Devasted.... My 11 month old VA pup has dysplasia. - Page 2

You can have changes in the bone or you will see the ball joint not correctly seat in the socket. I would get someone to xray correctly and you can just about bet the results will be accurate at this age. I have seen GSD's with perfect movement still have HD and some that had side movement in the hips that did not have HD. Good luck with your dog I wish you the best. I know it's tough to see your babies hurt.

12 years ago, I x-rayed my one female at 12 months. Vet said he thought one hip might not pass (excellent vet for x-rays) I sent them to the one certifying body in California to 'certify'. They failed. Mild HD in one hip. At 2 years SAME vet x-rayed her hips again and they were better. Sent them off to OVC and they certifed with NO HD. Hips DO and CAN improve up until the growth plates stop. You will also see gsd's with the "a" fast normal and "a" noch zugelassen get an OFA Good certification when they are redone here at 2 years of age. I have no idea what your dogs hips are like. But, it is certainly worth waiting a bit longer and having them redone to see.

I have heard a few stories of them improving over the years so you can only hope. The majority of the time I don't think this will happen. Sometimes I wonder how good the vets are at taking a correct position xray, maybe we are sometimes too trusting and think they are expert? I say that because something fishy about getting oppossing xrays as I have heard can happen.

I am deviating slightly from the original post, but does anyone here know how early you can see signs of dysplasia on an X-ray? I have just taken back a puppy as the owner thought she had HD, he had an X-ray done and this showed apparently normal hips, but the dog was under 3 months - would signs show up this early? before being sold the only thing I noticed about this puppy was that she tired more quickly than the others, and was slower to learn how to get up steps (seemed to have lenss strength at the back). But now she is taller I do see a slight sideways rotation of the right foot, she puts less weight on the right foot sometimes scrapes the toenails on the ground very slightlly, often goes into bunny hop mode when running fast and is not too quick up stairs. Do you think these are indications of possible HD, or if HD was so severe as to show symptoms at this young age wold nothing show on the X-ray? She also has quite pronouced angualtion (but not really extreme), could this, or loose ligaments have anything to do with it, or anything else? just wondering what your advice would be regarding this puppy, who otherwise is very nice. And very sorry Klekoni about your pup, I sincerely hope future X-rays will reftute the diagnosis as others have suggested...

Severe HD can show up and while I have not seen very many pups with HD I have seen a few. All you mentioned are indications of HD especially favoring one side. Only time will tell how fast the HD will progress but anytime showing up this early is a bad sign. Good luck and hope it turns out well for your pup.

Thanks Desertrangers, but do you think anything should have showed up on the X-ray if she was showing clinical signs this early? Would it be advisable to do another X-ray at, say 5 months? She is now exactly 3 months and the X-ray was done about 10 days ago...is there anything else that could cause these symptoms? By the way she does not seem to mind standing on her back legs and does not seem to have any pain on manipulation of the hips.

Xrays will not help or change the pup. The main thing is to watch her and be aware she may only a pet quality. I would xray her again at six months. At three months I would think the xray would show the ball joint is not seated properly but may take a few months before bone damange shows up. I say this because the earliest I have seen actual damange is around six months. I am sure some of the people here can add to this as they breed alot of pups...

Oso, honestly I have a lot of problems believing any owner can diagnose HD in a 3 month old GSD puppy just by looking at its gait and/or by the way it's feet are placed. I've had dogs that moved behind like empty dump trucks that got OFA excellents and one of my best moving puppies went down at 8 months with severe HD. I think you are lucky to have the puppy back; sounds like one of those owners who will always be complaining about something. I'd think about refunding the money if I were you and closing the book on this sale. My worst puppy sales were made to other breeders and exhibitors. Anyway, I think severe HD will probably show up on an xray of a 3 months old, but a lesser case may not. OFA will review xrays of dogs 4 months of older, so you can opt to re-xray that puppy that young if you want. There is a lot of good info on the OFA.ORG website. Good luck with your puppy.

Thanks Blitzen, these were more or less my feelings originally, in fact the vet says there is no reason to suppose its HD, no evidence form the X-ray and at first both he and I thought the puppy more likely had had some kind of injury, especially as the owner has a bigger puppy as well, but antiinflammatories did not make a difference, and I have to admit she was always slightly less active than her brothers and sister. None of the symptoms I have mentioned are very pronounced but they do exist. I did take this puppy back and gave the owner another one as I would prefer that clients are not unhappy with their puppies, and this person had already had a disappointment with a male puppy he bought from another breeder, that had no testicles... But now I am not sure if I should sell this female cheaply as a pet, telling potential owners that she may have a problem, or if I should keep her longer and see how she progresses, maybe doing another X-ray at 4 months as you suggest.... What would you do?

If it were my dog, Oso, I'd just hang on to her for a few more months and have her xrayed again and send it off to OFA. It may just be her nature to be a quieter puppy, odds are she is perfectly healthy. I think most of us have a habit of zeroing in on the imperfections in puppies rather than taking the whole dog into consideration. I am that way and have imagined that Blitz was dysplastic since he's cowhocked and has some really strange looking rear movement. His 9 month xray showed very good hips LOL. There I was worrying over nothing once again. I did the same thing when I was breeding. I've noticed that the bigger boned puppies tend to be more docile that the finer boned ones. Maybe that would apply to her?