X-rays

(This post is part of the April A to Z blogging challenge.)

I had asked my vet to do Keeper's hip and elbow x-rays while she was under for the spay, but my vet felt with the stomach tack that also doing radiographs would be too long under anesthesia. So hers are yet to happen. Duncan's x-rays came back good hips and normal elbows.

Since I have every intention of keeping Keeper, I plan to do OFA x-rays for my peace of mind and to plan out her career as a service dog. I'm hoping for at least a Fair rating. It is in her contract that she have x-rays between 18 and 24 months, we've got a few months yet for that. I personally want the x-rays done to know if it is safe for her to do the work I have planned to ask of her.

OFA x-rays are a routine part of how I check a dog's readiness for full time service work, and part of how I decide what kind of work they are physically capable of doing. As much as my dogs double as durable medical equipment, Duncan has shown me how their bodies are not machines. He'd still like to work, but his body hasn't held up as I'd hoped.

As much as x-rays can be helpful, they aren't the whole story. While I would not work a dog in mobility tasks that require handling my wobbles or weight bearing if they don't have good OFA ratings, we've owned a bitch with horrible hips who ran big in the field while hunting. However, between her pain tolerance and Duncan's desire to keep working even with a broken toe and then a busted knee, I can say that while it's not the kiss of death, a low OFA score means I would not ask that dog to work, because I would never fully trust my ability to keep on top of any pain management issues.

X-ray results matter less with dogs who aren't asked to do strenuous physical work, but I want to know what sort of frame they have to work with and build my plans for our future around that. I'm pleased that Keeper's breeder wants to know what sort of physical structure her pups have and includes x-rays in the contract

Getting x-rays OFA graded means that breeders can breed for better joint health, which can lead to less pain and better quality of life (and smaller vet bills). Along with OFA hips and elbows, BernerGarde is an online health database. This sort of tracking and awareness before symptoms start as arthritis sets in means that Berners (as an example recently near and dear to my heart) have had their rate of hip dysplasia drop from over 23% to 12%, a 40% drop in dysplasia from 1974 when the OFA got started and 2010. The rate of excellent hip grades has jumped from 0.5% to nearly 21% in that same time frame, an increase of some 3000%.

Being aware of Keeper and Duncan's x-ray scores is important for us on the individual scale. It's also important data for the breeders trying to produce better dogs. So, in a very small way, the x-rays are important to the breed.

X-rays are generally a higher ticket item at the vet, but it is $35 for hips or elbows individually, and $40 to send hip and elbow x-rays at the same time (prelims are five bucks cheaper.) That is less than a bag of dog food. If I'm having the  radiographs done anyway for my personal knowledge and peace of mind, it makes complete sense to me to have them officially graded and add that data point to the pile.