Vets left me feeling guilty and confused about hipscoring

Wanted to get Ela hip scored last week as we had the whole week off but it hasn't gone well. I spoke to a few vets all of which have said they will not do it under sedation and will only do it with a GA. One vet we have used before (rual vet experienced with hipscoring labs) made me feel like a horrible cruel mommy for even asking. She said from a welfare point of view they will only do it under GA as its stressful for the dogs otherwise.

So now i am very confused as i have breeders saying one thing and the vets saying another . . . Help!

To get the best possible results the dog should be anesthatised, if they move the results will not be clear and they may have to be done again, but this time they may insist on a GA. Its literally a few minutes, not really a huge risk.

It is actually more of a risk to score under sedation(this is information I was given by a Veterinary Anaesthesiology Specialist)especially is reversible GA is used.

I can understand owners of GA sensitive breeds preferring to use sedation, but the risks of GA are nowhere near as serious/common than they used to be years ago

I had both mine hip scored under GA and they were fine, they went in for the whole day and apparently howled the place down when they woke up!! I would never put them under GA unless it was absolutely necessary and in this case I felt it was, we are now elbow scoring at the same time as hip scoring by the way, it is only a bit dearer and worth having done.

I wasn't sure and had come round to the idea of GA (for the reversable reasons) but when it came to it my vet used a sedation!

Good luck.

Yeah i know and she will be elbow scored at the same time.

Wow she grew up so fast, seems not so long ago she was tiny, good luck with the scores.

I know some vets do use sedation, but mine use GA. When I had the VWD test done they sedated them then, but it was for a matter of minutes and they bounded out quite happy and their normal selves. Lots of the people having the VWD test done say their vets didn't sedate, so was a heck of a lot cheaper for them!!!

The vet i use for hip scoring (who is a specialist radiographer and sits on the scoring panel for the BVA) uses sedation and has done for as long as I can remember.

I am not bothered whether it's done under GA or Sedation - both are reversible depending no the types used - the important thing for me is to have a vet who frequently does x-rays for hip scoring and understands exactly what is needed in terms of a clear and correctly presented x-ray plate.

Both of mine were done under GA with no problems and Dita will also be done under GA later this year.