After a single intraarticular injection of 10(9) Staphylococcus aureus in 12 puppies, septic arthritis developed in all the experimental knees after 48 hours. A considerable variability in scintigraphic appearance was observed. The juxtaarticular growth plates showed either unchanged or slightly decreased uptake except in 1 dog exhibiting a definite increase in tracer uptake. The epiphyseal uptake showed no consistent pattern. The intraarticular pressure of the arthritic joints increased significantly, but was not related to the tracer uptake pattern. We conclude that delayed joint scintigraphy as a single investigation in early septic arthritis does not provide diagnostic information and may be misleading.