6 Month Old Possible OCD( osteochondritis dissecans) Please Advise! - Page 1

Hello,

So my 6 month old Vader took a small tumble out of my Aveo last Tuesday(8/27/13). He showed no indication of pain, but began limping, so we took him to the vet on Wednesday(8/28/13). The vet could not determine which leg he was favoring. They gave us rimadyl and sent us home saying if he was still limping in a few days to come back in. He has been on again off again limping since then. We have limited his exercise to only leashed potty breaks since Tuesday. With the exception of a swim in a pool on Sunday, cut short because we thought his limp was getting worse. This evening we went back to the vet. She examined his limbs, and noted he indicated pain on his hips/elbows. She thought it might be pano. One shoulder is so tight he cannot fully extend it forward(this is the bad leg). So we decided to get xrays for both his shoulders with views of his elbows. The vet said his elbows look pretty good. She said neither looked like they had signs of dysplasia, but one looked like it had a little dark area, but they couldn't tell what it was. She said one shoulder looked fine, and the shoulder in question had a darker portion that could be OCD. Both shoulders have a slight "roughness" on the front, but she said it was okay since it was on both shoulders. She sent his xrays on to an orthopedic surgeon to review, and will be getting back to me by Thursday. She said if it is OCD it could possibly be fixed by an excess of exercise to tear off the flap, but to rest him until we talk. However, everything I am reading online calls this a disease and indicates surgery is necessary. Please if anyone has any information or personal experience with OCD, please advise! I just want my boy to be okay.

Thanks all!

*If a mod sees this can they move it to the German shepherd forum please? That is where I meant to post.

Okay, well so far nobody has had any ideas/opinions, but I am attaching his xrays. Xray savvy people please give me your opinions! Thank you in advance :)

Don't be disappointed because you have had no comments, better to have none than comments from people who just don't know how to read shoulder / elbow xray.

Be patient and some one who can will give you an opinion.

Good luck with him I hope he is OK.

My question is why was he untethered in the back? He is too young to be allowed to jump in or out.

Not a GSD but my Border Collie had OCD and I opted to have him operated on when he was 11 months old. For 5 months before the op he'd had intermittent lameness, really hobbling and in pain some days. He'd had Metacam, restricted exercise etc but he still was lame a lot. Finally had him x-rayed and they were sent to Liverpool Small Animal Teaching Hospital where Prof John Innes diagnosed  [confirmed] OCD in both shoulders and booked him in for the operation there and then. Even I as a layman could see the affected area on the x-rays.

The operation was done exactly two years ago and there has been no repercussions from the op whatsoever. No hint of lameness at all, I was told he'd probably get arthritis in later years but he could get it without having had an operation.

I would strongly advise having the operation done.

Recovery is quick, 6 weeks only on restricted exercise which is built up daily. I read up about the joint mice [the loose flap of cartilage] may break loose, but I wasn't willing to hang about and see if it did and see my young dog hobbling in pain some days when he should have been running about and enjoying life as a puppy.

The operation was done by keyhole surgery, my dog was kept in overnight and I collected him next morning.

I don't regret having the operation done at all and would do it again if I had another dog with it. A friend of mine with a GSD has also had the operation done on his dog, but it was OCD of the elbow which is more complicated than having it in the shoulder, the dog 3 years later is fine and showing no lameness at all.

You can see clearly by his x-rays the rough area as also indicated on a picture taken offline.

 



 

Thanks for the replies. The ortho vet confirmed it to be OCD in the right shoulder and potentially in the left as well. She advised us to do additional xrays on his elbows as well, and to do the hips while we are at it because he has been bunny hopping. She said that bilateral arthroscopic surgery was what she would recommend for the shoulders.

I know I'm jumping far ahead of myself, but the place we currently live at has 10 stairs to go up/down to go outside. How will we combat this for surgery?

Does anyone know the potential cost I am looking at here? Just trying to wrap my head around all the bad news.

Hoping that you have had good news from your orthopedic specialist by now.
 

Thanks Dogshome9!...the news was pretty bad (I covered it in my last post on this thread) but basically he does have it in the shoulder(s). We have an appointment this weekend with a different specialist group to see where we go from here.

My dog wasn't allowed to do stairs for 2 weeks and wasn't allowed to do hill work for 6 months.

Luckily my insurance covered the cost of treatment and the operation, Consultation with Prof Innes at Animal Hospital and the operation came to about £2.2k 

These are the instructions I had for aftercare.



 

Thanks Spooks! We will see how tomorrow goes...One question..what was your rehabilitation like? I am reading many things about different types of rehab, some say you can do it all at home..and others say laser/water therapy/e-stim/stem cell injections...I would prefer at home rehab if possible to save on costs, but we will see.