Hi all I have a quick question. At what age should would you generally recommend getting a GSD puppy's first x-rays done on the hips? My friend has a 6 month old male and the breeder has a clause in the contract to get the hips checked around that age but they went to their regular vet (whom I tolerate but there are definitely better vets in our rural area...) and he said he won't do x-rays until they are at least a year old because it isn't "safe for the dog."
I asked my friends to elaborate on why he said it wasn't safe but they said the vet wouldn't elaborate. My husband is a former vet tech and when I told him he said he's never heard of a vet not performing x-rays on a younger puppy and that it wasn't "safe" for them in his experience but he's only ever worked at a high end clinic in a large city with fancy schmancy equipment and whatnot so maybe this vet didn't have the appropriate equipment and/or properly trained technicians for a young puppy? I dunno.
Anyways, what do you all think? What's the age that you guys believe the hips should first be checked out?
I asked my friends to elaborate on why he said it wasn't safe but they said the vet wouldn't elaborate. My husband is a former vet tech and when I told him he said he's never heard of a vet not performing x-rays on a younger puppy and that it wasn't "safe" for them in his experience but he's only ever worked at a high end clinic in a large city with fancy schmancy equipment and whatnot so maybe this vet didn't have the appropriate equipment and/or properly trained technicians for a young puppy? I dunno.
Anyways, what do you all think? What's the age that you guys believe the hips should first be checked out?