One of the best genetic profiles you can obtain on a dog's hips is to evaluate the whole litter at 4-6 months. If there is a borderline or even a fair, among the group...than you should watch the whole line coming down from that breeding. Remember CJD (degenerative joint disease) is polygenetic and can have enviromental factors, including a puppy that grows at a rapid rate or there has been some correlation of high calcium/high protein puppy food used beyond 4 months of age being problematic. And of course, there is always a chance for injury modifying the hip anatomy and collagen make-up of the connective tissue...especially this should be consider when the radiograph indicates it is unilateral CJD.
I remember a vet sharing a history of a dog that had a good or excellent at age 2...but had severe disease by age 8 and by that time had sire many puppies showing up with disease...maybe we need to follow-up at age 5 (to truly comfirm the status of the hips) with another radiograph taken at the time of a dental visit??? Just Food For Thought... Take care, Kathy Yonkers Stuarthome CKCS ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
