A classic problem in medicine, both human and vet - the Practitioner's don't take the time to educate the clients/ patients so that they can make informed decisions.....*sigh* <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />


You *can* do the x-rays without the anesthesia, but it's harder ( depending on the drive of a dog, it may be *much* harder )
Good luck, Jenni!

A point to discuss with whatever vet you decide to go with if the dog is to be anesthetized.... Malinois have a high muscle mass and low percentage of body fat compared to many other breeds. Greyhounds are another breed with the same characteristic.

I always discuss anesthesia CAREFULLY with any vet that needs to 'knock out' one of my Mals and make sure they are aware of this. I used to have a website saved in my favorites that went over Anesthesia safety in Malinois. (before the hard drive bit the dust)

I would choose to NOT have my dogs anesthetized unless absolutely necessary but I do believe they have to be under a general to get an accurate PennHip reading.

As someone who was a vet tech for many years, I would second what Will says that most dogs behave much differently (and better) when their overly anxious owner is out of their view. With that said, I don't let vets take my dogs away from me to do ANYTHING but the vets I use usually have me restrain the dog, hold off the leg for blood draws, assist with xrays, etc...but I have substantial veterinary experience.

There are many vets in my area. I guess it's habit, I've been going to this vet since I was a child tagging along with my mom. Also, I don't know anyone with working dogs that's less than an hour from me to ask for a referral.

But you're absolutely right. I could be short-changing my vet. It could be he would welcome the information. Assuming is dangerous.

My dog had his PennHip yesterday. My vet willingly read the article on Belgian anaesthesia. In the end, they relented and let me be present while a pre-anaesthesia medication was administered. This medication relaxed the dog to such an extent that he didn't care whether I was still present or not. My dog remained calm during the administration of the drug and didn't even flinch when the needle was slipped into his vein. I really appreciate the way my vet's office handled this in the end.

I wanted to post this to publicly admit to being out of line with my earlier comments about my vet's office. That's one of the problems with web boards, people can sometimes type faster than they can think...