Hi,

When having your dog hip scored, is it better to ask around at ringcraft/shows to see where people have their dogs scored and see if one vet is recommended frequently, or is it it generally safe to trust your own vet to take x-rays which will be of good quality? 

My dog is now 21 months old and I have been debating getting her hip scored for the last 6 months or so as her breeder and our breed club encourage as many dogs as possible to be scored so that the statistics give a good idea of the state of hips in the breed, not just those used for breeding.

I think i would always take recommendations from people  , althought most vets can/will do them some are more skilled than others

I would be asking how many your vet does and if they've ever had any returned, but asking around would be best.

Thanks for the replies so far, will ask around at ringcraft next week.  I did just call the vet to ask, and the lady I spoke to said only a couple of the vets in the practice (a large practice with a main hospital and lots of smaller branch surgeries) can do the x rays for hip scoring as they are the only ones on the panel.  Does that sound right?  I thought the plates were sent off to the BVA panel by the vet?

Most vets should be able to do hip x rays which are then sent off to be scored.However,the quality of x ray and position of the dog can have a surprising effect on the result.We breed labradors and always use a woman called Marilyn Baker in Eastleigh,Southampton.She has human grade x ray equipment,has a vet there who uses sedation rather than GA and does it all day every day.They know exactly how to position your dog and will tell you there and then if the hips look good or not although obviously not the score as that has to be judged by a panel.Results take approx 6 to 8 weeks.I don't know how far she is from you but people in the trialing world travel for miles to use her.

Hi Bucksmum,

I am in Wiltshire and do actually remember a few Airedale folk talking about a lady in Southampton that scores under sedation a while ago.  Do you have contact details for her?  I need to read up about sedation v anaesthetic I think.  I presume it is a fairly deep sedation so that they can manipulate the hips without causing the dog pain?

Will PM you Marilyn's number. Dogs are still up and walking, but woozy. We've had a fair few done down there, and never had any trouble.

M.

Hi Kate,

I've also been to Marilyn and she is great, not had any troubles with going there.
All the people i have spoken to who get theirs scored go there locally and no one has had any issues and no negative comments about it at all.

No,not at all.It's a very light sedation,they are back to full bounciness very quickly.There is no manipulation,you stay with your dog and hold her head while they gently draw her legs out straight,few seconds,that's it,job done.Thank you to the poster who has pm'd the number,i have got the number if for any reason ther's a problem.Wishing you a very LOW score.

Sedation can have it's problems just as GA can.

Do they use a table or a sling ?

Hi Perrodeagua, yes, that's why I wanted to read up more about sedation.  I know there is one anaesthetic that is recommended over others for Airedales (Rapinovet), so wanted to see if sedation has any negatives also.

We have had 4 bitches done over the years and have always had the x ray taken on a mat of some kind on the floor.

>  Do they use a table or a sling ?

is that Marilyn? its done on the floor.

Yes,from what i can remember we laid the bitch down on her back whilst we held her head.Haven't had a bitch done there for two years now but i expect it's still the same.

I think you should go to a vets that have done it before, when we took our dog for hers last year, the vet had not done it before and had lots of delays first they had to xray her twice and put her to sleep twice because they had her in wrong position then after they kept filling in the forms wrong and kept being sent back and forwards in the end it took 3 months to get the results!!
so i would go to vets who have alot of experience on this.

The vet I use puts the dog in a sling so the hip falls naturally into position