Clearances

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

Hi All,

On Patty's question about doing clearances on pets, IIene is correct, most 
pet's are not screened for the things breeding dogs are screened for as a 
matter of course.  However if there was to be an apparent issue come up 
within a litter a breeder might request to have the litter screened and 
offer compensation for that, I do make a notation about this in the sales 
agreement:

 >>In order for the Seller to maintain a quality breeding program, Buyer 
will allow Seller to obtain an OFA evaluation of the dog no later than 
Thirty (30) months of age, an examination of the dogs eyes by a Board 
Certified Veterinarian Ophthalmologist and a cardiac evaluation by a Board 
Certified Veterinarian Cardiologist at sellers option and expense. Seller 
will furnish copies of said reports to Buyer. Buyer also agrees Seller is 
not responsible to obtain these clearances, and if Buyer obtains 
clearances, he will forward copies to Seller.<<

  The data that is furnished by screening is valuable info to a breeding 
program on the other hand so is just clinical signs that the dogs appear 
healthy, so no please don't concern your self about going into the cost of 
doing x-rays on apparently healthy dogs, though the data would be very much 
appreciated.  Here is an estimate of cost in Oregon:  hip and elbow x-rays: 
$165.00 vet fee, and $35.00 for reading by the OFA.  Heart clearance done 
only by Dr. Gary Wood who is a  Veterinary Cardiologist in Portland $35.00, 
and eyes are $30.00 done by a  Veterinary Ophthalmologist.

  IIene is also correct that not just any vet should do the x-rays for 
screening of OFA quality films.  Only vets who do a fair number of dogs for 
OFA evaluation should be considered.  I do not even use my regular vet for 
my orthopedic consults, I use Aloha Dog and Cat for this and if for any 
reason any of you here local would need a vet to do diagnostics that would 
include orthopedic x-rays I would highly recommend, strongly urge you to 
consider going to see this vet or Jay Stewart at Amumsville Vet clinic.  I 
use to use Jay but I went to Aloha once as was so pleased with Doug's work 
that I switched over with out hesitation.  Though I would use Jay if I 
could not get into Doug.

For any issue of limping please contact me prior to going to see your 
regular vet unless he is one of these two vets, or Bill and Gin's vet over 
in Astoria, seriously, it's quite possible that by going to seeing your 
regular vet you not doing your self any favors nor your wallet.  Often 
x-rays taken by good but not as experienced vets who have an interest in 
radiology are poor in quality, positioning can be off, the exposure is 
often not good, a multitude of issues can be added up and you may end up 
paying for more x-rays down the road if the first films are not of good 
quality.  I have attached to this post a picture I took of TRiX hip x-ray 
on the reader board for an example of good hips and great quality of 
technique and positioning, notice how straight the tail bone is and how 
sharp the image is all of this gives the radiologist their best advantage 
of a proper diagnosis.

So anyway in closing, thanks for being concerned about your dogs and for 
taking such good care of them.

Gina :-)

hips.jpg