We hosted a great webinar in early March in partnership with Canine Health Schemes and the BVA.
During the session there were a large number of questions, and the team from CHS agreed to go away and answer them.
We’re pleased to say that we’ve had the responses back, and you can read them below.
Q: What happens during an appeal?
A: The original radiographs are re-examined by at least two additional pairs of scrutineers. The Chief Scrutineer then considers all the scores/grades – the original and the two “test” scores/grades – and comes to a final decision.
Q: Why is the elbow grade expressed only as one number?
A: Elbow dysplasia usually affects both elbows, but the radiographic changes may not always be symmetrical, thus the grade of the more severely affected elbow is taken as the final grade. An animal with both elbows grading 3 is not more seriously affected than an animal with a single elbow grading 3 and the other elbow grading 0, 1 or 2, but a total grade of 6 would be perceived as more serious than a grade of 3, 4 or 5, in this example, which is not correct. A grade of 3 in either elbow indicates severe elbow dysplasia.
Grading criteria
0: Radiographically normal
1: Mild osteoarthritis (OA)
2: Moderate or a primary lesion with no OA
3: Severe OA or primary lesion with OA
Q: Is any grade other than zero acceptable for elbows?
No, in order to try to reduce the prevalence of elbow dysplasia in dogs, it is important to breed only from dogs with unaffected elbows.
Q: Can you tell the difference between injury and dysplasia?
A: Prior trauma to the elbows may cause degenerative changes similar to those seen in ED. If there is history of trauma, it may be worth raising your concerns with the CHS team when submitting, so a note can be provided with the submission to the scrutineers when grading.
Q: If a dog has great scores/grades at 1 year old, what are the risks of degeneration?
A: If the dog has no evidence of HD or ED at 1 year of age, degenerative changes due to these conditions are unlikely. Other conditions can affect these joints, such as trauma, infection or immune-mediated disease, which may cause secondary arthritis.
Q: Is there an optimum age to have hip and elbow scoring done?
A: Dogs can be submitted to the schemes from 12 months of age. Primary changes associated with the diseases will be visible at this time. The secondary (degenerative, arthritic) changes may take more time to develop, particularly in more mildly affected animals, thus scoring at a later date may result in higher scores.
Q: Why do we have radiographs taken at 12 months?
A: 12 months is considered appropriate for skeletal maturity, when the joints are fully formed, and is early enough to ensure affected animals are not used for breeding before scoring is undertaken.