Has anyone ever seen a puppy with the two middle pads on the back feet fused together? It is the strangest thing - like a horseshoe. I had not heard of this before but a puppy from my litter has this and I wondered how common it is or if it can cause any problems down the road. Doesn't affect the puppy at all right now.

The only other pup I ever saw with that also had megaesophogus. Probably just a coincidence, as I doubt they were related. But perhaps it could be an indicator of other problems. Just keep an eye on him as he grows.

I have not yet seen it in Labs, but it is common in English Toy Spaniels, and I've heard of it in their relative the Cavaliers.I have to wonder how evolution is going on this. Is it a deformity or the next step? Let us know how the pup goes.

I work at a vet and we see it from time to time in pups, a lab pup most recently. They are fine otherwise and you would never know except the doctor tends to check them over pretty good and notices it.

I've never seen this but might be able to give some insight on how it happens. When the limbs form, they are more or less club-shaped at first and then cells between the fingers or toes have to die to create the separate digits. A duck's feet are webbed because this cell death did not take place. So I assume that the cells between those two digits did not die. I would not think it would cause any health problems. Maybe he'll be an extra good swimmer!

Syndactyly (connected toes or fingers) can be harmless or associated with other problems in humans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webbed_toes

Thanks for the explanation Peggy. To the other poster, I would have to say that I don't believe this to be true syndactyly since the toes are actually normal and it is only the pads on the middle two toes that are fused. Thank you for the info though.

It could be a very mild syndactyly. I had a litter with two pups that had syndactyly in one front foot. They both also had "webbing" (almost like a bat wing) from the toes to the umbilicus and the female didn't have complete skin formation over her belly so her intestines were exposed. I euthanized them both and had Cornell do necropsies. They told me that this was a result of "an insult to the pregnancy" at about 3 weeks of pregnancy. Could have been a virus, a chemical, or who knows what. It was not genetic. Very interesting stuff when you study the development in utero and what defects can happen at different points.

Years ago I had a black bitch with the same thing. Just on her front feet. She was completely normal otherwise. When I told her breeder about it she said she had seen others like it in the line.