Hips X-ray by Anita R. Weidinger, D.V.M. Question: When is the best time to have my dog's hips x-rayed? Answer: A dog's or puppy's hips can be x-rayed at any age. Most don't need to be done until they are two years old since that is the minimum age required by OFA (Orthopedic Foundation of America) to register a dog's hips for certification. Some puppies are x-rayed at six months to get a preliminary view of the hip joints. These films can be sent to OFA but need to be followed up with films at two years of age. Certainly if a dog or puppy is having trouble with its hips, x-rays need to be performed to attempt to identify the problem and help in the choice of therapies for hip problems. Hip Dysplasia (a malformation of the hip joints) can be identified at an early age in some cases. I usually tell clients with puppies that have less than perfect x-rays that we can recheck the x-rays at a later date, but that hips usually get worse instead of better. Hip x-rays performed with the Penn-Hip method can be evaluated for dysplasia with certainty at four months of age. These films are taken when the hip joints are distracted with the patient under anesthesia. The reporting method for Penn tells you how your dog compares to all of the other dogs of that same breed that they have data on. This is still a developing reporting method and should continue to gain in popularity.

Return to Support Corner