Sometimes surgery to remove the piece of cartilage is the only option. Discuss this with an Orthopedics veterinarian if surgery is a possibility. As a note of interest, when I ran the National Bone Survey in this breed, in 1991 we had over 3,237 cases of veterinarian diagnosed bone diseases reported to the survey. Of those cases, all were fed the same 3 commercial dog foods. When it is nutritionally caused is it often in more than one joint.
Breeders have a tendency to stick their head in the sand.
Pano, is how breeders affectionately refer to this disease. It is the least invasive and least threatening of the three bone diseases discussed in this article. Excessive feeding can actually alter the length of bone and shape of muscle making an animal unsound in their development. The following 3 diseases are difficult to diagnose at times. It requires looking at a total history of the animal, including feeding, medications, vaccines, injuries, surgeries, etc.