12/11/2024
🚨Top Tip Tuesday🚨 Let’s Talk Hip & Elbow Scoring 🦴
Hip and elbow scoring is a valuable tool to assess joint health in dogs, especially in larger breeds prone to dysplasia, like Labradors, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Rottweilers. 🐕
❓ What is dysplasia? Dysplasia is used to describe abnormalities in development. In hip dysplasia, the ball-and-socket joint doesn’t fit correctly, causing instability, pain, and arthritis over time. In elbow dysplasia, the bones in the elbow don’t align properly, leading to joint friction, pain, and restricted motion. Both conditions can cause chronic pain, arthritis, and mobility issues, often requiring management through therapy, medication, or surgery to improve quality of life.
🔎 What we do during scoring: We take X-rays of your dog’s joints, which are then scored to assess their health. A lower score is ideal, indicating better joint condition and reducing the risk of passing dysplasia to future generations.
