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Originally Posted by wildcard  I have knees checked on all puppies at 12 weeks old-- whether they are staying or going to new homes. The exam is done by my vet and it is the same thing they do for OFA but I don't do the forms or pay the OFA fee. In my pap puppies I have had loose knees on two puppies at 12 weeks-- each had one loose knee. By they time they were at the vet for rabies vaccine at 6 mos the knees were tight. Same father, different mothers. One has been spayed and at 3 years old her knees are still tight, the other lives with me and I will have her checked at her first annual exam and on her second annual exam before I would ever consider breeding her.
I have my vet check knees whenever they are there, so annually or more frequently if they happen to be there for a dental or something, and I have him chart the checks. If I were to register the checks with the OFA forms I would probably do it at a pre-breeding check (when they get their brucellosis test). For a male offered to the public for breeding I would register new results annually.
LP is something that should (in an ideal world) be fairly easy to eliminate in a breeding program because it is something that you can usually-- there are always exceptions-- find before breeding a dog, unlike some other heritable conditions (mitral valve degeneration found in many toy breeds comes to mind) that don't emerge until they are mid to old age. However, I have heard of LP showing up in a puppy whose parents, grandparents, siblings and half sibs are perfectly fine, so "flukes" do happen even with the most careful of breeding programs. |
I, also, have patellas checked at all vet visits even on my old guys. I just need to have the forms filled out for my male Radar (which will be done when he returns from Canada). My male isn't up for public stud but I do keep his patellas checked frequently as he does love to jump like a rabbit most of the time. I've been lucky as to have kept the pups that have LP. I've had only one puppy I placed that has LP and had the surgery and is doing fine. That line has been stopped and with Radar he has good knees thank goodness
Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers