Continued from last week
Last week, we spoke about the nutritional effects on the bone structure and formation. Perhaps it is apt at this point to relate the symptoms that these specific nutritional deficiencies, relative especially to calcium and phosphorus (and other mineral and trace elements, vitamins, etc), would produce.
In puppies and young dogs, the signs of skeletal problems are lameness, thriftlessness, bone pain, stunted growth and spontaneous fractures. I should mention that sometimes stress on the bones of puppies and young dogs do not result in a breakage. Instead, the bones (especially the long bones) actually bend or crack. As a vet, I find this condition more difficult to deal with. Straightening a bent bone or one that has sustained a crack because of a nutritional deficiency is much more complicated. Of course, the accompanying therapeutic steps must be associated with improving the nutritional balance.
In older dogs, periodontal disease usually is the first sign of mineral deficiencies. It is due to thinning of the jaw bones followed by exposure of the roots of the teeth. The teeth loosen and are