Is it the Hips?? - Page 1

I have a 18months male who is 26inches, He bunny hops very often but yrots well on leash. Very often I feel that he has some kind of pain in the left rear leg, especially when he is idle for too many days. The days he gets excercise he is good and for 2-3 days thereafter. I also see that the same leg is toed in while trotting, which give him a little cross movement. By the way he weighs 45Kgs but does not look overweight. No hip screening facility in my country now

You can't be sure unless you xray. But someone I know prelims her dogs by fully extending their rear legs one at a time. I have no idea how reliable it is, but I have seen some dogs with proven HD by x ray show pain (whine or cry) when she did it, and dogs with normal hips not seem to be bothered by it (who later OFA'd). Just a thought if you are unable to xray.

The extension of the legs individually is an old way of diagnosing hip issues. Another way of the past is to place the dog on its side, grasp the thigh and move it outward away from the other thigh about 45-degrees, then move the dog to its other side and repeat. If there is severe pain in one (1) hip it will show when the position is reached. But, the second method may damage a joint and should only be done by a veterinarian who really knows what they are doing. I have seen it done with puppies by veterinarians out in the rural areas. It is not very scientific, but if a severe problem exists it can find it. GSDmuskaan, even it your country does not have a hip certification programme your veterinarian can still place the dog in the proper axamining position and make a good x-ray for critique. An excellent web page that shows the proper positioning and results can be reached at http://www.leerburg.com/hipart.htm There are other webpages out there that show this as well. Good Luck, Bob-O

GSDmuskaan, I should add that I keep a .jpg file of every hip x-ray done at my kennel. If you will e-mail me directly, I can return a couple of these by e-mail so you and your veterinarian can see how OFA Good and OFA Fair hips look. It will give you an idea of what you should see. Bob-O

Ahmed Subhani knows a Vet who can do prelim hips xrays in Pakistan. Better contact him and he can direct you to that person.