It is day 20 now since my Vet mailed in my official Xrays for one female. I wanted to breed her for the 1st time and called OFA 2 days ago. They said they hadn't received them yet. I called my Vet and he sent them regular mail and says don't worry. I have been doing this for over 13 yrs and never had this happen. Would you continue to wait or redo asap????? I am calling again tomorrow to check, if not I will insist on a redo. I paid alot of money with no results to the Vet. I hate to blame him but it is his fault and I need to have my results for breeding, even though he said she will pass everything????? How long is the longest that you have waited for their receipt?????? TIA

Maybe 3 weeks tops. My vet started doing digital radiographs and keeps copies at their office. When I took our girl in to get finals done last week, she handed me a disc for OFA and one for us. I put the disc in a cardboard type envelope I bought at our post office and had it shipped next day service. Only cost $17 which is worth it to me to know that OFA will get it sooner so I get the results back quickly. If for some reason, the digital disc gets lost in the mail, I can always have my vet make another copy for me without paying for another radiograph.

I mailed my own OFA x-rays, two different dogs two different times, on a Tuesday and OFA had them by that same Friday. Results with certificates were back to me within three weeks of x-rays getting to OFA.

I don't know what to tell you but twenty days seems like a long time for x-rays to be in the mail.

Several years ago, I had a long wait and come to find out - the vet did not mail them when he said they did.

I just did some last month and it took less than 3 weeks, but I sent them myself, 2 - 3 day delivery and insured. I also pay the $5. extra for them to return the x-rays to me. I got the x-rays back before the reports.

I had exrays done on two males one prelims the other official. I used a vet I had not used before, but highly recommended. I waited 3 wks. No results. Called OFA, they had not received them. Called the vet. The office manager still had them on her desk. She didn't know how to make a disc....as they had a new exray machine. I was so freaked. I told her she had better overnight them ASAP. I was waiting on the prelims to start showing the puppy, and for the official to continue showing the 2 year old. I had the results back within 10 days after that. HOWEVER the good ol US postal service has been known to lose a few things. I think they can put a trace on them.

I never use the regular mail. Because I live in the next state from OFA, I use UPS ground to send my films. They are delivered the next morning because of the delivery zone. If you live further away, you can use priority mail and have it there in 2 days. Both have tracking available online, so you know where the package is and when it arrives. I appreciate that many leave the mailing to their vet, but I know how that can go (several good examples in the other posts). I have the vet sign the form, etc. and ship it myself. It costs about $6 or less - a small price to get 1 or 2 day delivery with tracking.

Is your female in heat already? when are you expecting her to come in heat? OFA recomends not to take the x-rays 4-5 weeks before the beggining or end of a heat cycle or 4-5 weeks after the puppies are weaned. If the X-Rays are lost somewhere, it can take more than 3 month for them to actually get to their destination. If the time is right, I would re-do. Make OFA aware of it, so they don't charge you twice.

Ask your vet for the exact date they were mailed! I have used several vets at several different facilities. I found they all would sit on the films for up to several weeks before sending them out. I think they must wait until they have quite few films to send in so that they can save on postage. It is frustrating though when you pay so much money for those films and then are left on pins and needles when you are anxiously awaiting results. Even if you aren't breeding your girl right away, it still is nice to know what the final results are and when you can breathe that sigh of relief.

In the future, I think I'm going to send out the the x-rays myself via UPS or FedEx so I don't have to be left wondering when they will be sent and when they were really received. It would be nice to have a tracking number to keep track of that shipment. I really do think it's an issue on the vet clinic side of things versus OFA.

I did finals on a dog last month. The vet told me up front it would be a couple of days before they could get them in the mail, did i want to mail them myself? I put them in the mail, at my own post office, it cost me about $2.50, that was a Friday, on wednesday i received an email from OFA saying the xrays were received. Two weeks later i had my results, and i also got the x-rays back before i had the results too. I think from now on i will probably mail them myself. That way i know they went from my hand straight to the mail.

I used a vet when i first started the OFA's that said THEY had to mail them in for me, NOT TRUE, when they would, it would take a month to get there as they would sit in the vets office no doubt for weeks. The vet i use now does them, i bring them home, write my check and off they go priority. They are there in 2-3 days, with delivery confirmation that the PO adds, i can track it.
Hard to say where those xrays are. I bet laying in your vets office on a shelf and they may have sent them off after you called them with an OOPS we forgot.
Mail them yourself if you continue to use the same vet.
Good Luck.

You mean he does not email them in ????? For heaven sakes, this is not the dark ages ! Tell them man to get a computer !

The longest I ever waited was 3-4 weeks, and when I called, sure enough, the vet had put my OLD address on the form, so it was hung up in limbo.


I hope you get this resolved, feel so bad for you, Leeda...

Not every vet DOES email them in. Get over it. I have a great vet and he does a wonderful job, im thankful for him.

Hmmmmmmmmm obviously NOT!

Did they look okay to the vet? I'd say hips are pretty easy to read for the most part, but elbows takes a really good radiographic eye.

I always get a copy of my x-rays (I use them to compare to down the road) and send the originals in myself....my vet gets it all ready to go and I just stop at the post office which is almost across the street from them. My vet is great. But her tech is the one who did the beautiful views....and she just left for another office. Hope my vet is as good!

My vet uses the digital equipment and the x-rays are put on a disc and I received a copy. When I had my dog's x-rays done this way, the OFA said the vet had to send the disc directly from their office and I was not able to send them in myself. Apparently the OFA feels there is some way of altering the x-rays that are on the disc and require the vet office to send them in directly. At least that is how it is in my area and that is what the OFA said when the vet office called them to ask. Here is to passing results!! Good Luck.

Oh great, I hope OFA doesn't tell me that my vet has to send in the disc since I just sent it off this Monday myself.

Vet is required to send digital to OFA directly from their office. They should know that , if they are going to charge for OFA quality digital films they should know the protocol that OFA expects.

Going through the same thing here. OFA'd two dog over three weeks ago, OFA says they haven't received them, vet says they've been sent, was done with digital.

I had xrays emailed in by my vet the day of the visit.
It took OFA two weeks to charge my debit card...so they did not even open the email for two weeks they must be running behind.

THANK YOU so much for all your replies and concerns. I called OFA an hour ago and YEAHHHHH they received my official Xray's on my Gracie Tuesday. They must have rec'd them the afternoon of Tuesday as I called Tuesday morning. It took exactly 20 days by mail, unless my Vet just had them laying around for a while and isn'ttelling me??????? I won't do this again. I will be mailing my own in. Yes, Gracie just started her heat too today.

My vet knows how important any of the health screenings are to me--OFA, CNM, EIC, etc. So he makes sure they go out the same day we had our appointment.

No problems over 20+ years.

MK

The most recent practice that I'm working at has digital radiographs and I was told that OFA requires the clinic to submit the digital images. I did just go to the OFA site and found it interesting... while it doesn't specifically SAY that clinics have to MAIL the disc in, it does say that only clinics who have previously signed up for digital submissions will be accepted. I suppose as long as the clinic you use has signed up for digital submission then they could give you the disc and you could mail it (but it sounds like the intent is that digital images be sent directly from the vet office). (I like to complete the form, package and mail out the disc the same day... but probably there are other vets where it doesn't get done in a timely fashion).
here is what OFA says:

<
All digital images submitted must include dog identification, clinic name, and date of radiography.

The OFA Application and payment should be included along with the CD.

CDs may contain multiple images per dog, but please limit each CD to one dog.

Applications with images on CD will only be accepted from clinics that have registered for this service.

Use the electronic submission registration form below.>>

I waited longer than you and once I started inquiring I found out the vet had never mailed them in. It happens. I bet it was forgotten and once you alerted him they sent them in at that point. Thats my guess.

A few years back I took 2 of my girls in to a different vet to get their OFAs. One was for finals and the other was for prelims. I waited and waited then get a call from the vet clinic that someone packaging the hips and elbows on both my girls got the elbows mixed up and OFA told them they need to redo the one girl's elbows. I didn't have to pay but it was still a pain in the butt since this clinic was an good hour away. After that incident, I only bring one girl in at a time to do OFAs and I go to another vet closer to home.

Not every veterinarian has digital xray equipment. It is relatively new and very expensive, and many general practitioners are not in a position to afford it for their practice. Especially the smaller practices out in the boonies, that do "everything" including xrays for their animal-owning community.
Often the purchase of new expensive equipment is passed on to the consumer, just like any other business, and we don't like that, do we?

Sounds like one of two things. Your vet did not mail them when she said she did or the post office lost them. Good luck.

I have been letting the digital x-ray problem rattle around in my brain (there is plenty of empty space for it to rattle) and have a plan if my vet does go to digital.

Anyone can sign up for a USPS account online. This allows you to print postage labels at home - and there is a small discount for priority or express mail. Since the x-rays are sent on disc, I would provide the vet office with a Priority Mail flat-rate letter mailer (those flat cardboard ones) that already has the mailing label with postage paid on it. Make sure your application form and fee are enclosed. All they have to do is put the disc into the mailer, seal it, and send it out with the regular mail. No special handling required. The postage is $4.80 - well worth it for two-day delivery - and the mailer is free.