What is Osteochondrosis in the dog?
Osteochondrosis is a developmental disease that sees the process of endochondral ossification( the formation and growth of bone via the calcification of cartilage) fail as the metaphyseal cartilage becomes over thickened. As the cartilage becomes over thickened, bone formation does not progress normally as the bone marrow cannot penetrate the cartilage and the cartilage begins to crack and break away from the bone before becoming lodged near the joint and causing pain. When the cartilage on the bone becomes over thickened and unable to withstand normal weight bearing, rather than the old cartilage being reabsorbed into the epiphyseal growth zone, it continues to build layer upon layer. As the cartilage becomes necrotic and develops fissures, it begins to break away from the bone as a flap and will often take shards of bone with it, referred as osteochondral fragmentation. The protrusion of these flaps and fragments results in painful inflammation and can sometimes lead to secondary ost
