Your opinions on these hips, please? - Page 1

Looks like you could have little more ball in the socket. OFA will want 50% or better.

Hoodie, we need you!

The people with the most experience with this type of post were chased out of here a month ago by a nutcase!

How old is this dog?




We still have some members that know about this stuff................

First - my opinion of the positioning - very poor. I would not submit this radiograph to the O.F.A. or S.V. and would force the veterinarian to make a new radiograph at his expense. This radiograph is shoddy workmanship.

Evenso there are some things I do see clearly. I agree there is minimal coverage on the dog's right side but it does appear that the ball is covered 50%.by the socket-no more. This dog may pass, but with the rating of O.F.A. "Fair" of S.V. "a" fast Normal. Make a new radiograph with the dog positioned properly, the legs pulled straight back and the knees rotated slightly inwards as is the protocol. The tibia of each leg should be parallel to the other, and each should just cover the very tip of the pelvic "horn".

If the veterinarian needs a refresher, ask him to look at this web page: http://leerburg.com/hipart.htm

Best Regards, and Good Luck!
Bob-O

Thank you!
Not my dog but wanted some good opinions. You have been a good help.
Renee

Would anyone care to weigh in on the length of the femur necks?  Our Vet was very pleased with the length on our girl and commented that the length was great and these are way shorter than on ours.  Is there a lot of difference regarding femur necks and does it somehow play into the placement of the ball in the socket? (ours was really good)  Just curious and trying to further my education.  What I would like to see are actual xrays of really bad vs really good side by side.  That would help a bunch.

I have a picture of severely dysplastic hips saved in my picture file. Unfortunately, I don't have on of really good hips. Maybe one of our other posters can contribute one? Anyone got an OFA excellent dog they'd like to brag about?

Here's the picture. The Leerburg site also has some excellent pictures of radiographs, along with explanations of what to look for, and how positioning can make good hips appear bad. Please have a look at it. The link is posted above!



Here's the radiograph from my male, Ranger for comparison. As he's an unpedigreed rescue, I'll never have him OFA'd, though my vet said he was sure his hips would rate as 'good'.  The black bars are the frames from the window pane I was holding the x-ray up to when I photographed it. Yeah, not the best photo, but you can see both joints fairly clearly. The left hip is a bit better than the right, as there is less space between the ball of the femur and the hip socket. Ideally, the fit should be as tight as possible.  The difference could also be caused by the right knee not being turned in quite as much as the left.

Thanks for the xrays...it does help to be able to compare.  I'll check out the website too.  Thanks Sunsilver, as always you are quick to be of help.

I'm afraid I don't know what the length of the neck of the femur has to do with hip health. I DO know that the femoral head needs to be large and well-formed, in comparison to the neck. If you look at the dysplastic dog, you will see the heads of the femurs aren't much bigger than the neck of the femur, so there is no nice, round ball to mesh with the hip socket.

Sunsilver and Bob-O,

That leerburg website is AWESOME!!!  I can't wait to go back to the Vet's and ask to look at Echo's Xrays again, now that I have a better understanding of what to look for.  I know she had excellent positioning, the Vet was very good at pointing out how well the balls sat in the socket but you never really understand what you are looking at until you can see both good and bad for comparison.  Once again, thanks for your help.

Deb