# ocd in hock of labrador retriever



## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

after nearly 3 years of on and off lameness. my dads black lab zak has been diagnosed with ocd in his hock. 

has anyone dealt with this before? surgery estimate at michigan state university is between 1700-3000. my dad isnt going to spend that kind of money on his dog, although my mom is persueing the matter and thinking or doing it anyhow.

they would do a ct scan to determine the extent of damage and if surgery is even going to be beneficial to his long-term health. 

im fairly upset because our dogs mean everything to us. but there is a line to draw at the cost of this. the line was 1200 dollars. not 3000! 

he is being started on deramaxx, a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory. as well as glyco-flex stage 3 joint supplement. hes on a sedative to keep him relaxed during this downtime.

zak is a majorly hyper dog. constantly on the go to the point of being obsessive. so quality of life is a major problem here. hes not going to be happy being a couch potato that cant go outside and run.

those of you that have had dogs diagnosed with this, what was your plan of action? did you have surgery? just rest and medicate? what was the dogs life like when they got up there in years?

zak has had on and off lameness for almost 3 years now. tuesday he injured the leg so bad he was not placing weight on it for 2 days. today he walks almost fine but still favors that leg. 

hell be 4 years old in august, and this started when he was approximately 6-8 months old.

oh yes, there is heat in the hock, swelling, and the vet could feel 'boney changes' to the joint.
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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Evening.bump!
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## bigbayboy (Jun 25, 2012)

When my yellow lab was about 12 he developed a nasty looking bone spur in his hock. I of course had no idea what it was so I made an appointment thinking it was bone cancer. Nope-just an ugly spur. Vet put him on previcox and Glyco-Flex III. It only seemed to bother him if he over did it outside. Then he tore his ACL last 4th of July weekend, and we added Ichon injections. He was doing wonderfully until Thanksgiving when he developed a cough, so I took him in and x-rays found a mass in his chest. Took him to a specialist for ultrasound and cancer had spread to his kidneys and spleen, but other than the cough he looked great. Vet said he had up to six months, but the day before Christmas Eve he became alarmingly weak-rushed him to the vet and tests showed he was bleeding out. Doctor suspected his spleen had ruptured and we had to pts. Talk about a devastating Christmas  

Sorry I kind of derailed there...I researched OCD in dogs and I don't know if it is quite the same thing because my vet just told me it was a bone spur, but my sweet boy responded very well to medications. If it weren't for stupid cancer, I am certain he would still be with me. The only difference was my dog was always very chilled and mellow, so I didn't have worry about keeping him calm. Does the surgery have to be done right away? Can you save up? Four years old is still so young :-( Sending healing vibes for your boy...these darn dogs (and horses) stress me out so much sometimes. I swear I worry about their health way more than mine.


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## LuckyRVT (Nov 4, 2011)

A odd place for OCD. Usually happens in the knee or shoulder. It's when a piece of cartilage sometimes small bone piece too breaks off into the joint. The longer thy piece sits there the more damage it will do and the quicker arthritis will set in. I vote for surgery. Unfortunately it would have deemed best to have removed it earlier in life, but that's hind sight. I hope he makes out ok what ever ur decision. NSAIDS like Deramaxx will help but the arthritis will continue and sometimes long term use of these medications can cause stomach ulcers and damage the liver/kidneys so make sure to keep tabs on that with bloodwork, we do bloodwork every 6mo on our patients.
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