Why I OFA My Fila Brasileiro
by Bob Kout

I have been involved with the Fila Brasileiro Breed for almost 20 years now. I got my first Fila Brasileiro in November 1988. One of the things that the breeder I bought from warned me to do was to OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) my dog's hips.

I was told that it was advisable to prelim ie., x-ray and get a preliminary report around one year of age, although at that time you could prelim them after four months of age. Where this comes in to play is if you are showing your pup. By preliming it, you could find out if your show prospect was worth the money you would be investing in it by showing.

OFA does not give a permanent certification until your dog is at least 24 months old. You do not want to prelim or have your female dog x-rayed if she is close to her heat cycle or in it, as that can change the results. (As a breeder, that is why I changed my Hip/Elbow guarantee to 27 months instead of 24 months, since that gives yhe owner of the female three months after the 24 months, should she be in heat, to get her x-rayed and certified).

The first Filas were OFA evaluated in 1986. There were two evaluated and both passed. We assumed we had no dysplasia problem in the breed. In 1987 there were seven evaluated, of which three were dysplastic. (“Houston, we have a problem.") That's 42.9%  that were not certified as hip dysplasia free.

The next year, 1988, only 14.3% were dysplastic. This was much better, but it still left us with a 19.1% average of hip dysplasia in the breed for each of the three years. In 1989, 33.3% of the Filas were dysplastic!

In 22 years now, OFA shows an average of 29.3% of the 583 Filas evaluated were dysplastic. But this is a false assumption, since there were the early years when only one or two were evaluated. Last year 44.4% of the Filas evaluated were dysplastic, which is still much higher than the 22 year average of 29.3% shown on the OFA website.

It wasn't until 1990 that the first fila was evaluated for elbow dysplasia and was certified. In 1991 there were two evaluated and only one passed, so there was a 50% elbow dysplasia rate.

In 18 years there have been 166 Filas evaluated for elbow dysplasia. OFA shows a yearly average of 23.5% elbow dysplasia over this 18 year period, but in 2006, 40% of the Filas evaluated for elbows were dysplastic, and last year, 50% were dysplastic.

Since 1988 I have used the same veterinarian for the whole time I have had Filas. He and I are beginning to believe that elbow dysplasia may be a bigger problem in our breed than hip dysplasia according to the database that we have.

Until we get more owners and breeders preliming or certifying their dogs, we will not know the extent of the hip/elbow dysplasia problem in our breed. If we can build the database by people OFA-ing their dogs it will give us a much better idea of how extensive hip and elbow dysplasia really are in our Filas. Not only that, but people will be able to look up a dog in the OFA database and know which dogs in it's pedigree have been certified.

There is another organization, PennHip, that uses a different technique to evaluate a dog's hips for hip dysplasia. Unfortunately they don't evaluate for elbow dysplasia, so if you use PennHip, it is also advisable to have your veterinarian submit x-rays of the dog's elbows to OFA so that you will know if their are problems with any of the dog's four limbs. Why do just half of the dog, especially since a Fila's front legs are shorter and carry more of it's body weight?

In February 2005, I decided that i would run a small test of the two organizations, OFA and PennHip. I took seven dogs to the vet over a two day period. I had the vet insert an Avid Microchip into each of the dogs to document each dog's identity. The vet first placed the dog in a foam form to do the PennHip evaluation so that each dog was positioned the same. The vet did the PennHip x-ray first, then the x-ray for OFA. He made a copy for me and one for his records.

Then he did the x-rays for the dogs' elbows. He then submitted the x-rays to each organization.

PennHip's results came first. Two of the seven dogs were dysplastic. Two weeks later, I got the OFA results. They had determined that four of the seven dogs were dysplastic. OFA was tougher on my dogs than PennHip. From that time forward I have not used PennHip since it seemed a waste of money doing the PennHip vs OFA, plus I would have to submit elbow x-rays to OFA anyway.

A lot of people think that you only need to OFA or PennHip your dog if you're going to be showing it. That is not a fair assumption. A pet Fila needs to e evaluated just as much as a show dog. Why?

Wouldn't you give your dog a different lifestyle if you knew it had bad hips or elbows? Would you allow your Fila to run up and down the stairs if you knew it was hurting your dog? Remember, the Fila has a great tolerance for pain and wants to please you, so he/she will do what they can to make you happy, even though it may be hurting while doing it. Also, if you knew that there was a problem, you could do preventative medications and maintenance to give your dog a longer, more comfortable life.

I actually knew one breeder who said that only show dogs get hip or elbow dysplasia. (Thank goodness she is no longer involved with Filas)

The worst case of hip dysplasia that I have had was a male pup I bought. He had moderate hip dysplasia in both legs. He bunny-hopped when he ran and he would not jump up against me or the fence since it hurt for him to do that. With their tolerance for pain, you don't usually see this behavior.

I prelimed him at around a year and it showed moderate hip dysplasia in both hips. A friend of mine had his sister. When she found out my results, she had her female prelimed. She not only had moderate hip dysplasia in both legs, the same as mine, but both of her elbows also failed OFA - all four legs were bad. She will not be able to have surgery to correct one ofthe legs since the others are not strong enough to support her during recovery. When her quality of life is suffering, she will be put down.