Chance, you might say, was a learning experience for me.  He was my first "purchased" German Shepherd, and was of West German showlines or sometimes referred to as "high lines".   I had "high" hopes for him.  Dreams of conformation showing and Schutzhund were meant for him.  However, as many have learned, purchasing a puppy from a reputable breeder and studying the background of the pup cannot always safeguard one from heart break.  Sadly, Chance was found to be dysplastic after prelim x-rays were completed. 

Though his ancestors were either OFA'd by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals or had received the "a" stamp, he still developed serious hip dysplasia.   It is very important that the puppy buyer look at only puppies from OFA'd or "a" stamped parents.  Also, if possible one should attempt to research past offspring from the parents or what their lines are producing.  (See HD Zuchtwert.)  A contract guaranteeing against hip dysplasia (and other health concerns) is something that a puppy buyer should request though it does not shield one from heart ache.   Most importantly, any dog with hip dysplasia should be spayed/neutered and never be bred in order for the gene to not be passed further on by that dog.

Canine Hip Dysplasia...

...something every German Shepherd owner
or potential owner needs to know about!

The most common structural problem affecting dogs is hip dysplasia.

Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is a general description of malformation of the hip joint that ultimately leads to arthritis. The hip joint is a ball-and-socket arrangement that allows for mobility of the dog's rear. The ball is the femoral head, the knob at the top of the upper leg bone or femur. The socket is the acetabulum, a scooped out area on the pelvic structure. The two parts must fit together and be lubricated by sufficient joint fluid to maintain structural soundness and avoid arthritis. Hip dysplasia is joint malformation that occurs when the ball and socket are misaligned, loosely fitted, or misshapen. Dysplastic dogs experience pain, generally are not as active as healthy dogs, and may need expensive corrective surgery as they age.

Hip dysplasia is an inherited condition and diagnosis before breeding is necessary to keep breeding stock healthy and limit the occurrence of the disease in offspring.

Nutrition also plays a part: studies show that puppies pushed to rapid growth manifest more hip problems than siblings allowed to grow at a slower rate. Many veterinarians recommend that puppies be fed adult maintenance dog foods with less than 25 percent protein and be kept slightly hungry so their bones are not pushed into rapid growth that may be detrimental to good hip formation.

Hip dysplasia can be diagnosed only by x-ray of the hip joint. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals pioneered hip dysplasia diagnosis with the hip extended x-ray to check for joint malformation and arthritic changes, but its method cannot measure joint looseness.

PennHip, the method developed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, takes up the slack; it measures joint laxity as well as identifying joint malformation and arthritic changes to help breeders decide which dogs to breed and which to remove from a breeding program.

Hip dysplasia can be mild or debilitating. Mild cases may need no more than an occasional aspirin; moderate cases can be corrected by surgery, and severe cases can result in painful crippling and euthanasia, even of pups less than a year old.

Myths about hip dysplasia abound and obscure both the seriousness of the disease and the opportunity to reduce its occurrence. For example, the presence or absence of hip dysplasia cannot be detected by observation. Dogs that seem perfectly agile as pups and young adults may actually be mildly dysplastic in one or both hips. Diagnosis is possible only by x-rays of the dog's hips.

Breeders can choose from several methods of hip dysplasia diagnosis. Dogs can be x-rayed as puppies and the pictures submitted to one of three registries. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals is a nonprofit foundation that uses readings by three radiologists to read each x-ray. If the dog is less than two years old, OFA issues a preliminary hip status report. If the dog is older than two, they report that the dog is either dysplastic or not and, if not, how it rates in comparison with other dogs of its breed. This second rating is issued as fair, good, or excellent.

PennHip, the system developed at the University of Pennsylvania and now owned by International Canine Genetics, uses a series of three different x-rays to determine the dog's hip status. The Institute for Genetic Disease Control uses the same x-rays as required by OFA but will report a dog as dysplastic or not at 12 months of age. Any veterinarian experienced in x-ray procedures can take pictures for an OFA or GDC reading. Only those specifically trained in the PennHip method can submit to
that registry.

The American Kennel Club includes OFA certification numbers in its records of each registered dog and prints them on litter registration papers.

Puppy buyers should ask breeders for certification that breeding stock has been certified free of hip dysplasia by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals or PennHIP, the testing process of International Canine Genetics. In order to pass the test, dog hips must be x-rayed and evaluated by canine radiologists. OFA will evaluate x-rays of dogs two years old and older and issue a number certifying that the dog has fair, good, or excellent hips. PennHIP evaluates the hips by looking at joint looseness as well as bone formation.

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees; even if breeders go to the expense of hip x-rays and breed only those with good or excellent hips, puppies can still develop bad hips.

In the past few years, some radicals have blamed purebred breeders for the incidence of hip dysplasia and used this accusation to encourage people to adopt mixed breed dogs from shelters. But the charge does not echo the facts on two fronts: actually, responsible breeders lead the effort to eliminate hip dysplasia and mixed breed or crossbred dogs can also have the disease.  Any breed or mix can be dysplastic; however, there are almost no statistics regarding the incidence of hip dysplasia in non-purebreds as these dogs are seldom x-rayed.

Puppy buyers can help the effort by purchasing purebred puppies only from breeders who x-ray their breeding stock and provide a contract that stipulates some recourse if the pup does develop dysplasia. Owners or adopters of non-purebred dogs can also help by sterilizing their pets before they become sexually mature to prevent any possibility of producing affected offspring.

Article courtesy of "The Dog Owner's Guide" .

The best tool for breeders in the fight against canine hip dysplasia (CHD), to come along in years, is the SV's HD Zuchtwert, or Breed Value Assessment Number (HD ZW). The HD ZW number is an estimation of the probability that a dog will produce progeny with CHD.

A hip score should be within the acceptable limits of 100. Any number over
100 indicates that the sire (or dam) is producing HD. The lower the number,
the better.  The better producers always have a hip index in the low 80's or
high seventies. When a breeding is planned in Germany now, the average index of the two parents must by 100 or lower. If both parents have not produced  much yet, then this number will be pretty close to 100 - which means it will take a while before a true indicator can become available. There is much
pressure now on the SV to eliminate this average and require that both
parents have a hip index below 100 in order to be bred. 
(Thank you Peggy Glanz for this information.)

To learn more, visit this site for a further description provided by John Paver regarding the HD Zuchtwert.

OFA - What Does It Mean?

What does the OFA number mean???
For Example:  GS-34412E24M-T.

GS= German Shepherd.

34412 is the number they give the dog.

E= Excellent. Good hips would get "G", fair hips would get "F".

M= Male (Female would be F.)

24= The age at which the dog was certified in months.

T= The dog was tattooed

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Puppy Food or Adult Food?  When To Change?

In an earlier post re: calcium supplementation of young dogs, I had said, "Many people don't even feed puppy foods as they *encourage rapid bone growth and weight gain which are other proven risk factors* for orthopedic problems." I received a private post asking for proof of this, the poster saying "I have yet to see any manuscripts in refereed scientific journals. There are plenty of antecdotal reports, but nothing solid."

Well, there's plenty to be found in the journals; here are three citations. I decided to post it to the whole list, as I think it will probably be of interest to many (all are from peer reviewed veterinary journals):

See "Special Symposium, Osteochondrosis: How to identify and treat its manifestations in dogs" by Steven M. Fox, MS, DVM and Alexander M. Walker, BVSc, MACVSc, in Veterinary Medicine (a peer-reviewed journal), Feb. 1993, pp 116-153. On page 121 it says, "the etiology of OCD is multifactorial. The most consistent finding in experimental and clinical studies incriminates rapid growth and weight gain. Most dogs affected with [OCD] are of medium to large size. And male dogs, which generally grow faster than female dogs, are affected twice as often as females. The relationship between nutrition, hormonal disturbances, and genetic factors for rapid growth and disturbances of endochondral osteogenesis suggests a metabolic origin...Dietary factors incriminated in OCD are high-energy, high-protein diets, excessive intake of calcium and phosphorus, and imbalances of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D. Excessive intake of nutrients accelerates growth and induces hormonal disturbances. In an experimental study in Great Dane puppies, free-choice feeding resulted in increased growth and multiple skeletal abnormalities. The high-protein, high-carbohydrate diet accelerated both growth and weight gain, and excessive calcium intake caused a persistently high level of calcitonin...Regardless of the specific nutrients involved, there is general agreement that the incidence and severity of OCD can be substantially reduced by normalizing the diet and slowing the rate of growth and weight gain." (Several studies were cited)

Also, from "Effects of dietary electrolyte balance on subluxation of the femoral head in growing dogs", by RD Kealey, et al. (8 authors on this one), Am J Vet Res, Vol. 54, No. 4, April 1993 (pp 555-562): "Although hip dysplasia has a genetic basis, several studies have indicated that its development can be influenced by excess food consumption, weight gain, or both. Increased weight gain from excess consumption accelerated development of hip dysplasia, whereas slower weight gain during the first several months of life delayed the appearance or reduced the severity of hip dysplasia." (Several studies were cited)

And from "Effects of limited food consumption on the incidence of hip dysplasia in growing dogs", by RD Kealy et al., in JAVMA, Vol. 201, No. 6, Sept. 15, 1992 (pp 857-863), "The first report of a correlation of early rapid growth and wight gain to severity of CHD was published in 1964...In a study of Gread Danes, it was shown that excessive intake of food accelerated growth thereby contributing to the development of hip dysplasia. In a study of 31 dogs...with a high parental frequency of hip dysplasia, it was found that CHD was more frequent, developed earlier, and became more severe in dogs with rapid weight gain caused by increased caloric intake, compared with dogs with low weight gain because of restricted feeding." And in the discussion of this study, "On the basis of our findings in the long-term study reported here, limited food intake has a beneficial effect on development of the hip joints in growing and adolescent dogs. Labrador Retrievers fed 25% less food than those fed ad libitum had less hip joint laxity when they were 30 weeks old than their ad-libitum-fed counterparts. Furthermore, by maintaining the dogs on the same feeding regimen until they were 2 years old, this beneficial effect was still present at that age, as demonstrated by the significantly lower frequency of hip dysplasia in the limit-fed dogs. Our findings confirm what has been suggested in previous studies that used fewer dogs, but that included Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and German Shepherd Dogs."

Quite frankly, I'm puzzled by the fact that vets and PhD's keep asking me for proof that should be readily available to them. I had to e-mail this same info to the vet over on the PetCare Nutrition board here on AOL. My reading (and as a lay person, it's not as easy for me to get my hands on this stuff as it should be for a vet ) plus the advice of my veterinarian and respected breeders who have few orthopedic problems in their lines, has convinced me that puppy foods are not a good idea for large and giant breeds. So, I stand by my statement.

PS-JAVMA is the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Assoc.

Contributed by Kathy P.
Please visit Golden Retrievers in Cyberspace and see how you can help a Golden.

Links to Information On Canine Hip Dysplasia:

The Influence of Nutrition on Canine Hip Dysplasia

Canine Hip and Elbow Dysplasia Resources

Five Misconceptions About Hip Dysplasia

You Be The Judge - PennHIP and OFA

Genetic, Nutritional and Enviromental Factors

Surgical Options for CHD

Alternatives to Rimadyl

HD and Diet

Molecular Genetics of Hip Dysplasia

Information Page On The SV Website regarding the HD ZW

HD Zuchtwert - Breed Value Assessment Number

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Exercise is beneficial to the dog with HD.  HD is NOT a death sentence.
Visit here and see a dog with HD carting!