HD x-rays - opinions wanted - Page 6

Here's some HD...

This is of my female taken at 24 mos- OFA'd Moderate HD on one side.

She is doing fine thus far at 5 years old. 

This is of a friend's female xrayed at 4-5 years old, a second try at better positioning was not attempted due to the condition of the joints.

DH: ( any speculation on what the OFA would have said is useless)

I think both of your first two exrays probably went SV "a" normal. Maybe fast normal on the second, because of the looseness on the left joint.  I would have liked to see the heads deeper or maybe the actual socket larger and more rounded around the femoral heads.  The poor 7 month old is terrible in every way.

Louise,

I always scan my exrays. All you have to do is adjust the light and darkness, as you have found.  The only problem I have is that I can not get the knees in as they are always too long for my scanner.

Debby

ebinezer052899@yahoo.com castlebrookshepherds.net/enter.html

I remember reading somewhere that the SV didn't accept digital x-rays and I was wondering if anyone knew whether or  not that is true?  I plan to submit my dogs xrays to both OFA & SV and the specialist has a digital xray machine as well as the old kind.

Oh God DH's last one makes me sick. Poor puppy.

#2 looks mild in the right hip, harder to tell in the left because of the lighting on that side. Can see a small protrusion on the femer head on the right and it is not seated in the socket near as well and the other side. I have no idea how much the slight difference in positioning affects things though.

DH I hope you come back with a leangthy post explaining it all. Should be interesting to find out. This stuff is facinating

sueincc, I recently checked and SV still does not accept digitals.  You may want to OFA first and request the return of the x-rays then submit to SV.  Just insure the x-rays include all the SV required info which is more then OFA requires.

I also hope D.H. lets us know the history and results of these various x-rays.   I'm learning quite a bit from these.

Thanks!  I also hope DH comes back soon.  I have learned so much from these hip threads.  I would also welcome a thread on elbows too.

OK, this is great. Thanks for all the input. If the answers are given too quickly you would not form your own opinion, just accept a few facts and leave it at that. Great to see all the other x-rays.

As to puppy Nr3, to put your minds to rest... Pup was placed when nearly a year old with full disclosure of condition and what to expect. Pup was ok at that time, no signs of lameness or distress, very well muscled I have to say though. We discussed all the what ifs, and that expensive and lengthy treatment should not be done in case pup would get distressed. Proper instructions on how to keep this pup as healthy as possible were provided. This doggy is 4 1/2 years old now and doing well. 
I have to add that in all the years around dogs, GSD and other breeds, this is the only case of severe HD I have ever come across in such a young dog. I have heard of a few others, but have not seen the x-rays. Unfortunately sometimes owners put the dogs down without checking if the dog is actually in distress. The few dogs, and please note - few - that I have come across as well that were borderline, mild or moderate also did not have any loss in quality of life, IF kept properly.

I am asking for a little more of your opinions re the first two x-rays. Would you breed to or with dogs Nr1 and Nr2? And regarding any of the other x-rays posted, from looking at the x-rays, without knowing the results, which would you feel safe to breed to?

The SV does not accept digitals yet, you need to have a print out of at least 30x40cm it is I believe. You can include the CD with the x-ray (don't ask me why they don't accept just the CD then). In Germany GSDs are supposed to be x-rayed while under full anaesthetic.
Louise - from what I see in your x-rays I would say that it does make a different if a dog is put under for the x-ray or not. What do you think?

DH,

In my opinion, breeding to either dog(nr1+nr2) would be fine depending on what other qualities they had and if who I was breeding them to had a good hip background and needed their other qualities. The whole picture is what it's all about.  Taking into account the complete background of hip production is very important. ONE NZ dog can produce well if the background behind him has lots of good hips. Or an NZ dog can produce mostly bad hips, if his background is not good. I'm sure you know that. But the other qualities/faults of the dogs should enter into the breeding choice too.

Muscles can and do compensate for bad hips, up to a certain point. The comfortable life span is drasticly shortened when severe HD is involved.  But am happy that he will be loved until that day comes.

Debby

Dog #1 I would considering breeding to.  I don't think the hips are perfect but good.  Dog # 2 would depend on the dog as a whole, what else does she bring that should be considered as being worth while passing on, and that if bred to a better male hip wise.

D.H. thanks for the thread.