Victoria_g06

Hi Jed, I would love to talk about Anouk. People can only learn from my experience. May I ask what you noticed wrong with Anouk? When Anouk was about 1 year old I noticed when we went for walks she was bunny hopping a bit more than usual. She had a collar on so it was rubbing on her neck. (Bunning hopping is when she would try and scratch her neck and keep walking at the same time.) She had symptoms of course, but what? Bunning Hopping, VERY sensitive on her left side of neck; so when I scratched it, that would cause instant scratching. Head shaking, which was confusing because she did this when she had an ear infection, but she also continued after the ear infection was gone, The big one would be when she yelped for no reason then put herself to bed.- After this stage she would have the below trouble Restless / Unable to get comfortable (She still suffers from this) Only would get comfortable when her head was raised on a pillow/surface (Still loves to do this) Did you suspect SM at any stage? After the yelping, I thought there must be something wrong for her to act in the weird way. I googled it and was terrified. Did you suggest to the vet that it was SM, or did that idea come from somewhere else? I suggested it was SM after she yelped. The vet had no idea and diagnosed Atopy (Allergic Reaction) Even though she had no proof to what she was allergic to. (Must have guessed because it was Spring) If the dog is from a reputable breeder, have you told them, and have you been able to discover whether the parents/relations had SM too? I thought she was from a reputable breeder, but the minute I told her she denied that ANY of her dogs has SM. Though she never said that they had an MRI to confirm this. So I would have no idea. Medically, what has been done to relieve the symptoms? Did it work? From January last year to May she had been on a variety of drugs - Prednisolone was the main one. WARNING - This causes weight gain/ thirstiness and by April she had severe diarrhea that she had to be hospitalised for 4 days! By March though we had already decided for surgery. There were two options (a) Removing some of the skull to allow the brain some extra space; Cost estimate $6,000, years of life extended 3-4 (b) Installing a shunt that automatically drains excess CSF (Spinal fluid) into the belly cavity; Cost estimate $3,500, years of life extended 6-7 The drugs weren't having much of an effect and I didn't want to keep her on them for long periods April delayed the surgery because of the diarrea so we had to wait until June. June 30 was surgery day - we had chosen (b) due to cost and years of life extended. Now I'm sure Anouk was a special case but the surgery did not go well as we thought. A week after taking her home she developed lazy eyes as I call it. Both eyes would turn outwards and they turned red. Now this is where I get frustrated. Because the surgeons DID NOT want to claim responsibility; they diagnosed a new problem and said it had nothing to do with the surgery. They diagnosed an eye irritaion (From what?) And gave me cream to put on her eyes. (This was after a weekend in hospital $1,700 more dollars, total was around $5,000 because they refused to see this as due to the surgery!) She got worse. After two weeks she was blind. Right, the surgeons actually paid attention then.. took her in and discovered she had fluid on her brain. This was what caused her blindness. Luckily they were clever enough not to charge me for that surgery. Immediately she was better and we could take her home. After a month she was back to playing with her toys, and almost a year later she hasn't progressed much with more symptoms. Oh sorry for hijacking the last Q with a detailed account. Unfortunately that part wasn't as straight forward as I would like.

Yeah, Unfortunately I did raise the issue of SM but my vet at the time (Not regular) dismissed it. I think the vets just had no cases that they had seen or they just didn't think the signs warranted any further action. It was a hard 6 months of drugs before surgery needed to be done. Even that was an episode in itself. - All Victorian owners beware of Melbourne Uni Vet Hospital in Werribee. We were treated very badly and they cared more about my money than actually focusing on the issue. *rant over* I am thankful every day that Anouk is still with me and seemingly not progressing in the disease.

No. it is not "fairly common". Given the number of Cavaliers in this country it is actually quite rare, but not unheard of, and has cropped up in a number of UK imported lines, hence many having imports MRI'd before coming out here. It is cheaper to have an MRI done in the UK but can cost up to $1000 here, and with many lines showing no sign of the disease the demand for MRI is fortunately not high. It is nowhere near as common in comparison to other diseases the breed can suffer from, but yes, like any disease it is devastating when it happens. My MRI was $1,700 last January. I beg to differ, if the dog is in pain then it is WAY TOO LATE. The dog then actually will live with permanent pain, not tingly sensations - actual constant pain. The disease needs to be caught BEFORE any episodes of pain. And I'm not sure what vets are 'diagnosing' the disease without any proof because I had to wait a year while they went through ALL other alternatives. (Meanwhile the disease was progressing)

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who is shortstep? i find it interesting that the majority of posts are not in the breeders section but in the general, most of the info that is posted is from reading up about pedigree dogs. is shortstop a breeder of registered dogs?most folks on here are transparent, have pics of the dogs they breed or own and state whether they are an exhibitor or breeder or a dog owner, none of that for you.if posters don't agree with what shortstep writes about your breed and the genetic problems that Shortstep reads up on, then you get all these links and statistics and some such to prove just how wrong you are. if you dare answer anything or get into the conversation your breed is quickly highlighted negatively.so who is shortstep? I dont' know what shortsteps agenda is either? are you from Australia or are you from somewhere else? I don't expect an answer. Again attacking them "man" rather than the ball... Does it matter who is asking the questions? Surely the answers are the important thing! Have the ANKC, with the full support of all breeders, jumped on board and comissioned a breed wide survey? Does anyone know the rates or are we all guessing? This isn't specifically Australia but it does include it.. Inherited Occipital Hypoplasia/ Syringomyelia in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: Setting up a Worldwide DNA Collection Clare Rusbridge, Penny Knowler,, Guy A. Rouleau, Berge A. Minassian and Jan Rothuizen "The family database is currently 24 generations and details over 8,500 related individuals across 3 continents (North America, Australasia, and Europe). MRI Status is known for 193 dogs (160 affected with syringomyelia, 33 clear).." Now doesn't that seem like a high percentage of dogs affected?

It makes my heart break too now, I had no idea about it until my little girl started showing signs. I've heard this all over too; that it isn't as common here in Australia and yet when I went to the University of Melbourne Vet Clinic in Werribee they knew exactly what she was there for.. I find it had to believe that figure of 95% of cavvies in Aus wont get in when "Researchers estimate that up to 95% of CKCSs have Chiari-like malformation (CM or CLM)" and "that more than 50% of cavaliers have SM" Cavalier Health.Org (I'm not sure what country but it could be the U.k or America. And since most of our cavaliers come from U.K breeding Stock we have a good chance to get the disease here in Australia. Asymptomatic means that the parents could have the disease and never show any signs..they then pass it onto the puppies that can show signs. I bought my puppy from a registered breeder but I didn't like the state she kept her dogs in (Some inside and some outside in the mud and all matted) I don't believe she has screened anyone of her dogs. I had to wait a year before my vets would believe my puppy had SM, they thought it was allergies and ear infections, so I believe the vets should be more informed a well. I could tell the minute she started scratching air and not her ears that she had it.. The diesease does vary in severity and left too long it goes from being a 'pins and needles' sensation to absolute pain.. you only have to search for videos to see a heartbreaking cavalier in so much pain The diease cannot be reversed as well, so my dog that has the slight air scratching will always have that, if the disease is left and the dog gets painful sensations they will ALWAYS be there and that is terrible to leave it that long.. Can you tell us how many are MRI screening every dog they breed, both parents? The ones I have found that have done some scans, have only done a dog here or there, they were not doing both parents of every breeding. With out doing both parents of every breeding, the breeders can not follow the recommended breeding directives, which have been shown to reduce the number of affected pups. Also is there any movement towards making breeding directives with manditory MRI screeing on both parents of all litters? BTW all breeders that have hips, elbows or shoulder scored all have to be put under to be tested. All breeders that do BEAR testing have to put their dogs under. All breeders who place pups on desexing agreements have these dogs put under to have the surgery. There are countless other examples. I do not think that this is a good excuse for not doing the testing. If the breed also has a real problem with tolerating anaesthesia, then that is another matter that needs to be looked at very closely as it could be realated to other health problems that need to brought to light.I realize other tests require a GA. But because the MRI is very expensive $1200 to $1500 dollars, risk of death and not conclusive you have to weigh up the odds. The Cavalier Club in Victoria are looking for enough dogs to do discounted MRI's. I paid $1,700 but if they have enough dogs it can go down to $900. I don't know why more breeders arn't taking this up.. I will definately be wanting some results shown to me next time I search for a Cavalier puppy. That is nothing compared to paying $5,000 for a brain shunt surgery and associated costs...

Thanks for that feistylady, I had suspected it for about a year and the vets kept diagnosing ear infections and allergies.. :rolleyes: Finally there was nothing wrong and they got the idea it might be SM. Hopefully she will live a long time without severe signs.. already the meds are helping with her ear scratching and we also got a harness to ease the pressure on her neck during walks..

Oh, I am so sorry for your loss. It is great that you gave her a great home and lots of love when she needed it most. Take your time to grieve and think of her often

Woohoo, Happy Birthday Grumpy! My Mums Pomeranian is 14 this year.. poor thing is getting sick though.. Hope grumpy has a great life a head!

Hi There, I found this thread and just had to join and comment about this post. Where are these statistics? There must be more than 51 that have been tested? Or are these breeding dogs that have been tested? I find the last comment heartbreaking.. I was so concerned about getting a puppy without MVD or eye problems that I didn't even think to ask about Syringomyelia in the breeding stock. My 2 year old Cavalier has SM. She hasn't escaped, been run over or died. Lucky me.