Can anybody advise me about choosing an experienced vet to hip score my gsd bitch. I live in Merseyside were there are hundreds of vets, but how do you know that they are experienced in lining the dogs up correctly for the bva scheme? I've heard that if a vet isn't experienced enough it can effect the score of the dogs hips, can anyone advise please??

Isnt there a vet school in Liverpool? I would try there, even if they dont do it they will probably have a specilist who visits local surgeries.

Specialists don't visit GP vets to X ray for hip scoring. It's a case of word of mouth, the vet I use has dogs brought to her from all over the place, for a few reasons-her X rays are of the highly quaility, she is an excellent reader of the hip status & you don't leave your dog there all day you make an appointment & she does the X ray as part of the appointment & xan be on your way home in around 1 1/2 hours

She's not the cheapest but IMHO she is the best as others have found on here

Who is your vet, this sounds good....

Jill Read she X rays lots of GSDs as she is very popular with breeders(of the International type)who X ray their breeding stock as a matter of course

North Yorkshire wow, that is a distance from us, I have heard of a place in Cheadle, Shropshire and I thought that was a way to go!! looks like this is going to mean a day off work, shame! Approx how much is this going to cost?

Haven't a clue you can ring & ask of course

Of course I will ring, by your reply I was confused into thinking you were experienced in having your dogs xrayed and would know, never mind

It depends on the size of your dog & the current BVA fees The last dog I had done was a CKCS so not the same as a GSD ! & I always arrange to go with  friends who have more than one dog so we reduce the costs

Ooh Im sure that my vet said they had someone visit from Cambridge, may have got the wrong end of the stick though as sometimes happens when Im accompanied by a Lab that it trying to kiss all of the staff :rolleyes:

I think you mean Leahurst, they are more like a Vet college, animals get sent there if vets can't deal, also its a training place, they don't do xrays for hip scoring thanks anyway

Hi shanti ,
I'm in Liverpool we go the the liverpool University small animal Hospital in Crown Street I know they do hip scoring but I prefer to have it done under sedation rather than anaethetic so we are planning to travel to Southampton .
I have spoken to my vet Racheal  about it and they assured me that they are competent but its the anaethetic that puts me off.

HTH
Roni
Where is M'side are you were in Allerton

Hi Starryeyes,
you must be using the same vet that i have used before, she is very good and gives an excellent indication there and then as to what your dogs hip-scores are likely to be.

My Beardies were fine after the GA as Jill only keeps them under for a minimal period & we didn't have to leave them all day. Jill also uses a sling for the dogs

OMG Southhampton, how far is that?, we live in Wallasey which is just over the mersey from Liverpool

Its about 4hrs way plus there is a travellodge near.... if your lucky you can get cheap rates... she was recommended to me by quite a few people plus she breeds and shows beardies and doesnt cost the earth.
Roni

im in southport and am looking for the same thing my vet in southport says its about £120 & £40 to send the xray off but i would like to hear of anyone that can reccomend a good vets im willing to travel

I live in wallasey too :)  our vet, in hoylake, has an orthapaedic qualification of some kind (I think - lots of letters after his name, but i'm sure some of them were to do with that!) not sure if that's desirable for hip scoring, never needed it doing.  sorry that's a bit vague, but might be worth ringing him?  .  he's very good!! His name's Rob McNulty, Hoylake vet practice, number's in yellow pages.  What's your dog's name?  Seem to know the names of lots of dogs round here, from the park... never recognise owners though!!!!
Good luck
~Clare

Hi claire ty for that, Shanti (my dog) doesn't really do parks at the moment, I am not letting her off lead until she has been hip scored in case she over excercises, I have 3 adult dogs too and so she would want to run with them and might do damage:-(

Hiya
I had my bitch's x-ray for her hip score done at Southampton. It was in 2002, so I cannot remember the ladies name or even how much it cost. I do know that it was very cheap, we went as a group, so we got a discount. When we got there you sort of park in a large grass area, and there were loads of people there with dogs. Lots of Goldies, and then our group of Flatcoats.
From what I remember they give the injection and then you just stand around waiting for your dog to get a bit dopey, then they get you to put a lead gown on and try to hold your dog in position. The positive of it was that they look at the x-rays then and there, because of their experience, they give you an estimate of what the hip score might be. In our case they were spot on!
My last two dogs I have had done at my vets, as my bitch Ember got really stressed out, even though she was dopey she hated being held down. So I havnt done it since.

Rachel

Vets name is Mrs Denham, when we went they held a clinic once a month,Its done In Eastleigh(near Southampton) she was spot on for me too, hip scores last summer cost around £70  and this includes the payment to KC/BVA.Yuor in and out within an hour generally.

Hi, I live in Chester and have my hip scores done a Hanpton Vet. Centre 01948 820345 it is just off the A41 to Whitchirch from Chester. The vet who does it is great and quite spot on with his estimate b4 the scores are sent off. You are with your dog the whole time you only leave when the x-ray is done and even then you can see in the room. It cost me £110 approx in March this year so is quite cheap as well
I would recommend to anyone

This info I found out last night.... The Hampton Vetinary centre in Malpas, Cheshire, Tel 01948 820345, The vets name is Mr Bryson and he is extremely experienced in x raying for hip scores, he does it on a regular basis every Thursday afternoon and sometimes Tuesdays as well. The REALLY great thing about this guy is he does not use a General, it is all done under sedation, so there is no risk to your dog. For an extra £30 you can have elbows done at the same time and then he tells you what scores to expect, in and out in 1-2 hours, Brill  

Actually there is a risk with sedation, things can still go wrong with sedation and it's easier to pull a dog around from a GA than a sedation, or so I've been told by people who have also lost their dogs under sedation!

As in everything there is always a risk.

I've had mine done under GA, Anton I was phoned to bring him home before 2 hours was up, as he didn't want to stay at the vets a second longer :d

I've never been at Jill's for more than 1 1/2 hours & that includes gossiping time Coffee & biscuits ;)

I would never have mine done under sedation again -if you do a search you'll probably find out the details but it resulted in 2 totally stressed vets, 1 totally stressed Vet nurse, 1 totally stressed owner & 1 dog who nearly (but not quite) got her own way & went home without an x-ray. :(
As  Perrodeagua says, there are risks with everything.

I have alway taken ours up to Gill at Norton surgery in Pickering, we travel up with our dogs from Cambridgeshire, I would never change, Gill is excellent, knows all the stuff explains everthing down to the last point, I have had 4 dogs there and she was spot on with the x-rays plates, that was for Elbow scoring as well

It is over a 3-4 hour journey each way but would never go anywhere else, you only get one shot in Hip scored, and you must have 101% trust in that vet.

I thank moonmaiden for giving me all the information she give me and for finding Gill

Hi, the Hampton vet centre in Malpas has been recommended to me by numerous people who have had their dogs hip scored there. My breed is German Shepherd, and friends of mine use this particular vet for their G.S.D.'s, because he's very experienced and uses sedation rather than anaesthetic. I will be taking my youngest bitch there soon to be hip scored, and he was also recommended to me by her breeders who use him all the time on their stock.
Debbie

Reading this I am surprised how many of you travel to get the scoring done, it had never even occured to me.  I use my own vet and and more than happy with their care of my dogs, I have them done under a general which is more expensive but I feel it is safer as it is reversible.

(I have just thought of another good reason for having them done as close to 12 months as possible, they have not reached their full adult weight and therefore the cost of the GA is cheaper than it would be a year later :) )

I think the reason people are prepared to travel a distance is because some vets do not have breeders on their books and therefore are not used to positioning a dog correctly for the purpose of hip scoring. To get the best possible result for the dog the vet must be experienced at this as even if the position is slightly out it can effect the score. Nothing in the world can make a bad set appear good, but incorrect positioning can mean your dogs hips are not being shown to their full potential. People travel to vets like this because they do this kind of thing week in and week out and become very experienced in setting them up and so much so that they can actually give you a spot on guess at what the score will be:-)

You are quite right Shanti, a friend of a friend of mine, had a GSD and at the age of 4 months noticed he had a bit of a limp. She took him to a local Vet (not the one I use) for a check-up and he advised x-rays.
She was horrified to be told by the Vet that the pup had the worst hips he had ever seen, and that the kindest thing for the dog would be to have him PTS as there wasn't anything else he could suggest.
Heartbroken she rang the Breeder who arranged and paid for a second opinion, only to be told that there wasn't anything at all wrong with his hips, but the Vet had him positioned wrongly on a tilt.

LOL Christine I prefer Jill to my GP vet(& they know this too)as she uses a sing rather than a table & you don't have to leave the dogs there all day We usually go late AM or Early PM & are in & out in just over an hour

My vets are great for everything else but their practice for hip/elbow X rays is to have the dog there all day & they don't have anyone who is really well versed in the scoring of hips.

Like others have said you only really have one chance with hip scoring & I wouldn't want to have to have to have them under a GA twice

I have heard that if the dog is now positioned incorrectly the xrays are not even scored.

That's correct, it used to say that on the form, but doesn't any more. However if it's too dark, light or not positioned correctly it will be sent back unscored - which does, of course, mean your dog has to go through the whole procedure again.

Unless the plates are perfectly positioned Jill won't send them off & she hasn't had any returned to my knowledge-she's a bit of a perfectionist ;)

I've seen loads of her X rays & they are all good & crystal clear