My dog has FCP. Should we do elbow surgery for long-term health?

Question

I have a 10 month old male Labrador retriever who has had X-rays on his elbows with a diagnosis of FCP. I'm keen to seek opinions on the pros and cons of surgery. Should we have him operated on to remove the loose bone? Will it long term improve his quality of life? Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | unneutered | 10 months and 18 days old | 32 lbs

Sara Farmer, DVM · Accepted Answer

Unfortunately this is a difficult questions to answer. Dogs with elbow dysplasia (part of which can be a fragmented coronoid process) tend to develop degenerative joint disease and arthritis later in life regardless of what is done at the time of diagnosis. I believe studies do show an improvement in outcome for dogs that have arthroscopic surgery to remove the fragments, and since Nitro is so young I would think the pros for him would outweigh the cons. While he may still develop some arthritis later he would hopefully have more time pain free if surgery is performed. If you have not already consulted with a surgery specialist I would encourage you to at least make an appointment to discuss all the pros and cons with an expert: you can then make a decision about whether or not you want to go forward with surgery.

My dog has FCP. Should we do elbow surgery for long-term health?

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