From: liza@leland.Stanford.EDU (Liza Miller)
Subject: Re: Hip Dyplasia
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 20:02:41 GMT

In article <1992Sep11.185113.9122@sctc.com> miller@sctc.com (Steven M. Miller) writes:
>djg@cray.com (Dennis Guldan) writes:
>>  I have read to get a good Xray the dog must be knocked out
>>so as to not move during the Xray. This has caused problems. This is the
>>one thing that has kept me from getting my dog Xrayed. And really if your
>>not going to have pups, and you keep your dog in good shape, I quess I
>>would not have it done. Unless your Vet can Xray while the dog is awake
>>yet the OFA says that is not reliable.
>The OFA appears to only hand out "excellants" if the dog was competely
>put out.   In my breed that typically means killing the dog since Chows
>and anesthesia go together like oil and water.   I've not heard of any
>evidence that anesthesia provides better xrays than sedation.
	Well, I know of at least one dog that got an OFA Excellent while
tranqed, as opposed to either fully awake or fully under.  The OFA does not
have a preference in terms of how the dog should be x-rayed.  Some vets
have preferences and it is possible to find vets that generally get good
films from awake dogs.  My own vet tranqs the dogs to make them a) relaxed
and b) easier to manipulate but not so relaxed that they are unconscious.

>Another problem with Chows is that their unique skeletal structure
>means that they almost always appear to be dysplastic to some degree
>as compared to angulated breeds.   
	Well, the OFA compares breeds to like breeds, not to other breeds.
At least that is my understanding.

>Personally I would only send my money to OFA if the registration has
>significant value to me.  (i.e. having the number will increase the
>$$ I could make on stud services...)  I do think that Xrays are important 
>if one intends to breed to make sure there aren't any serious problems.  But,
>IMHO OFA is merely a monopoly collecting money for a grading procedure 
>with little intrinsic value.   There is NO documented evidence that
>a dog with any grade of passing hips will produce offspring with passing
>hips.  
	Well, obviously, I don't know much about Chows, but I do know in
Labs if you don't have your dogs hips evaluated (we have two organizations
to go through) you can pretty much kiss *any* stud service goodbye.  No
reputable breeder is going to risk having their bitch produce dysplastic
dogs because a stud dog owner doesn't see the point in ensuring that their
dogs hips are clear of dysplasia.

	The recently discussed Wind-Morgan program for Labrador Retrievers
is working to have just the type of evidence that you are requesting and
not just for the hips, but for all the joints.  It's an open registry which
means that I can call them and ask them about different studs that are
registered with them.  They encourage people to bring entire litters in to
be x-rayed (and discount the processing fees) so that their database will
have some really marvelous information in it.  They are already starting to
get answers out there on this info and the value of this info will only
grow with more data.


-- 
Liza Lee Miller         My dogs are labradorable!     liza@pangea.stanford.edu
Cibola Labradors            Field * Show * Fun                    415/326-5309
Cibola's Misty Mountain Hop--Hopper                   Mistypoint Kashmir--Kash
	            Campbellcroft Cibola Rosette -- Rosie