The OFA is the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, Incorporated and is responsible for maintaining the hip and elbow registries, among others, for dogs in North America. At the OFA a panel of three board-certified veterinary radiologists will read your dog s pelvic radiograph and give the dog a rating of Excellent, Good or Fair hip structure, all of which are permissible to breed. They will also examine your dog s elbows via standardized XRay procedures, and rate him "Clear" of elbow dysplasia. As many of you are probably aware, the Ontario Veterinary College radiologists will also read hip and elbow XRays amd will grade them "Clear", but these ratings are not standardized along OFA guidelines, as the OVC will grade hips at 18 months of age (versus 24 months for OFA), and they do not have the grading system(s) of the OFA. Canine Hip Dysplasia (CHD) is an inherited trait involving multiple gene factors. CHD is a developmental disease, all dogs are apparently born with normal hips, but, in affected individuals, the radiographic signs become evident within several months to years. The OFA reports that the accuracy of diagnosis is approximately 95% at 24 months of ge. Because OFA data is drawn from breeders submitting radiographs that have been pre-screened by their own vets, this data is biased toward normal (i.e. if your vet told you your dog was dysplastic, you would not likely send the XRay into the OFA, so they receive a greater percentage of normals then are actually present in the population). This presents a scary picture in our breed. OFA results from January 1974 to July 1991 show that 37,497 Rottweilers were evaluated and that 23.3% were dysplastic!! ...Imagine the numbers who were not sent in because their own vets diagnosed CHD at the time the XRay was taken, in addition to the numbers that were never even radiographed!! I would hazard a guess that probably about 40% of our breed is affected by this crippling disease!! The OFA suggests that we, as responsible breeders should only breed dogs with normal hips to dogs with normal hips. Prospective breeders and buyers should check OFA numbers with the registry and ask to see the OFA certificate. If an OFA number canot be verified assume the dog to be dysplastic until proven otherwise! Preliminary evaluations can be done as early as 4-5 months of age with 85-90% accuracy. Please remind your vet that when taking the XRay anesthesia is recommended, and for bitches the OFA recommends radiographing 3-4 weeks before or after a heat period to prevent any false positives due to hormonal effects of the estrus cycle. The OFA further states that there are no environmental factors which cause CHD, there is no evidence that vitamin C is beneficial in reducing or preventing CHD, high caloric intake resulting in rapid growth and increased weight gain may exacerbate dysplastic hips, but will not create hip dysplasia, running, jumping, slick floors, etc. will not cause hip dysplasia, and that previous injuries to the legs or hip structure can be recognized on the XRays and are taken into account when evaluating hip status.
The Rottweiler Club of Canada is Mississauga-based company (Ontario, Canada) with a phone number 9058583510. Our data show that the company is located at the address: 33-2825 Gananoque Dr. The company has a web site: www.rottclub.ca.
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