Titanic was on the team as a 2-year-old when we won the West Yellowstone 6-dog race and placed 4th in the Ashton 10-dog race. As a 3-year-old he was 2nd at West Yellowstone and 6th in the Seeley 100. At 4 years old he developed an indeterminate lameness in the front. We had him X-rayed and discovered that he had OCD.
OCD is an abbreviation for osteochondritis dessicans. It is also called Osteochondrosis. It is quite common in people, horses, pigs, poultry, and large breed dogs. OCD is a disease involving the growth cartilage. Growth cartilage is found in the growth plate of long bones and allows for longitudinal growth. It also ultimately covers the articular ends of long bones and becomes part of a joint surface. The growth cartilage is converted to bone through a process called endochondral ossification. In OCD, there is a failure of the process of endochondral ossification leading to retention of cartilage rather than conversion to bone. Since growth cartilage is not present in adults, OCD is a disease of the young and growing animal. However, it may not appear clinically until that animal is an adult.
OCD tends to occur in specific locations, usually the shoulder, elbow, or hock. In Titanic's case, he has a flap of cartilage in each shoulder. When this flap lies smooth and flat, he appears to be normal, but if the flap gets tweaked out of position, it will cause irritation. Titanic may limp or just run slower than normal. The good news is that the X-ray showed that everything is clean and smooth with no sign of arthritis in the joint.
