# ofa site question



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Do they not list Thyroid? 

My certificates are back, first came the report from the lab that said they were ofa normal on them. It took so much longer than the hips and elbows for the certificates to come, I thought the lab work would be all I would get. 

But then they did come, so I am looking for it on the web site and nothing. 

Tori's Cardiac did not make it either. I called the vet and they will resend the results. All they do is listen to the heart. My vet listens to my dogs hearts every time they come in. What is the point of having this done through the OFA? If there was an EKG or an ultra sound, then maybe.


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

If you do a search, you can select dogs that passed certain OFA tests. I found dogs with OFA thyroid but I did not see your Evenstar's Tori. I found another Evenstar (not one of yours) and a few Toris, but not yours. Not sure why they didn't make it on there, maybe it takes a long time?


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Maybe it will in time. The certs came a couple of days ago, where the other certificates came a couple of weeks ago. 

Evenstar's Tori won't show up on Cardiac YET either, Hmmph! 

It really isn't a problem. I do not plan to breed Tori or Whitney. I did want to use Heidi, and she is the one with the Fair hips. Hmmph, again! 

But I think she has a better temperament then Tori, and better color than Whitney. I like her structrue and head and coat better too.


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## GranvilleGSD (Mar 28, 2007)

It takes a long time to get the information on the OFA website. You usually get your certificates a month before you see it on the website.


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

Sue, what's wrong with fair? Fair is passing. If her family has overall good hips and the sire line family has overall good hips, OFA fair should be of no concern. The only time I would take pause with a fair rating is if the rest of the family also tends to have hips that aren't so great. I'm not a breeder of course, but I know I would pass up an OFA excellent out of a litter of milds and moderates, favoring the fair that came from a litter that all passed.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Out of her full siblings that I have, all four are ofa good. So I am not overly concerned with the Fair. It is just that Fair takes more explaining, and half the people that are asking are holding out for Good or better.


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

Educate them. A brief primer on genetics and why it is better to have a solid history of passes rather than the one shining diamond in a dump ought to convince most. That, and how OFA excellent matings can produce horrible hips wouldn't hurt. Personally, if I had people who, after careful and understandable explanation, still refused, I wouldn't lose sleep. Let them go with someone who looks only as far as the ratings on the two breeding animals. Maybe they need to be burned to learn.


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

Sometimes it takes a while for the results to show up. Thyroid seemed to take longer than the others with Khana.

On the cardiac: while OFA will accept an veterinary practitioner's assessment of the heart, they do assign a P for Practitioner, S for Specialist, and C for Cardiologist to show the level of expertise in the heart examination. Exams done by a practitioner are not nearly as highly regarded as ones done by a cardiologist. I know that the type of "listening" my regular vet does is not nearly as intense as the exam that Khana went through with the cardiologist. So when people are looking at the quality of health certification in a breeding dog, the "S" or "C" is going to mean more in an OFA certification than just a "P".

By the way, I noticed that none of the dogs you mentioned have any OFA listings on the parents. What kind of background on hips and elbows do they have? The only thing I see listed are the full siblings and nothing on any other relatives.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I had Arwen x-ray'd at 2, and the vet I was going to said she would be ofa good or better, elbows normal. I did not send them in. She was the first dog I x-rayed and at the time, I was only looking for problems, not for an ofa certificate. I wish that I did send them in now. As she is spayed, I am not going to retest her. 

I had Dubya checked before he was a year old, and they looked good then, but I did not bother with sending them in for pre-lims as I planned to re-test at two. Instead, he had that spinal problem, I cannot remember the name, but the lumbar vertebrae are narrowing with arthritis. 

Anyway, I made the decision to retire him. Instead of going through ofas on him, I have x-rayed the backs of all the girls to make sure they do not have the same problem with their backs that he has. 

I had Dubya's elbows done when I did Rushie, when Dubya was three, and Dr. Hutchison said they were normal. They sent them to me, by mistake last week. I was only looking for problems since Babs came out with one elbow grade 1 DJD. Dr. Hutchison told me that it was a controversial rating and not necessarily genetic, but I wanted to see if Dubya had a problem. I would post them, but they are at home. 

As for the Cardiac thing, I have driven 2 1/2 hours to N. Ridgeville to have the Cardiacs tested. I did not know at the time what they would even do to the dogs. I thought they might run some type of scan, ultrasound or EKG or something, and send it in, but it is not the case. I was not aware of the specialist, cardiologist, practitioner thing until I got my certificates back. So are they even worth the paper? Here in town at my regular vet, they do not do Cardiacs.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Ok, so the thyroid finally did show up on the site. I did all three pups on the same day, all the testing. 

Anyway, Heidi's had my name spelled with an s and the end instead of an r on the cert. it does not show up on the site, and it is just my name, and the numbers are ok.

Well Whitney's Thyroid says she was tested in June at 22 months instead of October at 26 months. What's up with that???

Normally, I would say that maybe the hand writing was poor. But I have been working in an FDA regulated business for the past 15 months, and I am a bit anal about ensuring that my printing is legible. 

Oh well. I guess I missed the number on Whit's cert. Now I have to go back and check it out.


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