PennHIP

As a breeder of large breed dogs, wouldn’t it be great if you could identify, from a young age, your best breeding stock based on their hip conformation and improve the genetic characteristics of your breeding? This is now possible!

As a dog owner, would you like to know as soon as possible after having acquired your new puppy, that his hip conformation is perfect and that he is not affected by hip dysplasia? This is now possible!

Hip dysplasia is a disease that greatly affects an animal’s quality of life because it leads to the deterioration of the hip joint and the development of arthritis, pain, and limping. In some cases, the consequences of hip dysplasia are so severe that the animal becomes incapable of getting up.

Unfortunately, hip dysplasia is part of the genetic code of the affected animal and is present from birth. However, the animal rarely demonstrates symptoms before adulthood and unfortunately, at this age, joint damage is often already present and it is often too late to intervene and prevent their appearance.

Until now, the method used to diagnose hip dysplasia consisted of taking one x-ray of the hips in extension. Thereafter, the x-ray was sent for analysis at the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals). The results obtained either confirmed or eliminated the diagnosis of hip dysplasia.

A more precise method for evaluating the hip integrity of dogs now exists. This is known as the PennHip method, which is recognized globally as the method of choice to diagnose hip dysplasia in dogs.

Are you a breeder of large breed dogs and want to improve your breeding’s hip genetics by identifying your best breeders as quickly as possible? Or would you like to have confirmation that the puppies you sell will not develop hip dysplasia further on in life?

Being a new puppy owner, do you want to get a reliable estimate of the risk of your new companion being affected by hip dysplasia before your whole family becomes attached to it and before investing a considerable amount of money in veterinary care?

Furthermore, in cases where the diagnosis is confirmed before any lesions develop, it is possible to make changes in the pet’s lifestyle and carry out certain medical or surgical interventions that can slow down or even stop the progression of joint degeneration.

Because our goal is to continually improve animal care and customer service, the MONVET Veterinary Group inc.  is pleased to now have Dre. Laurence Saine, m.v, who is PennHip certified and available at Hôpital Vétérinaire de l’Est inc.

So don’t wait until the worst happens! Make an appointment with Dre. Saine to have your dog’s hips evaluated radiographically using the PennHip method. After all, as the old saying goes: It is better to prevent than to cure!

There are multiple reasons why this test surpasses the radiographic analysis of the hips by the OFA. To start, the PennHip method uses three radiographic views to evaluate hip integrity, whereas only one view is used in the traditional method.

The three views obtained with the PennHip method not only make it possible to identify the presence of arthritis in the joints, but it also determines if the joints are loose. If that is the case, the degree of looseness is then measured, something that is not possible to do with the traditional method.

This is important because the higher the degree of looseness is, the higher the risk of development of arthritis is. Thus, this presents an advantage in favor of the PennHip method for the diagnosis of hip dysplasia because it evaluates the conformation of the joints before any lesions develop.

Furthermore, because the looseness of the hip joints is something that is already present when the dog is a puppy, the PennHip method can be performed as early as 16 weeks of age, resulting in the early detection of hip dysplasia, contrary to the traditional method which is usually performed at 2 years of age when the dog is an adult and the joint damages are already possibly already present.

Not to mention the range of emotions that can be felt when people learn that the animal that they have become attached to for more than 2 years will be crippled before long!

Another reason that the PennHip method is the test of choice to diagnose hip dysplasia is that it requires veterinarians to obtain a certification after having had specific training on how to adequately perform the procedure.

This implies, among other things, that the x-rays must always be taken while the animal is under general anesthesia so that it is perfectly well positioned and completely immobile. The traditional method however does not require any specific training or certification.