Hi List-
My breed of origin, Golden Retrievers, was "built" on hip x-rays and the OFA in
the USA. There has been NO dog or bitch of ANY influence in the breed since the
late '70's that did not have an OFA clearance, and many a fine dog has been tossed
from the genetic pool due to lack of hip clearances. After 25 years of playing the
hip game, I have come to several conclusions...
1.) Good "genetics" (phenotypically, that is, since all we can see are the
x-rays, not the DNA) help, but are not the end all and be all and
2.) The x-rays are only a good as the person taking them...
Addressing #1 a bit more...Good hip genetics are, well, good to have. We have seen
a vast improvement in our own lines over the past 30 years as a result of selective
breeding and proper upbringing. Of the last 24 dogs assessed in the kennel, 23
passed-and the one that didn't (got a boarderline) had been raised elsewhere, then
returned as an adult. And that is the crux-the care, feeding and exercise of those
joints before you xray them. We've had "dysplastic" dogs produce excellent hips and
OFA excellents produce non passable hips-all seemed to depend on how the offspring
was raised. Yes, selective breeding based on OFA scores help the overall picture
(we rarely see crippling dysplasia, which was much more common in the 60' and 70's)
but we've also learned so much about proper upbringing and pass that on to the
buyers-hard to tell what has factored the most...
#2. A truly bad set of hips cannot be made to pass, no matter who took the xray,
but beyond bad, the world really is you oyster-you just have to find the right
person to shuck it! We found the right radiologist years ago. This radiologist
has the training, good equipment, and artistic eye that makes the difference
between boarder line and fair, fair and good, etc. She can't make a bad set of
hips look good, but she can make a good set look oh! so much better. I have lost
count of how many boarder lines have "become" good under her skilled hands. And how
many dogs have been save from the surgical knife when some blood sucking maggot of
a surgeon wants to "fix" a perfectly fine set of hips based on a bad xray (but we
won't go THERE today). So it ain't all cut and dried-the xray is only as good as
the person taking it, just like the heart clearance is only as good as the
cardiologist's hearing (but we won't go there today, either!)
Anesthesia makes a huge difference in the look of the pictures, especially in the
amount of subluxation. Dogs don't go through their daily business under
anesthesia, so hips laxity should not be based on an anesthetized state. Dogs don't
go about their daily business on their backs with their legs spread, either, and
PennHip did try to address this. However, PennHip does utilized anesthesia as it
is a very protracted and manipulative process of "extraction and distraction" of
the joints-popping them in and out of place and measuring the degree to which you
can do this. NO WAY am I letting these yahoos potentially damage delicate puppy
joints with all these shenannagans-if they weren't bad before they went in, they
are well on their way to bad afterwards.
Other joint diseases, such as arthritis and DJD cannot be lumped with dysplasia as
a diagnosis-muddies the water. While the OFA does look for "arthritic changes" as
a result of dysplasia (improper joint formation) in younger dogs, the benefit of
re-xraying a seven, eight, nine year old seems limited to me. Hummm...He's getting
older, he creaky, he probably has developed some arthritis. Hummm..I'm getting
older, and definitely more creaky, and yes, have arthritis. No xray had to tell me
that. Now, when I fall down in the coffee land and can't put weight on my right
knee for days after, then it's time to see what I tore. But to follow up just for
the sake of following up is excessive-just like all the "baseline" xrays that EVERY
vet wants to do (at a charge of $100 plus) on every large dog while it's in to be
spayed or neutered. Baseline for what? When the dogs has nine years of wear and
tear under his belt and is getting gimpy, the baseline will tell them???????
Well, JMOHO. And I thought that I got into Cavaliers was because we didn't have to
worry about hips...
Kim Johnson
Allegria Cavaliers and Gold-Rush Golden Retrievers
Kim Johnson
http://www.leftcoastfarm.com
100% Kona Coffee
"a cup a day keeps you jammin'"
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