I'm sorry, this is not too important in this matter but in the USA there are 2 methods for testing hips and they
are different.
Not all methods are the same, I'm not sure which are used in Europe but in the USA it is either registered with OFFA which gives rating like "Excellent" "Good", "Fair", etc. It takes a single film, and it is sent to OFFA headquarters and rated there. The animal does not need to be drugged to sleep.
Or, it is registered with PennHIP, which has PennHIP licensed vets, and they give scores by numerical rating. 3 films are taken, the animal is sleeping so the hips can be manipulated into correct position (which is painful if awake).
PennHIP in my opinion is the more accurate of the two methods, it can be done on animals as young as 16 weeks, but is best recommended to take the exam multiple times as the animal grows and take the average of the scores to 'predict' final hip score.
PennHIP was pioneered at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary College, one of the best and foremost veterinary practices in the USA.
This is example of OFFA film:
http://www.offa.org/hd_grades.html
These are examples of PennHIP's three films:
http://research.vet.upenn.edu/pennhi...8/Default.aspx
PS - It is entirely possible for 2 vets to disagree on OFFA type film because there is an "art" of examining the film, but PennHIP type is taken by mathematical measurement.
24-11-2010, 20:16
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