My newborn puppy is crawling on its back legs. What's wrong?

Hello. This is most likely just due to how the puppy developed in utero. Hopefully, with time, the legs will strengthen. You can very gently manipulate the legs, doing range of motion exercises, but it would be best to have your veterinarian examine the puppy & show you the best way to help this little one. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I suspect this is a congenital abnormality. I recommend to get Ares examined by the veterinarian. With puppies, sometimes there are treatments available since they are still developing but sometimes there are not any options. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

No, this isn't normal and this puppy needs to see a vet as soon as possible for this problem. It needs to be corrected now or it could be permanent. Please take him into a vet right away. Best of luck

Congratulations on your new puppy Griff! At such a young age, it’s hard to say how things will develop and I agree that monitoring him is appropriate right now. He will see the veterinarian frequently since he is getting his vaccine series. Make sure they check his legs and hips each visit and watch him walking. You can get radiographs done but at such a young age, it may be hard to identify any pathology. Radiographs done when he is 9-12 months old will be more likely to be diagnostic. Sometimes a CT scan can catch bone abnormalities earlier. It’s very important that you feed him a puppy food and that he does not become overweight while he is developing. Royal Canin makes specialized puppy food based upon the expected adult weights so you might check them out. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Zo. I recommend that she sees a veterinarian. Some puppies will struggle on slick surfaces though. Try placing towels down for traction or keep her on carpet. This can help the puppy to control her limbs better in the meantime. Good luck!

I would suggest taking Aurora's pup for a vet exam. It could be a congesnital disorder or the pup may have been injuries inadvertently if Aurora sat on her or moved her. The earlier treatment instituted in some of these cases the better the chance the pup will have normal function.

Congratulations on your new puppies. As you were describing how one of them was walking, I began to think that either there has been trauma to that specific leg either buy mom accidentally rolling over on the puppy, etc. or there may even be a genetic growth disorder that is affecting the specific puppy. Actally there is still that a lot that can be done for pets this young in terms of veterinary care. Perhaps a small splint can be applied or maybe there is a nutritional deficiency that is causing this leg abnormality that can be corrected by proper supplementation. Nevertheless, I urge you to take the affected puppy to the veterinarian as soon as possible to have a complete orthopedic examination performed. I would also take another one of the puppies as well as the mother just in case they need to do some testing on them also to see if there are any linking causes. Good luck. I hope I’ve given you some help