Health scores are in...

[snowbunny]

I got Squidge's hips and elbows scored when I was in the UK. I was getting a little bit concerned about her still having a lopsided "puppy" gait so being able to have them x-rayed under sedation rather than GA was a bonus. I had planned to have them done last year just to give me a baseline, but the appointment I had planned my trip around was cancelled the day I arrived in the UK!

The results arrived today. She has zero-scored elbows, perfect. Her hips are a touch higher than I'd have liked, but nicely balanced at a 5/5. Considering that she doesn't exactly take it easy, I'm pretty happy with that.

 

[Aitch]

That's great news. Well done Squidge.

 

[Leanne]

I would be very pleased with that score!

 

[Jacqui-S]

That is good news
Good girl Squidge x

 

[Heidrun]

That's a good score.

 

[Lisa]

Excellent!

 

[Heidrun]

One of my Clumbers has a hip score of 3:4 which is excellent in his breed. Occasionally he puts in the classic bunny hop so many people believe to be a sign of bad hips. Just shows that a funny gait is sometimes just the way a dog moves, nothing more.

 

[Beanwood]

Really good score. Nice and even . Bramble has been hip and elbow scored, and a similar score. My rehab vet had a look at the scans and was very happy with her. I would've have liked Bramble's score to be lower, but my vet said that's just a "thing", and it's more important to look at the line and not breed from dogs that are too young.

 

[Joy]

Good news.

 

[Oberon]

Good results!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Hey, congratulations! I'd be really happy with those scores, too.

 

[Boogie]

 

[Charlie]

All good there then. Good girlie Squidge. I hope this isn't a silly question, but are hip/elbow scores different for each breed? x

 

[snowbunny]

Not a silly question at all. The concept is the same: they are measured on a scale of 0 to 106, the lower the better. But the mean and median varies dramatically between breeds. Here is the published list from the BVA:

https://www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/Canine_Health_Schemes/Breed_Specific_Statistics_2012.pdf

You can see the median for Labradors is 10 with a range of 0 - 106.
The median for the Pointer is 9 with a range of 0 - 60 in those dogs tested.
The Bulldog's median is 45(!) with a range of 9-96.

Obviously that's just done on the sample sizes they have. Over 74,000 Labradors were tested for this data, compared to only 26 Bulldogs and 142 Pointers.

 

[kateincornwall]

Well done little lady , I still think of her as a little pupster ! x

 

[edzbird]

Nice figure(s) Luna!

 

[Jen]

Oooh that’s really good! Are you planning on breeding her or was it just for peace of mind? X

 

[snowbunny]

Oooh that’s really good! Are you planning on breeding her or was it just for peace of mind? X

No, I have no plans to breed her. If I lived in the UK I might consider it, but I wouldn't do it from here. I'm still very undecided about spaying her, but it probably makes sense to do so since I don't want to neuter Shadow.

 

[Granca]

That sounds really good! Well done, Squidge!

 

[Snowy]

We had Nelson x-rayed this summer too (it's part of the sales agreement with the breeder that the buyer gets x-rays done and also enters the dog in to the basic retriever ability test).

Hips were A/A and elbows 0/0.

So joints are OK but "head test" assessment is still "daft as a boot"