"bring her back in 2 weeks" gee that's helpful!
The bad news: More issues to add to the equation.
The good news: She's not in pain and loves to play.
More issues:
- open fontanelle (no swelling and no sign of water on the brain)
- incisors are still not through the gumline
- all her legs are far too short for a 9 week pup (and she is now 9 weeks)
Possibilities:
- She could have dwarfism (non-pituitary?) but the lateral rotation (deformed paw) is unrelated and he believes it to be injury-induced (but that the injury has since healed incorrectly, causing the turn). It occurs at her paw - not her knee or shoulder so they do not believe it is related to whatever is causing her other legs to be shorter than they should be
at nine weeks.
Or
- She was simply guesstimated inaccurately with regard to age by the shelter & may be younger by as much as a couple of weeks. Her appearance, demeanor and growth appears to be that of a 6 week old puppy UNLESS she has dwarfism.
They want to see her in 2 weeks to check her soft spot, incisors & get more x-rays to see how her legs are growing or if they're stunted or bowed, or growing in a way that would indicate dwarfism.
Final Diagnosis:
don't know!
I'm to bring her in straight away if her head appears to be swelling or if she doesn't respond to general hand motions...or if she begins vomiting or anything else that does not coincide with normal puppy behavior.
I'm ALL for rescuing animals - but wow this is frustrating with so many "unknowns". It's enough to drive a person to drink.