My 6 month old male pup has been having health issues. I first noticed an issue with his right eye shortly after bringing him home at 8 weeks. It was smaller than the left and often didn't look straight. He has never been able to see a ball past maybe 10 feet. Then, at 4 months he began to limp on his rear right leg. Two vet visits later and $1500 in testing, he's been diagnosed with an OCD lesion in his right stifle and developmental abnormalities including premature closing of growth plates, shorter front limbs than hind limbs, and the right hind limb is shorter than the left. Though the vet didn't use the term OSD (oculoskeletal dysplasia) his symptoms check all of the boxes. I am seriously considering surrendering him either back to the breeder or to a rescue. I simply cannot afford multiple ortho surgeries. Has anyone ever experienced this issue? Can you offer any advice?
This must be truly awful for you. I don't mean to sound harsh, but if the pup is suffering to the point where you are questioning his quality of life, I would discuss euthanasia with your vet and breeder rather than surrendering him to suffer elsewhere. You do need to discuss this with the breeder though. They need to be aware of health conditions (whether related to breeding 'dilutes' or not) of all of their puppies so they can stop breeding from those bloodlines.
Thanks for responding. I have told the breeder everything since day 1. She's in denial. So far Hero gets around pretty well. He's running and jumping like a reckless puppy. I just know that as he ages these problems are going to get worse.
Is that a silver lab? What did you end up doing with him? I have one as well. Do you live in Michigan, by chance? My yellow lab (dilute - Champagne) had a litter of 10 puppies and 4 are affected with OSD which is the Labrador type. These genetic issues also involve the puppy going blind.
