Hip Xrays and Free Beer! - Page 1

I read the post on how to take pictures of Xrays and gave it a shot since I just got films done for my boy Chaco.  He turned 2 Sunday so we got hips and elbows done this week and will ship them off to OFA to see what comes.

So, expert eyes and amateurs alike, what rating do you expect?  Any comments on the quality of the Xray - positioning, exposure, and such?

Unfortunately I must confess that the "free beer" comment was added as a shamefully selfish attempt to get more people to look at this post. 

  Yvette

LOL the free beer got my attention but unfortunately I'm not an expert on hip x-rays.  Do I still get the beer?

I am not an expect either, but from the research I have done you might not like my evaluation. There is too much spacing between the femur head and hip socket at both joints. Both sockets are already showing abnormal changes. Your vet should have been able to determine this. Good luck!

                     Al

IMO the sockets are shallower than the ideal, but I wouldn't count this dog out just yet; I'd still submit this xray to OFA as I think it just might get a fair rating. This is one of those wait and see evaluations that drives breeders nuts.

I think the xray is of very good quality and positioning.

I am going to shoot for    FAIR because the ball does show some not quite firm into the socket as it could be

Shows some slight irregularity between left and right  in angulation.....the right one seems to be out a little from seating ....in other words the amount of coverage is shallow when a line is drawn from the point across to show how much it sits up into the socket,,,,,

Dont want to get into the techinical wordings....DH will do it for us...hes more experienced

votes by the judging vets may vary as usual...

I think everyone has covered most to be said but  my opinion is that the right --> leg is pulled in too much 

A novice opinion but I don't like the right hip. It could be Ekvon said the leg is pulled in to much but something doesn't look right. Both of the necks are short and a bit thick but the right a bit worse. The acetablum (sockets) are kinda shallow. If your lucky and its Friday, everyone is in a good mood to go home for the weekend you might get a fair. Nothing wrong with that though. Again its JMO and I am not no pro!

The right hip very often does not look as good as the left--because most people are right-handed and use their left arm/hand (weaker than their right) to flex and extend the dog's right leg.

My problem with the xray is that a "soft tissue" technique rather than a "bone" technique was used. Using a bone technique (which requires less radiation and a lower KVp), the testicles (soft tissue) should not be apparent.

Probably no better than OFA "fair".

I see what you mean, Louise. When I did xrays we didn't have state of the art equipment so all our xrays were of the soft tissue type. We measured with calipers, took a guess at the exposure setting, and developed the films manually hoping we didn't over or under develope them.  I'm getting too old if I remember stuff like that LOL.  Yes, we had cars then in case anyone is wondering. It's easy to understand that the bone technique would be better.

Never thought about the right handed thing either. The radiologist I studied under made us stretch the dog as hard as we could pulling in opposite directions before snapping the picture and I think that helped to keep things symetrical. I can think of many dogs we needed to  xray more than once because they were tilted when the film was developed. It's not easy to visually square up the dog, rotate the knees, lift the spine off the table a bit by holding the elbows and hit the foot pedal at the right second as you well know. Maybe techniques have improved now. I've heard that some vets use a type of frame to strap the dog in place.

Any of you who haven't seen a hip xray being taken might want to ask your vet if you could observe sometime. It's interesting.

Good comments, folks.  I didn't notice the right leg not being parallel at first.  The films are in the mail and we'll see what comes. 

One thing that I do not like about how my vet takes Xrays is that he uses general anesthesia instead of just a tranquilizer.  I have "heard" that if a dog is completely under, then the joints can show up looser on the films than if the dog is just lightly sedated.  When I lived down South my vet just gave a little happy juice to relax the dog.  My new vet has a different philosophy.

Does anyone know any scientific basis for the possible differences in sedation levels for Xrays?  I hate to go about spouting hear-say.

Yvette

P.S.  One thing I do like about the Xray is that all that soft tissue haze shows his well muscled rear assembly.  "Fair" or not, he's one helluva athletic dog.

P.P.S.  Free beer at my house tonight.  My husband is working shiftwork in the fire house so let's party!