Questions about Penn Hip

[Dream Puppy]

We have decided to go ahead and have Bonfire Penn Hip tested. We just want to rule out any potential problems. Now the questions. Where should we have it done. Our Vet has a specialist in the office and we can have it done there when he is nuetered. Is that keeping him under anestesia too long? Should we do it at another time? Should we go to U of Penn directly?

We are not planning on doing this for another two months at the earliest.

For anyone who has had their pups tested were their any ill affects afterward. Anything we should prepare for?

Thanks.

Liz

[Debbie Crowder-BaaramuLuke]

Penn Hip is an easy but specialized radiographic procedure that lots of vets have been certified to perform. I would always recommend that any healthy animal have anything done that needs done under one anesthetic period if possible. That includes OFA (if old enough), dental cleanings, tatoo's, whatever. I've always had my animals done (as long as someone in the clinic was certified) and had no problems afterward. The difference in the Penn HIp procedure is the way the hips are manipulated for the radiographs. They are done compressed (pushing the hips in to the sockets) and distracted (a special intrument is used to see how much the hips can be manipulated out of the sockets. They are testing joint laxity and not just taking a look at the conformation of the joint, skeletally, as with OFA. Supposedly, this is more of a subjective and not objective measurement, and the results will be in numbers and rankings with other dogs of the same breed. OFA gives you a rating that is Excellent, good, fair and so on.

As an aside, I had a dog I was given who had "Good" OFA certification. She had been bred, and produced pups, one of which I got before I was given her, and when I had this pup done (all of us at the hospital I work for got their pure-bred dogs done free so the Dr's could be certified for the procedure, which they all passed, using our dogs as their "test" cases)I had her done too, not knowing this dog's radiographs would be sent to OFA too. THIS time, the OFA said "Poor". Hmmm...anyway, also of interest, the pup came back as dysplastic. He was neutered, she was neutered, no more pups. He was Luke, my sweet old Best-Ever pen dog, who's hips did bother him in the end, and may have contributed to his accidental death. His mother Eve is 14 1/2, still gets around pretty good, still can harrass sheep if allowed to.

I'd have the procedure done.

Keep in mind I'm a groomer, so all of this is from my feeble brain.

[Eileen Stein]

Liz, I would really encourage you to read Denise Wall's hip article at http://www.stilhope.com/hipartical.htm . It's somewhat technical, but is well worth the effort it takes to read it carefully. WELL worth.