The Western College of Veterinary Medicine evaluates and scores hips and elbows. For hips, they have five passing classifications:
Excellent
Good to Excellent
Good
Fair to Good
Fair
For elbows, they use three different views for classification. You either pass/fail for elbows, but if there is dysplasia evident, they will grade it for you.
Two of the orthopedic radiologists that view the films used to be on the OFA panel, back when OFA had many vets in their panel (vs. the three they have now). Students view the xrays as well, and ask questions. Many many eyes view the xrays.
I take my dogs directly to the college. They do the xrays without anesthetic, and keep the dog on the table until they know they have the correct view. If there is a question, they will retake the xray to ensure it wasn't just positioning.
I had one dog have a questionable elbow at age 2. The Dr. told me that for now he would pass it, but asked me to bring the dog back in a year for another xray of that elbow. He said that dysplasia is progressive, and if what he was seeing on the film truly was dysplasia, there would be significant change in a year. I took my dog back, had the xray done, and no, the dog did not have dysplasia. And the college only charged me 1/2 price for the film as no one EVER brings their dogs back for follow-up. I was the first person, EVER, to come back for the follow up. The Dr. thanked me for coming back and will be using my dog's xrays in the classroom.
Edited to add: Forgot to mention, the WCVM is working on building a database similar to OFA's. I am looking forward to this.
Excellent
Good to Excellent
Good
Fair to Good
Fair
For elbows, they use three different views for classification. You either pass/fail for elbows, but if there is dysplasia evident, they will grade it for you.
Two of the orthopedic radiologists that view the films used to be on the OFA panel, back when OFA had many vets in their panel (vs. the three they have now). Students view the xrays as well, and ask questions. Many many eyes view the xrays.
I take my dogs directly to the college. They do the xrays without anesthetic, and keep the dog on the table until they know they have the correct view. If there is a question, they will retake the xray to ensure it wasn't just positioning.
I had one dog have a questionable elbow at age 2. The Dr. told me that for now he would pass it, but asked me to bring the dog back in a year for another xray of that elbow. He said that dysplasia is progressive, and if what he was seeing on the film truly was dysplasia, there would be significant change in a year. I took my dog back, had the xray done, and no, the dog did not have dysplasia. And the college only charged me 1/2 price for the film as no one EVER brings their dogs back for follow-up. I was the first person, EVER, to come back for the follow up. The Dr. thanked me for coming back and will be using my dog's xrays in the classroom.
Edited to add: Forgot to mention, the WCVM is working on building a database similar to OFA's. I am looking forward to this.