Possible Osteochondritis In 6 Month Old Golden Retriever Puppy.

[gidg]

My 6 month old golden retriever puppy has had 2 days of limping on her right front leg.

I took her to the vet tonight and he isolated the pain to the right shoulder.

Thinking most likely OCD and that she'll probably need a very expensive operation to remove the flap of cartilage, $2000-!!!

She's on painkillers and booked in for an x-ray of her shoulders next Tuesday.

I am really, really hoping that she has just bruised herself or strained a tendon or muscle.

I'm restricting her activity in the hope that if its a bruise or strain she will heal before we put her under for a very expensive operation.

Any thoughts or experiences greatly appreciated.

Edited April 14, 2011 by gidg

[Lollipup]

Hey. Sorry to hear about your pup. Hoping its something else minor.

I am going through a similiar thing with my border collie, Chester. He started a very slight limp on his left leg when he was about 6 months old. Its elbow dysplasia. We took him to see a specialist on the Gold Coast and he recommended conservative management as its a mild case. However, Chester is 12 months old now and he is still mild/borderline but we keep him very restricted in how much he can run around. He had a couple of runs last week and it made him way worse so we are going to see the specialist again on Tuesday and he is likely to get the surgery done to remove the possible bone fragment or cartiledge flap between his elbow joint.

If you want to talk about it feel free to PM me anytime. I have spent the last 6 months stressing about it so I know what it can be like.

[mokhahouse]

My lab Mokha has ED in the elbow, he was in pain all the time and only 6 months old. We opted for surgery and he is now 2 3/4 yrs old and runs and plays and is happy. Of course we are careful with him, I rarely let him run with dogs other than our own female lab. He had three large pieces of cartilage grinding away in his joint, I couldnt imagine leaving them there. My best advice would be to seek the opinion of an orthopedic specialist.

[gidg]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm glad Mokha is all better after the surgery, that's good to know.

And thanks Lollipup, it is stressfull isn't it, and Summer has only had 2 days of limping, I'd hate to think of seeing a dog go through months of pain.

Someone else has suggested alternative therapies.

I'm in the Frankston Victoria area if anyone can recommend chiros etc. down this way.

[Staranais]

My girl had shoulder OCD.

Shoulder OCD is rather different to the elbow dysplasias, or any other joint dysplasia for that matter, in that if you get it treated there's a much more favourable prognosis. So, if you have to have a joint problem in a young dog, it's a good one to get.

There are two stages to OCD - in the first stage the cartilage over the humeral head cracks (technically this stage is just called osteochondrosis or OC), and it may progress to a second stage where the cartilage actually rips back forming a moveable flap (osteochondritis dissecans, OCD).

If it only reaches the first stage, the dog is often assymptomatic, and the defect may heal back up by itself if the dog rests the joint (or even if it doesn't).

The dog is more likely to limp by the time the second stage is reached. The second stage doesn't generally heal back by itself, but the dog sometimes can rip the cartilage flap off by itself and basically do the same job as the surgery (except that the flap remains inside the joint, where it may calcify & eventually do damage).

Surgery is generally only recommended if the dog is limping. The aim of surgery is to firstly take the cartilage flap off to prevent joint damage that will lead to arthritis, and secondly to promote the growth of new cartilage by scraping the old damaged cartilage away. If the old damaged cartilage is removed, new cartilage will grow back slowly in its place - it's never quite as good as the old cartilage (technically it's fibrocartilage, not true articular cartilage), but will do the job in most cases.

We had surgery when my girl was nearly a year old, since she had developed a large flap in her left shoulder that was making her limp intermittently. We only operated on the shoulder that made her limp, even though both showed radiographic signs of OC. It was expensive, and the crate rest afterwards & rehabilitation was a huge pain. But it was worth it, she now comes hiking with me regularly and I have just started to jump her, and she's doing fine - no limping at all.

However, if your vet hasn't yet run radiographs, he won't be able to tell for sure if it's OCD yet - hopefully it just turns out to be a strain or sprain.

Edited April 13, 2011 by Staranais

[gidg]

My girl had shoulder OCD.

Shoulder OCD is rather different to the elbow dysplasias, or any other joint dysplasia for that matter, in that if you get it treated there's a much more favourable prognosis. So, if you have to have a joint problem in a young dog, it's a good one to get.

There are two stages to OCD - in the first stage the cartilage over the humeral head cracks (technically this stage is just called osteochondrosis or OC), and it may progress to a second stage where the cartilage actually rips back forming a moveable flap (osteochondritis dissecans, OCD).

If it only reaches the first stage, the dog is often assymptomatic, and the defect may heal back up by itself if the dog rests the joint (or even if it doesn't).

The dog is more likely to limp by the time the second stage is reached. The second stage doesn't generally heal back by itself, but the dog sometimes can rip the cartilage flap off by itself and basically do the same job as the surgery (except that the flap remains inside the joint, where it may calcify & eventually do damage).

Surgery is generally only recommended if the dog is limping. The aim of surgery is to firstly take the cartilage flap off to prevent joint damage that will lead to arthritis, and secondly to promote the growth of new cartilage by scraping the old damaged cartilage away. If the old damaged cartilage is removed, new cartilage will grow back slowly in its place - it's never quite as good as the old cartilage (technically it's fibrocartilage, not true articular cartilage), but will do the job in most cases.

We had surgery when my girl was nearly a year old, since she had developed a large flap in her left shoulder that was making her limp intermittently. We only operated on the shoulder that made her limp, even though both showed radiographic signs of OC. It was expensive, and the crate rest afterwards & rehabilitation was a huge pain. But it was worth it, she now comes hiking with me regularly and I have just started to jump her, and she's doing fine - no limping at all.

However, if your vet hasn't yet run radiographs, he won't be able to tell for sure if it's OCD yet - hopefully it just turns out to be a strain or sprain.

Thanks that's really helpful info. and great to hear of a good outcome.

I felt my stomach relax when I read the part about your girl coming hiking with you now, that fantastic, and really reassuring.

I have in my head, the worse scenario, ie: that surgery doesn't work, she's left in pain and we have to make the decision about her life.

But I feel a lot better, more positive about it now.

[Staranais]

Good luck and let us know how you guys get on.

[gidg]

Good luck and let us know how you guys get on.

Thanks so much, :D .

[goldielover]

Sorry to hear about Summer Gidg. Usually, provided they're not in much pain, the best thing to do is complete rest for 2 weeks (hard with a 6 month old goldie i know!! LOL). I'm not sure which vet you use, but can highly recommend Beach Street in Frankston for general issues. For anything orthopaedic, i usually go to Monash Vet - if you need a 2nd opinion it's a good place to go. Feel free to PM me for vet names. Best of luck with it. I've had a golden with OCD before - she didn't need surgery thankfully.

[Kaffy Magee]

Barry Haywood in Cranbourne South. A lady who bought a bullmastiff pup off(now 10 months) me contacted me to say her vet was saying pup was likely to have OCD, would need surgery etc Ive learnt to get a second opinion, so did some research online and through other breeder friends and the consensus was this was the man to see. Anyway he was really excellent apparently, very knowledgable, gave a cortisone injection and some xrays a couple of days later and they were all clear They were so relieved. Their vet had convinced them that OCD is what she had

Edited April 15, 2011 by Kaffy Magee

[gidg]

Barry Haywood in Cranbourne South. A lady who bought a bullmastiff pup off(now 10 months) me contacted me to say her vet was saying pup was likely to have OCD, would need surgery etc Ive learnt to get a second opinion, so did some research online and through other breeder friends and the consensus was this was the man to see. Anyway he was really excellent apparently, very knowledgable, gave a cortisone injection and some xrays a couple of days later and they were all clear They were so relieved. Their vet had convinced them that OCD is what she had

Thanks for that info.

much appreciated

[SarahJ88]

My 6 month old golden retriever puppy has had 2 days of limping on her right front leg.

I took her to the vet tonight and he isolated the pain to the right shoulder.

Thinking most likely OCD and that she'll probably need a very expensive operation to remove the flap of cartilage, $2000-!!!

She's on painkillers and booked in for an x-ray of her shoulders next Tuesday.

I am really, really hoping that she has just bruised herself or strained a tendon or muscle.

I'm restricting her activity in the hope that if its a bruise or strain she will heal before we put her under for a very expensive operation.

Any thoughts or experiences greatly appreciated.

Just wondering if this has been sorted at all? Our 8 month old golden had surgery for her ocd only 7 weeks ago and is healing nicely now except it's hard to contain a boisterous golden.