Goitre and low copper status in a litter of meat-fed pups

Abstract

Extract

Raw meat commonly forms the basic diet of weanling dogs. Although there are many reports of the development of bony changes and thyroid enlargement on such diets (see discussion) high mortality has not been reported. In the case described here, all but one of a litter of eight five-month-old German Shepherd pups on a raw meat diet died in the space of two weeks, with enlarged thyroids, bony changes and low liver copper levels.