6 MONTH OLD GERMAN SHEPHERD PUPPY AND VET DIAGNOSING HIP DYSPLASIA IN BOTH HIPS - Page 1

PLEASE GIVE OPINIONS ON THIS..MY VET SAYS 6 MONTHS TOO SOON TO DIAGNOSE..

Could you turn your picture around it is upside down and if you can show the knees

No six months is not to early, it is to early to make a clear decision as to the final reading as an adult.  If the are poor now no they will not become excellent later, they will just give you an idea of what you have and how to proceed with training.

But the title of the thread says the vet has diagnosed HD in both hips??

Strange looking X-Ray .. any better shots .. looks like the animal is rolled to one side or the body is twisted .. the spine and tail are not following the mid-line of the body .. not sure if the legs are properly positioned which could make the image useless. What is the solution if the hips are thought to be bad ??? I would feed raw animal protein and fats as the basic diet ... allow as much exercise as the puppy wanted .. hope for the best and look again at 14 months. At 6 months there MIGHT be some puppies with bad hips that could be excluded but there are also a lot that it is too soon to make a call. Depends on what you expect from the puppy?? World champion in whatever "phoney baloney" sport then this puppy maybe not. A healthy and happy dog .. chances are good. That is pretty much the call for most 6 month old puppies and the reason race horses are sold as 1 year olds .. old enough to look great and too soon to tell for sure.

No the knees are cut off..this vet is claiming this dog will need hip replacements..I advised the owner to wait until the puppy is a year old and I would take her to my vet for re-xray..

Am I right to wait?

Yes .. wait, wait, wait .. you can't do any replacement surgery while the puppy is still rapidly growing. The vet is a quack .. when the dog is fully grown and if the hips are indeed in need of surgery then at around 2 years of age or older. I would feed a good raw animal protein and fat based diet, exercise as much as the puppy will willingly participate in, and don't spay or neuter the puppy before 18 months to 2 years.

Bubbabooboo..This quack already convinced the owner to spay and its a done deal(uggh)..that was at the time the x-ray was done.No limping,no symptoms whatsoever of HD..Owner previously went though the heartache of a Shepherd with HD.I am livid to say the least and made it clear at the time this very nice couple adopted this puppy that there should be no hip issues as both parents are certified and I have not seen any cases with any puppies from previous litters.

The hips don´t look good right now, but way too early to decide about any replacement ( doesn´t seem to be necessary at this point - no limping, no symptoms ). I wouldn´t use this dog for breeding, but I´d wait for symptoms prior to any surgery.
I have seen dogs with far bad hips living a good life - I´d wait and see.

They're not good hips but I'd be suspicious of people who have had other dogs w/HD. HD has a lot of environmental components to it! If it were JUST genetics, we'd have solved it long ago. In all the GSDs I've had/bred/raised, I have never had a dog w/HD that *I raised*. HD is just not THAT prevalent in this breed. Some vets seem to want to diagnose it in every GSD puppy. 

My point is, what does the pup weigh, is the pup allowed to exercise freely on soft ground or does the dog sit in a crate all day and then go bonkers on weekends? The hips, to me, look like those of an overweight puppy with a lot of subluxation- an out of condition puppy. There is significant flattening of the heads which comes from laxity and "bouncing" around in the joint. Hard exercise on unconditioned bodies cause this, too. What was the puppy fed? There are more questions than answers, unfortunately, and any vet who suggest hip replacement AND spaying on a 6 month old GSD needs a new career. That makes me so angry...

I added a clause in my contract that says it's 100% void (and I have a really good guarantee...better than 90% of the ones I've seen) if the dog is spayed or neutered prior to 24 months. By that time, the people realize all the stuff they heard about living with an intact dog is myth and they leave them alone ;).

And yes, I have seen far, far, far worse hips on a dog who was totally sound into advanced middle age/early senior years, then just the "normal" arthritis set in later. No hip replacement...that is just off the wall to say that at this stage.

Jenny, I believe "laxity" is hereditary and causes a lot of HD ( for sure worse in overweight dogs, but in "normal"weight dogs, too). I tend to say laxity also is at least partially responsible for bloat.
I guess we´d have solved HD long ago, in case EVERY papered German Shepherd dog would be x-rayed.
Just my opinion, I am not able to prove it, but I really believe it.
There is no single "HD" gene, but there is a genetically tendency, and as long as only the good or at least questionable x-rays are gathered officially, we will never change the status quo.

OP, try to convince the owner to wait until the dog shows any signs of physical discomfort ( neutering and hip replacement ).