Puppy buyer says vet did x rays prior to spay. States "her surgery went well and she is fully recovered . However we did find that she has mild hip displacia , my vet did xray prior to surgery
and it clearly shows displacia . i was advised that she will not be able to do some exercises . This is very disaponting to know that she is limited to what
she is able to do."

My contract clearly states we can have a second set taken and sent to a board certified vet. Why on earth are vets doing x rays so young? Money grabber? Or, is this buyer looking for refund? All pups in litter seem fine. This news comes to me a month after dog has been spayed and x rays taken.

What would you do???

TIA

I would tell them to wait until the dog is 2 years old. Re-take x-rays and submit to OFA. Then they can have a refund if OFA fails.

If the puppy has no symptoms, just some laxity it can and most likely will get much better with age.

Lecture them about proper nutrition and exercise. Swimming is great.

While we have all heard bitching about OFA lately, it's still our most popular method to evaluate hips.

Thank the owners for letting you know. Pass them as much info as you can about moderate exercise, good diet.

Share this info from OFA:

It is our practice to get a film of the hips (and usually elbows) if a pup is going to be under anesthesia for some other reason. The pup was being spayed, so it was a good time to check the hips as well. I see no ulterior motive - just sensible vet practice. IF the vet had recommended expensive surgery or some invasive procedure, I would have been very suspect of the motives. It sounds like the vet followed the evaluation with some good advice about management, so consider him one of the good guys

I agree. Usually I don't recommend spaying or neutering until the puppies are more mature than 6 months, but any surgery is an excellent time to get a set of films for evaluation of hips. I encourage the pet owners to get a formal interpretation of the films from either OFA or PennHIP. In this way, I can also find out how more of my puppies are doing.

So yes, I think the vet and pet owner did you a favor.

I had a dog who when x-rayed by his regular vet for other reasons was diagnosed with "mild hip dysplasia" .... the dog in question is OFA Good, and now, at 12+ years old is still perfectly sound with no hip problems at all.

If the people are truly concerned, they should have OFA review the films when the dog is older, and in the meantime shouldn't be over-exercising a young dog anyway. My point is though, that I wouldn't necessarily panic over a general practitioner's diagnosis of "mild" hip dysplasia.

depending on what state you live in they could ask you for money back despite what your contract says-state lemon laws protect pet owners if a condition is diagnosed by 6 mos. even if we know the condition may improve with age.....

Why wait until age 2 if many of you breed on prelims 12 mo.'s and older? I don't believe in 6 mo. xrays at all but the same prelim age as a dog being bred should be sufficient, unless the contract states differently.

Sad, isn't it?

Both

Then you're not the norm....which is good! Many of the "reputable and well respected" breeders out there are breeding males on prelims. of 12 mo or less....Just get a few big wins on one and that opens the door. Guess they figure it's worth the chance they won't pass at 2yrs. But they'll be the first to point figures at anyone else for doing the same...if your're a big name with a huge following it seems there's another set of rules.

Our 2 yr old dog was OFA Mild Dysplasia and you would never know it if not for the OFA report. She is a very strong girl, jumping around, out running the other dogs.

Her hips are shallow, there was no degenerative arthritis noted on her OFA report. I put her on Joint Supplement just because it seemed like a good prevenative, keeps her joints lubed up good.

At 6 months old, I can't see why that vet would be taking radiographs when he was suppose to be spaying. I've never heard of this practice in all my years of breeding. I would definatley get a 2nd opinion before you have to honor your warrantee contract if you have one in place.

That is NOT true. "The law is the law in the ABSENCE of a contract". If you have contracts those are what the courts will go by.