OFA Hip Certification

The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) is a medical foundation focused on the health of animals, specifically on hip dysplasia. The mission statement of the foundation states that it exists "to provide radiographic evaluation, data management, and genetic counseling for canine hip dysplasia." Despite this, the foundation doesn't automatically perform this medical operation on every candidate. To qualify, a certain set of criteria has to be met.

  1. The Organization

    • The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals has a number of specific objectives along with a main mission statement. These objectives involve the accumulation of financial grants and funds to continue performing medical operations, the collection of important information regarding genetic and orthopedic diseases in animals and the encouragement of further medical research in these diseases. Another long-term objective involves using this research to create programs aimed at reducing the occurrence of diseases in animals.

    Criteria

    • The certification needed for OFA hip replacement usually applies to owners of large dogs. Individuals who own or wish to own a large breed of dog would have to be aware of the problems associated with the dog's hips and the ease of treating these problems. Large dogs that are physically active potentially develop problems with their hip joints, causing the joints to become initially painful. Overtime, this painfulness will become steadily worse and develop into osteoarthritis. This is a serious disease that requires a medical replacement of the weakened joint.

    Ranking

    • The OFA is tasked with determining the likelihood of hip problems in dogs. The organization has a criteria method involving the use of a seven-point scale. This scale ranges from excellent to good, fair, borderline, mild, moderate and severe. Other criteria taken into account when evaluating the risk of hip diseases are the potential severity of the potential hip problems i.e., how fast it could develop, how badly it may affect the dog in question and the age of the dog.

    Comparison

    • According to the OFA's classification scale, dogs that score one to three on the scale receive a classification of excellent, good or fair, will gain certification for a hip replacement should any problems occur in this area. Dogs that score lower in the scale are considered to have failed the criteria test, are marked as high risk and will not be granted certification for a hip replacement operation. This is slightly different from the certification process of similar organizational bodies, such as the International Shiloh Shepherd Registry (ISSR), which still awards certification for borderline cases.