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Canine Hip
Dysplasia
The information on this page is not a substitute for
veterinary care. If you are at all
concerned that your dog's hips may not be normal
or about any aspect of your dogs health,
please contact your veterinary surgeon for advice.
What follows is a brief summary of the condition
of hip dysplasia in dogs
Canine
Hip Dysplasia (CHD ) is an inherited
condition. It comes in a wide range of
degrees of severity from extremely mild to
cripplingly severe. CHD is a
malformation of the hip socket and is polygenic
(passed on through a group of faulty genes).
This group of genes determines the potential for the
development of a faulty hip socket in any puppy
unlucky enough to inherit them. The hip
sockets the puppy with CHD is born with in most
cases look just the same as the hip sockets of
healthy puppies. But the hips of puppies
who inherit the HD genes do not grow normally.
In these puppies what should be a nice deep socket,
which safely cradles the top of the femur,
fails to grow properly and over time this inadequate
socket allows damage to develope in the joint in the
form of arthritis.
The
'expression' of the genetic potential of the
puppy - or what actually happens to the
puppy's hip sockets as they grow -
can be influenced to an extent.
The good news is that this potential for
'influencing' the development of your puppy's
hips means you are able to increase his chances of
growing reasonable hip sockets. To read more
about helping your puppy grow strong hips
click
here.. The bad news is that this ability
to 'mask' to a certain extent, those
animals which are affected, increases to some
extent the possibility that dogs with the potential
to pass on the genes for poor hips may be bred from.
The fact
that CHD is not caused by one single
defective gene makes it difficult to accurately
trace the path of inheritance. What we
do know, is that if we breed from a dog with
poor hips then the puppies that result are more
likely to develop poor hips themselves, than
if we breed from dogs with good hips.
Schemes
exist in many countries now to make multiple
measurements of various aspects of the hip joint as
seen on x-ray, and to classify each hip
according to an agreed scoring system.
It is well worth ensuring that any puppy you buy
comes from parents who have better than average hip
scores for the breed
Please consult your veterinary surgeon if you are
concerned about your dog's hips
Pippa
Mattinson. B.Sc.
© Pippa Mattinson 2005 All rights reserved
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