After breeding…

[lvoss]

I have also been testing patellas since it is something that most vets can do during a regular exam. When I got my first basenji, a few people had talked about it as an issue, and I have been hearing steadily more and more people talking about it as a potential problem so I think it is worth doing.

[tanza]

@lvoss:

I have also been testing patellas since it is something that most vets can do during a regular exam. When I got my first basenji, a few people had talked about it as an issue, and I have been hearing steadily more and more people talking about it as a potential problem so I think it is worth doing.

I agree, there are even a couple of people in this Forum who's B's have patella problems.

And if you are doing hips (not sure about overseas and how they do things) but here in the US, elbows can be xray'ed at the same time as hips and submitted to OFA.

[nomrbddgs]

Yes Pat. When I had Shadow's hips done 3 years ago, I also had his patella's done at the same time. It was worth it to do both at the same time. Also, is it worth it to do a brucellosis test after breeding?

[tanza]

@nomrbddgs:

Yes Pat. When I had Shadow's hips done 3 years ago, I also had his patella's done at the same time. It was worth it to do both at the same time.

Elbows? or patella? Patella's can be done by a regular Vet during a regular office visit…

[lvoss]

Brucellosis is done usually within a couple of days of breeding and should be done prior to each breeding.

[nomrbddgs]

Pat, I had his knees xrayed as well as there were some issues with the way he walked. I think we have talked on this forum about it. It ended up-after 4 years of not knowing what was going on and almost putting him down because he was in such pain-that it was a pinched nerve in his back that was causing everything from TMJ to screaming in pain to a funny walk to hardly even moving. Lisa pointed me to a chiropractor in my area who treats him. He will never walk straight, but he is not in pain and IS walking straighter. His patella's came back normal.

[lvoss]

A normal patella exam is not an x-ray. It is a soft tissue exam done by the vet. The vet checks to see if they can luxate patella manually. I think that is what is causing Pat's confusion.

[nomrbddgs]

True, but in some dog's, it's beneficial to see where the patella actually lay and the xray can be useful in certain situations. I have put up a new thread with Shadow's story for anyone interested. I will bow out now as I have confused the issue with the xray and the soft tissue exam.

[lvoss]

Thank you for posting Shadow's story.

I think health testing can be confusing for most people and I just wanted to make sure that anyone reading understood how an OFA Patella exam is normally done. I know some people who have had a lot of trouble getting a vet to the exam even though most vets do this examination as part of a routine check up.

[nomrbddgs]

True, I had two to three vets look at Shadow. Everyone knew there was a problem-which is why I had him xrayed as well. Funny how one thing can turn into something else.