From the looks of things, I think I have a 6 month old girl that may have OCD in her hock. I can see it is swollen. She is not limping. I think the subject of hock OCD was discussed on the forum, but I can't find it. As I recall, people were saying surgery for hock OCD is not usually successful. Is that true? If so, is it worth the cost in terms of pain & discomfort to the dog, never mind the money. I will be making an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, but I'd like to know a thing or two before I go.

It is being discussed that surgery is 50/50. I had a girl a couple of years ago and we used adaquan and a cocktail of supplements and she improved to the state of it being unnoticable

I had 2 OCD pups from last year's litter (not a good breeding!) Anyway, one did the $2800 surgery and is doing quite well.

The other pet family caught it earlier, is giving glucosamine/chondrointin/MSM and vitamin C, swelling has gone down, vet thinks the cartilage was not severed and possibly reattached. Pup was crate rested for 2 months in addition to the supplements. That pup is now doing very well. Family says she limps very rarely and if so, very slightly if overexercised. They can walk pup 2 miles without issue (I didn't recommend or like that but there's only so much you can tell a pet family). Anyway, right now, pup's life is perfectly normal, she even hunts a little.

Pup which was rested and is still on supplements seems to have a better quality of life than pup who had surgery and is still resting, recovering 3 months later.

Just 2 case studies to consider.

Check the ortho groups. I think I heard arthroscopic surgery works well, much better results today.

What foods were fed?

Orthopedic ( vet ) say that OCD is genetic. An injury such as jumping up in the air or jumping down from a truck or suv can set off the OCD . Most athletic dogs jump up and down off of high places, jump up to catch a Frisbee, rip around the yard and never have an injury all through it's life. We've experienced a couple OCD pups over the years. 1 was a pup we bought from another breeder and the other pup was one we bred. I am positive that OCD is not caused by diet. I don't believe that OCD is born from an injury but more that the young dog was born with the disease and rears it's ugly head when the young dog plays like a normal athletic dog should be capable without injuring itself all the time.
I feel the same way about dogs who tear their cruciate and you see it in certain lines. A Labrador should be able to hold up under normal athletic activities that this breed is known for.
AFter working with so many different lines of Labradors and breeding enough litters of different combinations, I've come to the conclusion that Pano also runs in certain lines but some breeders think that feeding certain kibble causes it. That's not been my experience. If a young large breed dog is going to develop pano, it's going to happen but by feeding the young dog a certain type of kibble may slow the young, growing puppy down but Pano will run it's course.

Saw the ortho vet this morning. He does arthroscopic surgery and is the only one in this area who does. He said as long as she is not limping, he would not recommend surgery. He also said that hock surgery does not produce the great results he gets with elbow surgery. He too thinks it is genetic. I will not be breeding the bitch again. Not worth the risk to me.

You won't be breeding your bitch again because one puppy may have OCD in one hock?? wow.... What about the rest of the pups? Sometimes mother nature strikes and things just happen... your pup isn't even lame and IMO it's foolish to throw out the baby with the bathwater- try to look at the big picture. If every breeder threw out a bitch for producing something one time, in one pup, in one litter... well I think our breed would really be in trouble. And yes, I have 25 years plus in the breed, multiple champions & titled dogs and for the most part- sound & healthy ones. If you're in this long enough you will produce one of everything at some point- and that advice came from someone with 50+ years in this.

Never said that was all. Littermate has elbow OCD. Too much jumping to conclusions going on.

Orthopedic surgeons are finding that if a dog is affected with OCD in both joints, whether that be hocks, shoulders or elbows, that it is genetic.
When my girl produced the one OCD puppy, she had also produced entropian and had a daughter who failed her hips so I decided to cut her free from my breeding program. If I had had no other issues in these lines I used to have, I would have tried to breed her to another stud dog. So to the original poster of OCD, if you have not had any other orthopedic issues in your bitch of the 2 affected OCD pups, it could be that your girl and the stud dog lines did not mesh. You can follow certain lines and see that they clearly produce kids that end up with orthopedic issues being bred to many many bitches. When this happens, you can conclude that OCD is not inconclusive.