So what is Hip Dysplasia

In basic terms the hip joint is a ball and socket joint, the ball being the femoral head, and the socket the acetabulum. Hip Dysplasia in a malformation of the hip joint, when the head of the femur is not longer seated correctly in the socket. There is no predicting, just by looking from the outside, to what a degree a dog has or hasn't got H.D. The only way to assess properly the presence or absence of H.D. is by radiography.

If H.D. was caused by a single factor then it would have been fully understood and overcome by now. Genetic and environmental factors influence the development of Hip Dysplasia, and affect the final degree of lameness and disability. Some of the environmental factors to consider are DIET. The feeding of a diet that results in excessively heavy puppies at a young age, can lead to the overloading of soft cartilage in the developing joints and can result in the deformation of the predisposed dysplastic joint. OVER EXCERSISE of dogs with unstable joints will accelerate wear and tear of the hip, short and frequent excercise will allow the joint to adapt and become more stable and painfree, by the time the dog is an adult.

Hip Dysplasia is a most complex subject, as is it's mode of inheritance, it is widely believed that most cases are hereditary, and it is advisable to acquaint yourself with the status of hips within the breed . Information obtained from the British Kennel Club recently indicates that for the Chow Chow the breed mean score is 14. Advice form the B.V.A. states that in order to improve the hip status of the breed, only animals with scores below the breed average should be bred from.

Dogs with a good hip score can still produce dysplastic puppies. Hip dysplasia is not caused by a simple recessive gene that can be bred out in a couple of generations, but research has shown that it can be greatly reduced by using breeding stock that have clear, or a low hip score

Some people won't have their dogs x-rayed because they will not risk putting their dog under anesthetic. Today's medical advances have developed many kinds of short term anesthetics that are considerably safer than before. The risk of losing a dog during hip x-ray is no greater than during surgeries for cesarean or entropian.

From the fact sheet I obtained from the British Kennel Club, over one hundred and twenty two thousand dogs have been hip scored, the Labrador Retriever having had more than twenty eight thousand scored and the German Shepherd dog over twenty seven thousand. I don't know what these two breeds registrations have been over the last 15 years, since the present scoring scheme was introduced, but nearly twelve and a half thousand chow puppies have been registered with the kennel club during this time, and as at the end of October 1998 only 573 had been hip scored.

Chris Clucas