PennHIP is a highly accurate way of determining the likelihood of a dog developing Canine Hip Dysplasia. Hip dysplasia is the most common heritable orthopedic problem in dogs. The goal of evaluating dogs is to improve all breeds and try to eliminate this painful disease from occurring in any dog. Veterinarians who perform this type of evaluation must be trained and certified in this technique. Dr. Cloutier recommends that it should be done before breeding any dog, male or female.

The procedure requires the dog be anesthetized because the radiographs must be taken while the dog is totally relaxed. The radiographs are sent to a national database at the University of Pennsylvania and are judged against other dogs of the same breed and are given a number that stands for the degree of looseness the hips have. Each breed of dog is independently judged against other members of the same breed, so a good number in one breed may not be so good in another.

OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) uses another method to judge hips. We do perform this procedure also. It requires anesthesia and a stay for the day. The rads are judged and a rating is assigned.