By Jill D. Britton     

Understanding the OFA Database

The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) hosts a database at www.offa.org.   Its purpose is to list results of various health checks that have been done on individual animals.  Some health checks involve x-rays while others involve blood tests or cheek swabs.  The OFA web site has a vast amount of knowledge – here are some tips to help.

 On the home page, you can check out the background of any dog by entering their AKC registration number, or a known OFA test result number, or just by entering their name.  Once you locate the dog you want, you’ll get information on that dog its parents, offspring, siblings and half-siblings.  Open an individual dog then Click on the “Vertical Pedigree” heading at the top of the page and it will display 3 generations of dogs and any progeny listed in the database. 

Hip and Elbow Dysplasia: require an x-ray sent to OFA for evaluation.  Hips scores range from Excellent, Good, and Fair to Borderline then Mild, Moderate or Severely dysplastic, while elbows are Normal or Grade 1, 2 or 3 Dysplastic. 

Congenital Cardiac Disease: Heart postings can be listed as having been performed by a practitioner, a cardiologist or a specialist. These postings range from Auscultation (listening for murmurs with a Stethoscope) to Doppler echocardiography (ultra sound).  OFA does not evaluate these results, posting on the database requires an additional fee, so some dogs may have been tested but the results are not listed. 

Cystinuria: An inherited disorder that is characterized by stone formation in the urinary tract.  The disorder can be determined by Blood test or via DNA cells from cheek swabs.  Test results are listed as: normal (free of Cystinuria), carrier (carrying the gene for this disease) or affected (having this disease).  Dogs from two normal parents can be cleared by parentage which requires DNA profiling.  OFA does not evaluate these results, posting on the database requires an additional fee, so some dogs may have been tested but the results are not listed. 

Patellar Luxation: in affected dogs, the patella, or kneecap, can luxate, or pop out of place. Determined by a veterinarian to be normal or abnormal and these results can be recorded for an additional fee. 

Thyroid: a veterinarian should examine the dog at 12 months of age, and a special test is required and has to be sent to a special lab to test for hypothyroidism (autoimmune thyroiditis).  This test should be done periodically during a dog’s life as it has a variable onset and a dog can be clinically normal for years. These results are automatically posted to the database.

 Eyes: The Canine Eye Registration Foundation (CERF) allows OFA to display its current test result data.  Visit the CERF web site for more information about heritable eye disease check: http://www.vmdb.org/history.html.  CERF testing should be done on a yearly basis due to eye diseases that show up as the dog ages.  Puppies as young as 8-10 weeks can have their eyes checked.

 With Newfoundlands you will also find CHIC listings.  Dogs have at least four tests completed (Hips, Elbows, Heart and Cystinuria) in order to be listed as CHIC (Canine Health Information Center).  Test results may not all be perfect, but CHIC lists them as having completed these health checks.  CHIC is considered an open database because results of normal and abnormal status are registered in the public domain.  OFA historically only posted normal results but now has expanded its database to include abnormal results by choice of the submitting person.  A closed registry would only post passing results of health checks.