Hi, can anyone advise me if I'm doing the right thing or not! I have a 7mth old Golden who has OCD in both legs. She had an op 2wks ago & is doing ok'ish. I contacted the breeder on the advice of the surgeon & she claims she has never heard of OCD & treated me like I'd made it all up!!?? I sent her a follow up letter & asked her to refund the money I paid her for my puppy. I've heard nothing from her since, I plan to call her in a couple of days.

Am I right to ask for my money back - my surgeon & vet say its the thing to do, but I'm unsure because of her first angry reaction.

I adore my pup & will keep on paying out vet fee's for her, but I feel so angry that she is making a living out of breeding pup's that are not having the quality of life that they deserve.

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks Kay

Sorry to hear about your pup, it must be very upsetting for both you and her.

Looking through my vet books I can't find any reference to OCD being an inherited condition, rather it seems to be one of those unfortunate things that happens. If this is true, then the breeder cannot be held responsible.

Hope she makes a full recovery.

The mode of inheritance if any of OCD is not known, but it does seem to crop up in some of the retriever breeds and other large fast growing ones more than enough to sugest it is inherited.

As the previous poster said the breeder is unlikley to have been able to predict this happening to one of her puppies, but to say she had never heard of the condition would be rather ignorant of her, as like Hip Dysplasia it is a condition most people in the dog world know about.

What sort of puppy sale agreejment did you sign. In the one I have I explain that the parents are sound and healthy, as is the pu7ppy at time of purcxhase, but as a living creature it's future development cannot be predicted.

There was no call for the breeder to be rude though, and they should certainly note the occurence of this problem in order that it can be taken into account in any future breeding plans. Certainly I would want the mother and any of the siblings retained for breeding x-rayed and checked for freedomn from this condition.

What breed is she? if a labrador then the breeder has no excuse its hereditary and she should know
breeders are accountable now for hereditary faults that arise through bad breeding and I believe OCD to be hereditary.You have every right to seek recompence for your dog unless she got you to sign a contact of sale.
Breeders have to realise that they cant sell something for money but be absolved from blame if health problems occurr having said that some hip problems can be from bad keep after the dog is sold ie: too much excersice jumping up leaping around etc but a legitimates heath issue down to breeding they are responsible by law. sale of goods act applies to animals now
Talk to your local office of fair trading.

Thats fine but there are so many other factors with OCD
Owners can over exercise pups, feed too much protein
it can be due to a knock,no breeder can be expected to cover for things like that.
If you ask an owner they couldnt say for certain that it hasnt been
caused by something else.

Osteochondrosis comes in a number of forms but the form most usually known as OCD is a cartilage or growth plate disorder. There is enough reason to believe it is an inherited defect although the mode of inheritance is not completely clear. There are actions which can make matters worst such as over supplementation of calcium and of course over exercise will do damage to an already affected dog. Over feeding would affect the condition by adding to the overall stress on the joint but on it's own could not cause it any more than over exercise.

One of the problems is that by careful rearing, keeping weight down, being careful about exercise and the like a marginally affected dog may never show any signs. This dog could of course be bred from and so the problem goes on!

I just cannot imagine a breeder who has never heard of OCD!

Regards, John

Hate to say it John but I can think of plenty of breeders who have never heard of OCD or HD or PRA etc etc! They are usually people who breed from their pet bitch, just to have a few pups and who know nothing atall about responsible ethical breeding :(

I am disturbed by a couple of things obviously first of all the breeder. As I have bred goldens for 22 years it always horrifies me when I hear stories of breeders that won't help. Again always go to a breeder who is a member of the Retriever Club (I hope this one isn't after what you have said). You can always let the club know what has happened. Price is sometimes why people go elsewhere but a club member will always have the parents hips and sometimes shoulders and elbows x-rayed, and eyes tested.

What also disturbeds me is how bad were the legs because a 7 month can sometimes have these problem arise and with careful exercise it can outgrow the problem and 7 months is quite young for a decision to be made. I had just one case a few years ago and my vet just said operate but when I discussed the situation with an orthopaedic vet he did agree with me that sometimes they get also growth pains plus a bit of OCD and they can outgrow it, mine did. She is now 7 and never has any problems.

I always say I try to do my best by my dogs and pups when breeding with all the correct x-rays and eye test etc., and then I keep my fingers crossed and hope that no old genetic problem appears. Afterall every family has a child that looks like great great great uncle fred!!!!!!!!

Thanks to you all for your comments. I like the one about Great Uncle Fred!! :) My pup was seen by one of the best orthapedic surgeon's in Kent & he was confident that cases of OCD in a puppy so young & so advanced is 99% down to breeding.

He told us that if it had been over exercise, diet etc then she would have got better during the resting periods, in our case she got worse.

We have taken on this dog and she is a major part of our family now, so no matter what the outcome with the breeder is, we will carry on adoring her (dog that is - not the breeder!) & forking out the vet bills. Just makes me wild that someone so totally ignorant to a 'dogs health & wellbeing' is allowed to call them self a 'breeder'.

Once again, many thanks for your replys.

Kay

Sadly anyone that owns a bitch that is allowed to mate and have puppies is a breeder. The trick is to find a knowledgeable breeder, or a novice who has the back up of such a person, but sadly it is impossible to get the information about this to the people who need it.

It is the reason that most of us say contact one of the breed clubs. Most breed club members have a deeper involvement in their breed, and obviously part of the clubs reason for existence is to educate it's members about the breed, as well as run shows and working events where appropriate. Such breeders have to abide by the clubs code of ethics. The KC advised all breed clubs to formulate breed specific codes.

Here is an example of a breed club code of ethics http://hometown.aol.com/brelkclub/ethics.html