About Hip and Elbow Dysplasia

Hip and elbow dysplasia CANNOT be accurately diagnosed without x-rays. Many really tough dogs may suffer the pain of these diseases without showing obvious signs; making it a very heartbreaking disease. It is important to monitor hip health in any breeding program. This is done with the help of the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) which has a panel of specialists orthopedic veterinarians who screen specially taken x-rays and rate the hip health. Much of the information below is taken directly from the OFA website, which I recommend you spend some time looking over.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: The only flaw in the OFA database is that a breeder must voluntarily submit their information to the OFA and give permission to have the results posted as public information. Why this is a flaw is because very, very few breeders have the guts to allow negative results to be entered in the database. So results and percentages always show a skew toward GOOD hip and elbow health for obvious reasons. This is unfortunate as ALL results are needed to give an accurate picture of the true health of the breed in question. I'm proud to say I ALWAYS sign off on my OFA forms, allowing public publication, before I know the results.
My beautiful DanBar Lord Drago has OFA "Excellent" hip rating.
Canine Hip Dysplasia typically develops because of an abnormally developed hip joint, but can also be caused by cartilage damage from a traumatic fracture.With cartilage damage or a hip joint that isn’t formed properly, over time the existing cartilage will lose its thickness and elasticity. This breakdown of the cartilage will eventually result in pain with any joint movement.
The OFA classifies hips into seven different categories: Excellent: Superior conformation; there is a deep-seated ball (femoral head) that fits tightly into a well-formed socket(acetabulum) with minimal joint space. Good: Slightly less than superior but a well-formed congruent hip joint is visualized. The ball fits well into the socket and good coverage is present. Fair: Minor irregularities; the hip joint is wider than a good hip. The ball slips slightly out of the socket. The socket may also appear slightly shallow. Borderline: Not clear. Usually more incongruency present than what occurs in a fair but there are no arthritic changes present that definitively diagnose the hip joint being dysplastic. Mild: Significant subluxation present where the ball is partially out of the socket causing an increased joint space. The socket is usually shallow only partially covering the ball. Moderate: The ball is barely seated into a shallow socket. There are secondary arthritic bone changes usually along the femoral neck and head (remodeling), acetabular rim changes (osteophytes or bone spurs) and various degrees of trabecular bone pattern changes (sclerosis). Severe: Marked evidence that hip dysplasia exists. The ball is partly or completely out of a shallow socket. Significant arthritic bone changes along the femoral neck and head and acetabular rim changes. The hip grades of excellent, good and fair are within normal limits and are given OFA numbers. Unless the owner has chosen the open database, dysplastic hip grades are closed to public information. 
"Prelims" - OFA Ratings Before 24 Months of AgeFor obvious reasons many breeders need to know if a dog has good hips long before the animal is 24 months old (when the official OFA can be submitted). Serious breeders need to remove unsound dogs from their breeding program long before they mature to save time, money and heartache. For this reason the OFA allows dogs to have "preliminary" OFA ratings. Interestingly, studies show the reliability of the preliminary evaluation hip grade phenotype with the 2 year old evaluation in dogs is 100% reliability for a preliminary grade of excellent being normal at 2 years of age (excellent, good, or fair). There was 97.9% reliability for a preliminary grade of good being normal at 2 years of age. ___________________________________________________________________________
The OFA classifies elbows as NORMAL or DYSPLASTIC which is graded in 3 levels: 
lElbow dysplasia is a general term used to identify an inherited polygenic disease in the elbow. Three specific etiologies make up this disease and they can occur independently or in conjunction with one another. These etiologies include: Pathology involving the medial coronoid of the ulna (FCP) Osteochondritis of the medial humeral condyle in the elbow joint (OCD) Ununited anconeal process (UAP) Studies have shown the inherited polygenic traits causing these etiologies are independent of one another. Clinical signs involve lameness which may remain subtle for long periods of time. Elbow Dysplasia Grades:Grade I Elbow Dysplasia: Minimal bone change along anconeal process of ulna (less than 2mm). Grade II Elbow Dysplasia: Additional bone proliferation along anconeal process (2-5 mm) and subchondral bone changes (trochlear notch sclerosis). Grade III Elbow Dysplasia: Well developed degenerative joint disease with bone proliferation along anconeal process being greater than 5 mm. 



What Is Hip & Elbow Dysplasia?