*Tilted Pelvis - Femurs Different Lengths?? What is your opinion?? - Page 1

Okay, here's the backstory. I imported two male puppies last year at four months of age and re-sold them. Both parents SchH titled, top German kennel, V ratings the whole nine yards, both parents low ZW, a-normal etc, etc. 

On one of the puppies it was recently discovered a tooth was missing, so no showing for him but they wanted to continue his IPO training that he is excelling at. They took him in to x-ray the mouth and his hips now that he is a year old for a-stamps. Upon taking the hip x-rays the vet (whom I'm told does many OFA x-rays), the vet tells the owner that the hips look fine but the dogs pelvis is tilted and that one femur bone is longer than the other, they first told me it was by an inch, but then up looking at the measurement on the x-ray discovered it is by .48 of an inch. The vet told them that they could not continue IPO training because this deformity in the dog will later cause hip problems. Well they are heartbroken because they at least wanted to continue with titling the dog for their own enjoyment and to compete. The dog does not limp or show any outward signs of anything being wrong, upon watching some videos of him walking the most I can tell you is that he has a pretty steep croup, and in the video is not really reaching up much behind, I'm going to request that they video him really moving forward while pulling out on the leash like at a show so I can see the movement better. I have already told them that I will of course take care of getting them a replacement when they are ready so they can continue on with their original goals. But I want to get the opinions of those on here to see if any of you have ever seen this, do you think it's the quality of the positioning, I was told that he took many x-rays, these are what I have been sent. I am very much looking forward to seeing what you all have to say. If I remember correctly also the dog was awake for the x-rays.

   

Ehm..I would tell them to get a second opinion and retake the xrays.

The left hip looks dysplastic to me. I just had 2 young males get their pre-lim xrays and both had a hip that looked identical to this dogs L hip, and both failed OFA

The xrays are not straight.

I agree, new vet, re x-ray. 

Barbie:  these x-rays suck quality wise and positioning looks like they shut their eyes and snapped the x-rays.  Sorry if the x-rays were better I think the pelvis would look better;  hips I really cannot comment on due to poor positioning and x-rays.  Why can't these people have them redone at your favorite vet?  Jezbell or ??  I would not take anything these vet's said at face value with this positioning.  I think the hips might be OK if x-ray was retaken and better positioning;  possibly under a light sedation??  Nan

PS:  You can tell this dog was struggeling during the x-ray, might be why it is lopsided.  N

The x-rays and positioning is horrible, I would get a 2nd opinion and another set of radiographs.  One of the hips looks to have quite a bit of laxity to me, but its really impossible to tell with the poor positioning on the x-rays. 

I agree on all points :) Unfortunately Nan they can't go to Jezbera as they live in Texas, so anyone in Texas that has a recommendation it'd be great :) Luckily for them he only charged $175 for these and the mouth x-rays, usually when the x-rays are this bad they charge them an arm and a leg for them.

I'm wondering what you think of this, I showed the measured one to a friend and the first thought from her was that the longer leg looked like it was maybe higher on the table, as in closer to the ceiling, which could also make it look larger, as even the width shows larger. And if you look at the muscling of the thighs on that xray, that longer side the muscling looks thicker too. What do you guys think? I really want these opinions from you all to help ease their mind and encourage them to get a second opinion, because they would really like to continue on with titling this dog but after what the vet said they are now afraid of hurting him. I'm also going to be showing these to Dr. Jezbera for his opinion as well. Thanks so much for everything you've said so far, I look forward to some more opinions :)

You can only compare and accurately measure the length of the femurs if both legs are absolutely parallel and positioned in the same plane ... neither of which is the case here. The appearance of a "shortened femur" is therefore most likely an artifact, because you are looking at the limb at an angle i.e. the knee is most likely positioned closer to the x-ray cassette in one leg than the other  ... creating an optic illusion of uneven bone length.

Daniela

The x-ray on the top right is the closest to ideal positioning. The only problem is the left leg is moved in more towards the centre line than the right. I really don't think that's going to distort the bone length, as both bones will still be the same distance from the x-ray camera.  I worked a lot with bones when I was in university, and also worked as a vet's assistant. If you pick out features on the bone that are the same on both sides, you will wind up with a fairly accurate measurement. I took a ruler to the screen and the left leg is shorter than the right. If you do the same with the x-ray on the top left, and measure the red lines, this also shows the left leg shorter than the right.

So, I think there IS a problem, but would definitely recommend a second opinion, AND a better set of x-rays. About all I can say for 100% certain with this set is a) the dog is obviously an intact male, and b) he REALLY REALLY needs to have a bowel movement!