Mary, It has been my experience that there are some vets that are very good at doing hip/elbow x-rays and some (mostly "pet" vets) that will do them but may not do them very well. Any vet with x-ray equipment can do x-rays. An experienced vet can look at the x-rays and tell you how the OFA will grade them. Most owners, if their dogs hips are bad, will not submit to OFA, hence the percentage of "passed" on the OFA list is skewed. In order to get OFA certification for life, the dog must be 2 years of age when x-rayed. I never do puppies, only adults at least 2 years old. Since I have never had a dog fail (past 20 years of boxer breeding) I always submit to OFA as I like using the OFA number next to my dog's name when advertising show wins or promoting his/her puppies.
Some vets use anesthesia, I won't use these vets. To me anesthesia is always risky and a good vet with good help can position a dog properly with minimum effort without anesthesia. I know there are some that believe that the Penn Hip approach, with anesthesia, gives a more accurate picture of hips, but I prefer to stay with the OFA approach. As for deciding to send x-rays to OFA or not, that is up to the owner. As mentioned on this list, some breeders choose not to send x-rays to OFA. I see nothing wrong with this. If one has a vet that is experienced in reading x-rays, then their opinion could be enough. However, I understand that a "fair" rating using the OFA positioning could fail using a Penn Hip positioning as the former positioning can actually tighten the hip sockets. All that said, I opt to have my dogs x-rayed at 2 years of age and rely on my vet's opinion. If I plan to breed the dog, x-rays are sent to OFA so that that dog's name can be listed for those who want to know. Susan Jackson Reward's Boxers & Cavalier Sylmar, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>so please forgive the stupid questions, but if a dog has not been tested >>for >HD and the owner wishes to do so, can a regular vet do this or does one >need >to find a radiologist? would this happen yearly in an ideal world or is >once >good enuf? if the dog is young or a puppy would you do it again when they >were full grown? > >thanks, >mary > >========================================================= >"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. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ========================================================= "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.
