[Guest]

Hi I'm new to the forum. I have two bassets one has allergies and I've gotten alot of great advice from all of the topics here for him, but My other basset (Django) was recently diagnosed with hip dysplasia. I've never heard of a basset with HD. I trust my vets because I work for them and our head Dr. is an orthropedic specialist, but I just kind of thought it was weird. So I was just wondering if it was common at all.

Thanks

Rachael

 

[Betsy Iole]

If you check OFA statistics for bassets, a little under a third of bassets screened by that organization are diagnosed with hip dysplasia. If you look at PennHip stats, Bassets are on the high end for median DI, which translates to relatively greater hip laxity than is seen in most breeds. Hip laxity is believed to be a condition that predisposes a dog to the development of arthritis.

So, it would appear at first glance that bassets have a greater problem with hip dysplasia than other breeds. However, unlike most other breeds, bassets bear a disproportionally greater amount of their weight (two thirds to three quarters) on their front ends; less, on their hips and rears. This might suggest that many basset are able to tolerate comparatively greater hip joint laxity without developing the debilitating arthritic changes that characterize moderate and severe hip dysplasia.

I believe there is room for legitimate debate about the clinical significance of an initial diagnosis of hip dysplasia in a basset, especially if the dog has no accompanying degenerative arthritic changes. However, if there is arthritis of the involved hips, then it's definitely a problem for that particular basset, and the diagnosis of dysplasia *is* significant for both the affected dog and its breeder.

[ October 18, 2004, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Betsy Iole ]

 

[Guest]

Well that's good news to me. Either he doesn't really have it or his chances of not suffering as much are better than other breeds. Thank you for your very informative response.

Rachael

 

[Betsy Iole]

Why was Django x-rayed? Was he symptomatic, or was the hip dysplasia an incidental finding when he was x-rayed for some other reason?

 

[Guest]

He was limping on his right back legs so we took some x-rays and his hips looked bad. Everytime a different vet would look at them they'd say "whoa his hips are bad". And Dr. K felt alot of grinding when she was moving his hip joints even before she saw the x-rays

Rachael

 

[Carolyn Young]

Yes, hip dysplasia is found in bassets. It's another of those problems that is either ignored or swept under the rug by breeders who will tell you that "bassets are different" and can't be expected to conform to the same standards as other breeds. As my veterinarian says, if a basset CAN have good hips why don't they all? Our goal should be to produce good hips and if we don't use OFA or Penn Hip to evaluate our dogs we're making a mistake.

We have no idea how prominent hip dysplasia is in our breed because people aren't testing. If you go to the OFA data base , and I urge you all to do it, you'll see like I did that there are only 96 basset hounds in it -- hardly a representative sample. There are no "Excellent" and only 39 "Good". It's interesting to see the kennel names that aren't there. We all need to work on this.

We were excited to get the results back on one of our bitches this week. She was an OFA Good -- our third.

[ November 27, 2004, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: Carolyn Young ]

 

[Soundtrack]

How old is Dingo? It's not uncommon for vets to diagnose HD in adolescent bassets, they are extra loose at that age. And lameness in a young basset could be panosteitis, also known as "growing pains".

[ November 27, 2004, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: Soundtrack ]

 

[Mikey T]

" As my veterinarian says, if a basset CAN have good hips why don't they all?"

If one looks at the statistics as a whole the number of Chondrodystrophic dogs (BULLDOG, Pug, CLUMBER SPANIEL, SUSSEX SPANIEL, AMERICAN BULLDOG, FRENCH BULLDOG} with high percentage of hd is staggering. This speaks to a much large issue with Chondrodystrophic dwarfism than with specific breed issues of HD That coupled with the fact that excellent hips are nearly non-existent in the breeds all suggest that correcting the problem will not be easy, given the fact that nonw of these breed are know for experiencing hip problems. the fact that these breed carry more weight on the front legs than typical and the short limbs all mitigate problems caused by laxcitiy of the joint. Lets be realistic is an anatomical abnomality that does not cause a problem real something to be concerned with. IMHO it is elbow and elbow related problems that should take presedent over hip issue in any breeding program of bassets. Sadly not even a 100 dogs have been evaluated so statistics for the breed are not posted. Elbow Dysplasia Statistics

 

[Carolyn Young]

Yes, I think hip dysplasia is something to be concerned about. When I saw a multiple-specialty winning bitch of ours who made the final cut at Nationals end up unable to jump up on the gate in her run at 8 years of age because of the pain caused by her severely dysplastic hips I understood that this is not a problem to be ignored. Her movement as a young bitch was incredible, but by 4 years of age we began to notice a change. The fact that their very structure makes it difficult to get good hips doesn't mean we should stop trying.

 

[Soundtrack]

I went through the hip database, how fascinating.
The only one in there related to my guys (daughter of Spot) is rated as "good". Would that better or worse than "normal"?

 

[pinehawk]

127 dogs is not enough to base any opinions on.it's a OK start,but nothing to be patting ourselves on the back about either.they OFA or Penn Hip should make themselves more available to people to have it done.they know where the shows are and they know where the field trials are.they can come out and get all the info they want if they show up.right now my dogs hips are fine as far as i'm concerned cause i've got the ribbons on the wall and rabbits in the freezer and that's all the proof that i need.