Hip Dysplasia in Cats: Fear, Pseudoscience, and a Business Built on Pain

People who know me personally, who have purchased cats from me and returned again and again, know very well my attitude toward animal health, breeding, and breeder responsibility.

That is exactly why I once began creating a Breeder School — not as an abstract educational project, but as a tool designed to protect animals, their owners, and responsible breeders.

However, there is a reason why I did not launch this project at full scale for a long time.To be honest, everything I know and understand inevitably means going against a system that hides behind “science,” while at the same time exploiting animals and profiting from the fear of their owners.

By nature, I am not a revolutionary and not a fighter tilting at windmills. I do not enjoy conflict for the sake of conflict. But there are moments when silence becomes complicity. And this is exactly such a moment. So let’s get straight to the point.

A New “Gold Mine”

In the veterinary world, a new “gold mine” is actively being promoted — a new scare tactic, a new topic into which breeders and pet owners can endlessly pour money, cultivating massive profits from fear, ignorance, and animal suffering.

We are talking about the so-called hip dysplasia in animals.

Under the cover of “health care,” this topic has turned into outright abuse and, in essence, torture of animals.

The topic is large, painful, and complex. I will certainly return to it many times — in posts and in videos. But today, I want to start with a very specific example.

A Scare Article and Numbers Pulled from Thin Air

I recently read yet another so-called “educational” scare article about alleged hip dysplasia in Maine Coons. The article confidently states that 25% to 30% of all Maine Coons supposedly have hip dysplasia.

Next, the reader is immediately led to believe that even if your cat looks absolutely healthy, that means nothing — because the “real disease” can allegedly only be detected by X-ray.

The next step is directed at breeders: examine all breeding animals and exclude the “sick” ones from breeding. And then comes the key phrase that reveals the entire scheme: even if you keep only healthy breeding animals, this still does not guarantee healthy kittens.

This is the moment where one should stop and ask an important question: do you actually understand what this text is really about?

How the Scheme Works

First, all cat owners are frightened. A person who does not understand anatomy and physiology reads this and begins to doubt: “What if it’s true? What if I end up with a sick kitten?” Numbers like “up to 30%” do their job very effectively.

Then comes the substitution of concepts. Healthy animals are declared potentially sick in advance. Even if a cat is active, moves normally, runs and jumps without pain, the owner is told that none of this matters and that an X-ray is needed to “find the problem.”

Pseudoscience Instead of Facts

Special attention should be paid to the paragraph where pseudoscientific language is skillfully used in the complete absence of substance.“Genetic factor of hip dysplasia,” “polygenic,” “strong genetic component” — all of this sounds impressive, but behind these loud words there is not a single piece of evidence, not a single concrete fact, and not a single reference to an identified gene.

Now let’s put things in their proper place.

A genetic disease is a condition for which a specific gene or group of genes has been identified, and for which genetic tests exist that can detect that gene. No identified gene means no genetic disease. This is a basic rule known to anyone involved in medicine, genetics, or biology.

There is no genetic test for hip dysplasia. Not a single specific dysplasia gene has been identified. Therefore, dysplasia is not a genetic disease. All claims about a “strong genetic component” without identifying a gene are manipulation of terminology, not science.

An X-ray, meanwhile, is not a genetic test. But when properly marketed, it can generate a great deal of money.

What Dysplasia Actually Is

The word “dysplasia” means a change, a disturbance in the formation or structure of tissue. It is not a disease and not a diagnosis in the classical medical sense. It is a description of a change.

A change is not the same as a genetic defect.An X-ray is not a genetic test.Joint evaluation is not a genetic test.

Any changes, dislocations, injuries, age-related or load-related changes in parents are not inherited by kittens. Claiming otherwise is a lie of the highest order.

Diagnostics as a Tool of Pressure

Now let’s look at what is usually presented as a “routine procedure.”

Diagnosis of dysplasia is performed using X-rays under sedation or under a form of anesthesia in which the animal is completely immobilized. The cat cannot move and yet often retains pain sensitivity — a state that is essentially equivalent to torture.

The animal is placed on its back, the hind legs are fully extended and forcibly rotated at a prescribed angle, the spine must be perfectly straight, and the tail strictly centered. This is rigid fixation of the body in an unnatural position.

Here lies a key point that is usually mentioned only in passing. Even a deviation of just a few degrees can change the visual appearance of the joints and affect the final assessment. At the same time, it is openly acknowledged that an absolutely healthy cat can appear dysplastic on a “non-ideal” X-ray image.

A Bit of Professional Reality

Here I speak already as a kinesiologist.

The accuracy of any tests and diagnostic procedures is developed only through practice. When I was studying, my professor constantly repeated: “Practice.” To perform a single test consistently and correctly, approximately 500 repetitions are required.

This raises an honest question.

Are you confident that every radiologist perfectly masters positioning technique, precisely maintains angles, and obtains an accurate result?

If the final assessment depends not on the animal’s actual condition but on how it was positioned, what kind of objectivity are we talking about at all? And then the next logical question arises: where does the statistic “up to 30% of animals with dysplasia” come from? Are these real data, or the result of positioning and interpretation errors?

What Is Preferably Left Unspoken

So-called “proper positioning” is, in fact, forced placement of joints into an unnatural position. And yes, with such manipulations there is a real risk of injury, including dislocation — especially when the animal is fully immobilized and unable to protect itself from pain.

It is precisely at this moment that “health care” ceases to be care and turns into legalized violence against the animal.

Conclusion

I do not recommend anything to anyone. Every owner and every breeder bears responsibility for their own decisions. I can only speak about my position and about what I would personally do.

I would never take a clinically healthy cat — one that moves normally, runs, jumps, and shows no signs of pain — for such examinations simply because someone has invented another “scary topic.” To me, it is obvious that this is a money-extraction scheme, and I will not subject my animals to such experiments.

In addition, any radiological examinations carry risks, especially for breeding animals. Everyone knows this. X-rays are contraindicated for pregnant animals, and the potential impact of such interventions on offspring is not something I am willing to gamble with. I do not need this, and neither do my animals.

But in reality, everything only begins with the X-ray. If so-called “changes” are found on the image — and with this type of positioning they are found almost always, regardless of the animal’s actual condition — the next stage is launched. A massive list of “treatments”: pills, supplements, joint medications, courses, protocols, recommendations. I have seen this list. It is truly enormous. And behind it stands pharmacology and money, not the cat’s health.

The result is an absurd and cruel picture. First, a healthy animal is subjected to stress, sedation, and painful fixation on an X-ray table. Then, based on a subjective interpretation of the image, it is labeled “problematic.” After that, long-term and aggressive “treatment” begins for something that may not actually exist. Pills. Supplements. Chemicals. A healthy cat.

And this raises a simple human question: is this care for animals, or a fight against them? It feels as if, within this system, the animal is merely a consumable item — too alive, too natural, too inconvenient.

I am not writing this to convince or persuade anyone. I am simply sharing my perspective and my experience. I am not calling on anyone to follow me. I just believe it is important to speak about this openly.