Help, X-Ray's Rumors Vs Facts ??'s - Page 2

Neohaus, the "thickness" of the dog is a determining factor for proper beam strength/time. Done improperly, the image will be too faint or too bright. Both types of images should be tossed and done again as both can affect the final interpolaton of the quality of the joints. There will either be so little or so much contrast that critical shadows will not present themselves correctly. A concientious and well-trained veterinary staff will take the thickness measurement for the area of the hips, and then the area of the elbows to make sure the machine provides the correct image resolution and quality. If one does not see this done when the dog is first placed on the table, then one needs to ask why this step is neglected. We know excessive weight is bad for all dogs, but this alone WILL NOT affect the quality of the hip x-ray. Position, position, position. Proper calibration and setting of the machine. Excellent film developing process. These points are all critical for proper examination. We know that condition MAY play a part in the success of the evaluation. For example, one must be very careful when positioning a puppy, as their ligaments are "loose" and one can easily displace the ball from the socket and cause what may be a decent hip socket to appear lax. With adult dogs this is normally not an issue unless the dog gets no exercise, or is out stone cold for a long time during the examination and the tensioning of the dog's legs is not done correctly. And there is always the issue of anesthaesia. The use of anesthaesia will NEVER make a poor hip look good, but it can cause a good hip to look a bit worse than it really is if the positioning is done poorly. Can it cause an x-ray to fail the evaluation? Yes it can, as the dog will appear to have excessive joint laxity. When poor positioning is combined with hips that should normally pass as "Fair", it can cause them to be interpolated as "Borderline" or worse. My practice for hip x-rays is as follows: The examination is scheduled for the afternoon, and the dog has all morning to exercise and "tighten up". When we arrive at the veterinary clinic, an attempt is made to perform the x-ray WITHOUT sedation, as I am assisting the veterinarian by helping to hold the dog. If the dog refuses to be still, then a calming anesthaesia is administered, as I never like to take one completely out. But, when it comes time to do the elbows, more sedation is usually needed as I have never seen a dog who will be still for this. At this end we generally use the two-part if we used NO anesthaesia for the hip exam. And, I will stand there and examine every film that is placed on the light board. If it does not pass muster with me, we do it again even if I have to pay for it. Bob-O

Bob0, Thank You Thank You from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you lending your expeirience !! I am going to print off what you have written so that I can keep it in my files :-) GSDfan, Yes, and I don't expect to get a passing score on the followup xray, however it just seems to odd to have a single borderline mild. When I have all these other issues coming at me, now that i've cleared up some of the myths and truths, it is proving helpful, I do think we made some mistakes, as he was a bit wiggley when we took the films. So possible to get a score higher but doubt if we'll ever see anything more than fair if we get that lucky. I'll keep training him, will neuter him, and LOVE him for all time, but won't breed him without Good or Excellent. But I know that borderline/mild will likely not effect him so will continue with training. Unless of course something did come up. Before anyone hangs me... I have told the puppy buyers (the oops litter) of Twister's current hip rate, I have also told them we are resubmitting the x-rays, We have done our full guarantee/contract so if any puppy develops HD we will replace them with an "intended" bred pup from another litter. So don't stab me just yet. There will be no price differnce due I think we are being as fair as we can. If anyone has other suggestions please feel free to offer them, Keep it nice guys. :-)

Dear Echo, If you amended your guarantee for the "oops" litter so that it does not say all breeding stock ofa good or excelent, then I guess it is fine, but if you didn't amend your guarantee then I think you should consider taking back the pups & refunding the purchase price of those who want their $$ back, regardless of the status of the pup. Some people might not want to wait & get too bonded.