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OCD cane corso.

For clarification, I'm assuming when you say OCD you're talking about Osteochondritis Dessicans, not the dog checking the locks multiple times and making sure his chew toys are alphabetized. I looked up some information on OCD and it seems to be somewhat hereditary, although I couldn't find a whole lot explaining exactly what causes it at the moment. Other things that are thought to be contributing factors to OCD are listed as: Too much stress on a young dog's bones, restricted blood flow to the cartilage, diet and nutrition, and weight problems may also be factors, but exactly how much or how preventable the condition might be isn't known. I had a shepherd and both parents and all 4 grandparents had their hips OFA'd at no less than 'Good' but out of his whole litter there was only one dog that had hips decent enough to get a 'Good' rating. The rest were worse... severely. So, health testing the parents is a great practice but isn't a clear pass to healthy puppies. Unfortunately, $h!7 happens sometimes. As far as your other questions on the situation, did you have any type of contract in conjunction with the sale of the puppy? Was there any kind of health guarantee on the pups? If the parents were tested and shown to be healthy, many breeders will guarantee the puppy's health, usually offering price of the dog to be refunded or a replacement dog if the pup turns out to have a congenital problem. Unless there's anything written about the good health of the puppy, from the information you've provided, it doesn't seem that your legally obligated to pay for anything.
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    • Hello all, i have a question. One of the pups of a litter we had some time ago is diagnosed with ocd. The pup is sold and now 11 months old. Both parents are clean and never was ocd determend in any of the family of either parents. The current owner having sugery done on him. The owner claims that ocd is always hereditary and wants us to pay for the surgery. What are your oppinions on this? Is it normal that we should pay for this? Is it always hereditary? Advise needed please.
      • I would contact your vet, if you have a specialist in this area even better and talk to them about the situation. I am not familiar with the condition but did google it and it says that it could be a combination of things similar to what causes HD. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1569&aid=464 I would probably get copies of the xrays sent to your vet for conformation and then try and work something out with the owner as there is no way to prove one way or the other what caused this problem. Both parents being healthy is not an issue, you could have both parents free of HD and a puppy crop up with it, sometimes crap happen but it is how you deal with it that will be of the most importance in the future. Learn as much as you can about the condition and talk to your owners with compassion as this is as hard for them as it is for you, it is their baby who is going to have to go through this and they are going to have to deal with keeping a lively puppy calm for the recovery period. If you had a contract I don't know what it says about genetic issues but this is one of those gray areas that you will have to take situation. Hope you are able to come to a resolution that you are both happy about.
        • For clarification, I'm assuming when you say OCD you're talking about Osteochondritis Dessicans, not the dog checking the locks multiple times and making sure his chew toys are alphabetized. I looked up some information on OCD and it seems to be somewhat hereditary, although I couldn't find a whole lot explaining exactly what causes it at the moment. Other things that are thought to be contributing factors to OCD are listed as: Too much stress on a young dog's bones, restricted blood flow to the cartilage, diet and nutrition, and weight problems may also be factors, but exactly how much or how preventable the condition might be isn't known. I had a shepherd and both parents and all 4 grandparents had their hips OFA'd at no less than 'Good' but out of his whole litter there was only one dog that had hips decent enough to get a 'Good' rating. The rest were worse... severely. So, health testing the parents is a great practice but isn't a clear pass to healthy puppies. Unfortunately, $h!7 happens sometimes. As far as your other questions on the situation, did you have any type of contract in conjunction with the sale of the puppy? Was there any kind of health guarantee on the pups? If the parents were tested and shown to be healthy, many breeders will guarantee the puppy's health, usually offering price of the dog to be refunded or a replacement dog if the pup turns out to have a congenital problem. Unless there's anything written about the good health of the puppy, from the information you've provided, it doesn't seem that your legally obligated to pay for anything.
          • thanks for the answers. No contracts were involved. No health guerantees were given. We had only 1 litter, we are no breeders. We did everything by the book, checked the hips etc. We feel for the pup, and the owners, but i feel we cannot be held responsible somehow. We also dont know how the pup has been raised. Did it walk on slippery floors, eat to much calcium, grew too fast etc.. Difficult .
            • I have never bought a puppy with a health guarantee or on a contract will never do so. I find it difficult to guarantee something that I have no control over. So, if you gave a guarantee to the buyer - you should honor it. If you did not, you have to make the decision of whether to pay for the surgery or not. The article linked above stated that the following may cause OCD "trauma to the joint, genetics, rapid growth, hormone imbalances, and nutrition" Using an unscientific method where the causes are not weighted, we can say there is a 20% chance that it is genetics related. Let’s look at the factors that are probably more prevalent. Rapid growth, Hormone imbalances, nutrition, and trauma to the joints - in my opinion are all associated with having a large breed active molosser. They play rough and trauma is probable. Nutrition - don't know what they fed, rapid growth - duhhhh --- hormone imbalances - whatever!. So, the pup is now 11 months old and for the past 9 months or so the owners were in charge of 60% of the possible causes (not counting hormone imbalances and genetics). I would not pay for anything in this case. You may offer to give them their money and take the dog back. Anything else would be very generous. Dogs are not perfect and there are usually problems regardless of how carefully the breeding was constructed. Wikipedia had this to say. Despite much research, the causes remain unclear but include repetitive physical trauma, ischemia (restriction of blood flow), hereditary and endocrine factors, avascular necrosis (loss of blood flow), rapid growth, deficiencies and imbalances in the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, and anomalies of bone formation. Although the name "osteochondritis" implies inflammation, the lack of inflammatory cells in histological examination suggests a non-inflammatory cause. It is thought that repetitive microtrauma, which leads to microfractures and sometimes an interruption of blood supply to the subchondral bone, may cause subsequent localized loss of blood supply or alteration of growth. Trauma, rather than avascular necrosis, is thought to cause osteochondritis dissecans in juveniles. In adults, trauma is thought to be the main or perhaps the sole cause, and may be endogenous, exogenous or both. The incidence of repetitive strain injury in young athletes is on the rise and accounts for a significant number of visits to primary care; this reinforces the theory that OCD may be associated with increased participation in sports and subsequent trauma. Good luck.
              • Thanks guys, This helps us a lot in the decsision making. Thanks
                • I also agree with Gary...Espechally if there was No written health contract! If the puppy was of good health, had no visable movement issues, and They paid for that pup...Then Sorry...It's sad for the dog yes, but that has nothing to do with you.
                  • By "clean" parents, you mean OFA or similar certification on Hips and Elbows? Or "they move ok, so therefore they must be clean"? If no health guarantee was in writing, then you're probably not liable for anything even if they try to sue or something. You're an accidental breeder, so you don't have a reputation to maintain.
                    • As a rule for breeding purebred dogs they are all xrayed.
                      • This kind of stuff is why my last contract was so long, and I had to have 3 different versions...pet, working, and show. I detailed as finite as I could get what was covered, what the responsibilities were, and what the options were. You coudn't find a more complete and fair contract in our breed, LOL. However, because I didn't charge an arm and a leg for the pups, but rather a reasonable fee, there weren't many initial takers. THey'd rather go spend an obscene amount of money on a dog from a breeder with a flashy website, and a vague contract, with no verifiable health, temperment or confirmation testing on the parents.....go figure.
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