre-spay unless you opt-in and pay for it. Your vet may not have necessarily done any kidney related blood panels prior to the spay.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Go get her x-rayed is my suggestion.

A tiny pom in our area (about 3 lbs) was walking around with a really hunched back for a while, a trip to the vet showed that she had cracked/damaged a little bit of her spine because some kids were playing too rough with her. It looks like the exact same stance that dog had. Has she suffered any kind of trauma?


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

CoverTune said:


> In her short little life, she's been to four different vets already.. why wouldn't any of them make note of this? She had a full exam at about 10 weeks old, and just spent an entire day at the clinic last week.. I can't believe they would have performed surgery on a dog with renal failure..
> 
> Interesting..


Have any of those vets done bloodwork on her. If not then there's no way to know for sure if she has renal failure. There could be something else going on, further examination and testing would be needed to determine exactly what's wrong. Quite a few health problems share similar symptoms. As I said in my previous comment even the vets I work with discounted the pups conformational issues and wouldn't have known anything if the owner hadn't decided to have pre-op bloodwork done.

Other than Parvo and Distemper it's not too common for puppies to have major health issues at such a young age. Heck even with the tests results it can be hard to believe a young pup would be so unhealthy.


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## CoverTune (Mar 11, 2007)

I did request that pre-op blood work be done before her spay. Even if they hadn't done it, I would think that if she had renal failure, she would have been very sick after the operation, wouldn't she? She bounced back much faster than Corona did when she was spayed.

No trauma, aside from normal puppy bumps.. but I've been especially careful with her as she is so delicate.

Oh, and yes, she does it on all surfaces - tile, laminate, carpet..


Thanks for all the feedback so far!


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## kamsmom (Nov 2, 2009)

If they weren't looking specifically for renal issues than they wouldn't have looked at preop blood work for that issue. 

She wouldn't necessarily be sick after her operation either. It's best to take her back in specifically for her posture. Tell the vet you are concerned about specifically renal issues and they will look further into it.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Can she run and jump like normal? And has she ever had an x-ray?


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## PappyMom (Jun 5, 2009)

We didn't catch Noodle's kidney failure until the very end when he got extremely sick. He'd had it for years before we took him and found out, and he fought it. There'd be sleepy days, and then days where he just wanted to run..never showed us any symptoms other than an arched back, and increase of thirst. 

I would take her to the vet and ask for blood work done, as you are curious about the arched back and heard that it may be kidney-related. While you are there, ask him to check her to make sure she is not in pain, and possibly even an x-ray to reassure that.


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## DJsMom (Jun 6, 2008)

I really don't have any idea what might be going on with the little sweetie, but as everyone has mentioned, & as you obviously must feel, something's not right. 
I imagaine after all these responses you're pretty worried by now & planning to get her into to see the vet & I just want to wish you & her luck! 
You're in my thoughts & I'll be waiting to hear how things go.


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## Jenna09 (Dec 20, 2007)

We found out Lola had renal dysplasia from her pre-spay blood work.

Our vet checked the kidney levels. I am not sure what the protocol is for pre-op bloodwork at other vets though.

Jenna


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## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

CoverTune said:


> In her short little life, she's been to four different vets already.. why wouldn't any of them make note of this? She had a full exam at about 10 weeks old, and just spent an entire day at the clinic last week.. I can't believe they would have performed surgery on a dog with renal failure..
> 
> Interesting..


Renal Failure is not the only explanation for that position, there are several others including back problems. It is a gaurding type position that isn't seen in a dog that is completely healthy. Shes in pain from something and it's your job (along with your vets) to determine what.

As far as Blood work, depends on the vet some will only do the basic stuff (showing the blood counts) and some will do a more in depth profile that includes a kidney panel, Thyroid and vonWillibrands.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Something just occurred to me. If she doesn't have any kind of renal problem and the vet determines that her back is fine, perhaps she just has a bit of a bent bone structure. I know some dogs will have things like feet pointing inwards too much, elbows bent out too much, etc. and it could just be a bone 'defect.' like a curved spine or something.


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## MafiaPrincess (Jul 1, 2009)

Smudge went roachy around 6 months. Vet said it was simply him. Didn't show any pain.. At a year and a half he went pointy on one side. Different vet said it's just him..

Got fed up went to a chiro on my own.. He'd jammed 2 vertebrae causing the initial roached back, and it had been uncomfortable for so long something had to give and a floating rib flipped over and the pointy was the wrong side of the rib..

During all that time he happily trained agility jumped on and off surfaces and I saw no sign he was hurting..

After his first adjustment I realized he hid it well. He couldn't look up without sitting.. He never ever stretched.. And we've now had 10 months of chiro and he's fairly close to being okay, now finally. If a vet had caught it any of the times before he's have been more easily fixable. Longer he stayed liek that more he compensated for the bad posture and the longer it's taken to fix.

He's 80x better than he was, but he may need constant help for life. If it had been caught earlier it would have been more easily fixable and treatable.


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## tirluc (Aug 29, 2006)

you might want to find an animal chiropractor in your area and see what they can do...of course, x-rays are the 1st step to determine what's what....


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