He's growing too fast

At five months of age, Jock decided to put on a HUGE growth spurt. He was still on puppy food (wet and dry) and was being fed raw chicken frames. If you looked at him side on, his rump was about an inch taller than his shoulders, his legs got long and he got thin throughout. There were no ribs showing, although he did have a defined waist, and was building up a nice amount of muscle for his age, size and frame.

However, I noticed that he started sinking down on his pasterns (ankles). This was caused by two things. His work load, although not great, when combined with the amount of play he got up to on a daily basis, amounted to slightly too much. Also, his growth rate was that fast that his bone structure wasn't keeping up quite as well as it should, even with the good diet.

This is when I started introducing a calcium supplement to his feed, and rested him from work, and play, for two weeks. He wasn't confined, he'd still go for a run each day, but he wasn't allowed to play with the sheep.

Because I didn't change his food intake, he gained weight quickly, so I had to start a delicate balancing act. I needed to give him enough food and nutrients to keep up with his growing body, but keep his weight in check so that he didn't become too heavy for his frame.

He gained weight, lost his defined waist line and got a little unfit, but he did come back up on his pasterns, and caught up with the rest of himself.

Below are some photo's of Jock when he was lacking in calcium, before I started adding:

CENOVIS Bone Health Mega Calcium +D tablets - Each tablet contains:

600mg Calcium
Vitamin D3 400IU
Manganese 4.9mg
Magnesium 15mg
Iron 1.6mg.

These were purchased in a bulk pack (200 tablets) for about $AUD10.00 at the local supermarket.

Within 10 days of starting treatment and resting from most of his work and play, his front legs straightened up beautifully, and you'd never know there was a problem to begin with!