OFA: The waiting almost killed me!

 At Nationals during a chiro adjustment Diva yelped out as her one hip was palpated. I had never heard her cry out like that before so of course it worried me. Up until that point I hadn't had radiographs done of her hips but that yelp set the wheels in motion and I started looking for a place to get her done as soon as we got back from Wisconsin. 


 Diva's somewhat questionable breeder did not have OFA's done on either Sire or Dam but in cross checking her pedigree with the OFA database I was able to find a record for most of her 4 generation ancestors. Of those I could find there were 5 excellents, 13 goods, and 2 fairs. No reported dysplastics though I doubt they would have been listed had they been in there! Of course we all know that a dysplastic puppy can still be born to two excellent parents so having this small bit of information did little to ease my mind. 


The next "traumatic" unfolding came when after calling all around I discovered that most of my local options required sedation. I won't ever say that Diva is like my child because I have human children, and for me it's vastly different. She is family though and I love her with all of my heart. Diva is not a kennel dog, she has never been boarded anywhere, and prior to this she had never been out of my sight at a vet office. It all seems rather silly now but at the time I was feeling a lot of guilt about having to leave her for the day and worried that no matter how mild the sedation something would go wrong. The saving grace for this entire process was that Diva's new vet happens to be same woman who owns the facility where I rent sheep time and do agility. I knew she understood performance dogs and better yet, I knew her outside of her profession.


Thanks to a good friend providing some necessary distraction for the day I made it through and got the call to come pick Diva up around 3pm. When I got there she was resting in a crate and she hardly made a big deal about seeing me (I am wondering if this love affair is one sided? ;)). The vet reviewed the rads with me, pointed out things she noted, and gave me her educated "prediction". At this point I was just happy to have my dog back! 


Here are Diva's hips

The following day a new and torturous kind of waiting began. I had overnighted the application and radiographs to OFA so I chewed my nails and sat on my hands trying to restrain myself from stalking OFA. This worked for about a week and half when I made my first call ;). I am sure that they deal with many anxious owners so kindly they never did say anything about my calls and patiently told me what stage of review the films were in. 3.5 weeks later I received the results....Diva was OFA Good! 


Now that the first OFA experience is behind me I anticipate any future experiences to be less stressful....right? ;) Diva never did act like it bothered her and in fact she even gave me a gift to make the memory last. Diva experienced the post anesthesia coat blow so I have been vacuuming hairballs and brushing out coat for weeks!