The puppy who will never grow up

For Oscar has been diagnosed by vets as a dwarf.

Vets Mark Maltman and Josie Cosham of Maltman Cosham Veterinary Clinic, Slinfold, recognised his conditon as a Pituitary Dwarf.

This means that Oscar’s pituitary gland in his brain is underdeveloped and he will never grow to full size.

Oscar’s devoted owners, from Horsham, brought Oscar to the vets clinic when he was only 10 weeks old as an emergency after he collapsed.

He was having seizures and his blood glucose had dropped to a dangerously low level.

As he was so tiny- only weighing 0.8kg - he was too small to have a catheter placed in his leg so it had to go into the jugular vein in his neck through which fluids and

glucose were administered stabilising him in a few hours. Blood tests then revealed he is a pituitary dwarf and would never be the same size as his litter mates.

Treatment could have meant using injections of progesterone to stimulate growth hormone production from other areas of the body but these can cause additional complications - and it was decided to leave him untreated.

He is now a happy and healthy little chap and his owner, Alison Keeler, says: “He is as mad as a hatter with bags of energy and character, he has now grown a little bit and we love him to bits.”

She said Oscar’s recovery and continuing good health is in no small way due to the expertise and care he received from Mark and Josie at the clinic.

Mark said: “This is our first experience of this condition and we are delighted that little Oscar is managing so well.”