Sm Health Scheme Given Go-ahead

[periannath]

http://www.dogworld.co.uk/News/39-SM-health

THE RESULTS of scans for syringomyelia (SM) and the chiari-like malformation (CM) are to be published for the first time by the Kennel Club next spring.

After much debate and amid concern on the part of Cavalier breeders, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the KC have agreed to forge ahead with an official health scheme.

BVA president Harvey Locke said this week that the heritability of SM was sufficiently high that genetic selection against the disease should be ‘very successful’.

The scanning and recording of results - part of the BVA/KC’s canine health scheme – will be aimed particularly at breeding stock and will start in January. Following consultation with breed club representatives ‘and to achieve maximum take-up of the scheme’, it has been agreed that publication of results by the KC will start once the first batch of results is available; this is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2012.

In the meantime, the KC’s online health test results finder will indicate that the dog has been screened and that results are available from the owner. Guidance on how to understand the results will be made available once the scheme has been launched.

The aim of the scheme is to reduce, and hopefully eliminate, the incidence of inherited CM and SM in dogs.

CM is characterised by a mismatch in size between the brain – too big, and the skull – too small. This constricts the opening from the skull into the vertebral canal and alters the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. As a result, a fluid-filled cavity develops within the spinal cord called a syrinx, with the condition being called SM. Both conditions can cause a significant amount of pain.

Debilitating

A KC/BVA statement released this week said: “These debilitating inherited conditions affect certain breeds, most prominently the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, but also the Griffon Bruxellois. CM/SM is also suspected to be inherited in a number of other small – toy – breeds including King Charles Spaniels, Chihuahuas, Pomeranians, Affenpinschers and Maltese.”

To take part in the scheme, owners will need to have their dog MRI scanned at a veterinary practice. The scans will then be reviewed by two scrutineers from a BVA-appointed panel of expert neurologists and radiologists and graded for severity for both CM and SM.

The results will be sent to owners via the veterinary practice which performed the MRI scan. Results of KC-registered dogs will be sent to the KC for publication on its health test results finder online, and to the Animal Health Trust for inclusion in the estimated breeding value calculations (EBVs).

Attempts have been made to put Cavalier EBVs in place since 2007, but the subject of SM in the breed has been the cause of much unrest. Some breeders are not keen to have the results of scans recorded on their dogs’ registration documents and want them only to show the date of the scan. But the results of other breeds’ BVA/KC health schemes are made available on the KC’s health test finder and in the Breed Records Supplement.

Dr Sarah Blott of the AHT, who is involved with research into SM and the drawing up of EBVs, told DW previously: “We need a BVA scheme because to generate EBVs which are accurate we need good-quality data which is standardised in the way it is measured. At the present time the clinics (which scan) are using different protocols, and the results are measured in different ways, so it is vital that all the data is standardised.”

Mr Locke said this week: “SM is a terrible disease that causes severe pain. We are therefore delighted to announce the new canine health scheme for CM/SM.

“It has taken over two years to develop and we are confident that it will have a positive impact on the health and welfare of the afflicted breeds. The heritability of SM is sufficiently high that genetic selection against the disease should be very successful.

“We are very grateful to the team of scientists who have worked hard to make the scheme possible and look forward to the launch in January.”

KC chairman Professor Steve Dean said: “We are very keen to encourage the greatest possible take-up of the test by breeders of affected breeds.

Clubs’ anxieties

“This is a key development in the work to tackle these debilitating conditions and we hope many breeders will use the scheme.”

Sheena Maclaine, chairman of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, said the KC/BVA scheme is to be discussed at the club’s committee meeting in a week’s time.

“It is appreciated that there is a need for a scheme, but at this stage there are a great many genuine concerns and anxieties,” she said. “It is imperative that all breed clubs and the KC endeavour to work together.

“The scheme will be up and running in January and will be supported by guidelines for CM and SM. This guidance will be complicated and therefore need extremely careful consideration and explanation to prevent confusion and misinterpretation.

“We are thankful that all breed clubs and pet owners will be permitted input into the ‘advice leaflet’ which the KC has assured us will be in place before publication of results.”

Commenting on Mr Locke’s statement regarding the incidence and heritability of SM, Mrs Maclaine said: “At this early stage an MRI scan is a diagnostic tool and not genetic, and therefore its results are only indicative.

“Prof Steve Dean said, ‘We use all the tools we have – the MRI is only one tool; stockmen’s knowledge of their own pedigrees is important too’. I think this is a sentiment that most breeders would concur with and indicates a balanced approach which many of us are desperate to achieve, and on which the future of Cavaliers depends.”

Full details of how things will work will be finalised between now and the end of the year, and procedure notes will be circulated to ensure that scans taken from now on will fully comply with the scheme.

Edit to add link

Edited October 4, 2011 by periannath

[Steve]

Great news - as long as they will have a method of being able to determine which ones were bred by registered breeders and which ones werent - and that they also publish stats on any cross bred dog affected too.

Our health survey showed more first cross dogs diagnosed in australia than any purebred.

Edited October 4, 2011 by Steve

[periannath]

The results as I understand it will be published online & I assume in the breed supplement.It will only therefore, show results from registered purebred dogs.

If testing & reading of the scans is standardised, I would hope the breeders would be supportive of the scheme but fear because it will only 'encouraged' by the KC may cause some people not to scan because they won't want positive scans published.Unfortunately the UK KC is not a fan of registration limitations.

It would a big help if there was also a register of Xbreds & purebreds sans papers with SM. I don't imagine the UK KC will take that up.

It's a start anyway

[Steve]

Yes - unless they are going to make it mandatory making all of the results public may be counterproductive but its at least a start - that has to be good - I think.

[Chris the Rebel Wolf]

'In the meantime, the KC’s online health test results finder will indicate that the dog has been screened and that results are available from the owner' - from this I understanding that the dog in question will be displayed online with the fact it has been scanned, but the results aren't displayed, contact with the owner needs to be made. Which is fair enough, I think, displaying the results as well might result in some avoiding the scan as Peri says.

[Steve]

'In the meantime, the KC's online health test results finder will indicate that the dog has been screened and that results are available from the owner' - from this I understanding that the dog in question will be displayed online with the fact it has been scanned, but the results aren't displayed, contact with the owner needs to be made. Which is fair enough, I think, displaying the results as well might result in some avoiding the scan as Peri says.

Missed that bit - yes that may work better . Too bad we have to worry about sharing the info though if we really are motivated by what is best for the breed and the dogs.

[sandgrubber]

A bit more on this from the PDE Blog 23 Sept 2011 http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/

PDE provides a link for the BVA / KC joint announcement: http://www.bva.co.uk/newsroom/2460.aspx

also notes . . .

Elsewhere, there are several other initiatives aimed at helping to further elucidate CM/SM. They include the Foetal Tissue Research Project, the Cavalier Collection Scheme, and Rupert's Fund which funds MRI scans of older Cavaliers (6+). Rupert's Fund has so far met the cost of MRI scans for 50 dogs vital to SM research. If you have a Cavalier, and haven't already done so, please do check out how your dogs could help future Cavaliers by participating in the research.

[Kiara&Heidi]

That's good news, I had a cavalier who died from SM when she was very young. It was so sad, we took her to the vet so many times and they could not find out what was wrong until the very end. For that reason I would be hesitant to ever get another cavalier, but hopefully soon it won't be a problem.

[periannath]

Online data base will show the dog has been scanned only at the moment.All results will be published in the breed supplement probably first quarter 2012.That means if you have your dog scanned the vet is obligated to pass your results to the KC who will publish them and pass the results to the AHT.I think that is where it will fall down.Unfortunately there will be people that will not test or if it is possible find a 'tame ' vet that will not pass results on for fear of having positive results published.

I don't know if the UK KC has a system whereby an application to the KC through breed councils or breed clubs can be made to have testing a registration limitation but the UK KC does not like mandatory health testing or at the least their representative that I talk to about it doesn't.They prefer to 'encourage' which to my mind does not do anything to protect purebred dogs, support their promotion or protect puppy buyers.

[Steve]

Online data base will show the dog has been scanned only at the moment.All results will be published in the breed supplement probably first quarter 2012.That means if you have your dog scanned the vet is obligated to pass your results to the KC who will publish them and pass the results to the AHT.I think that is where it will fall down.Unfortunately there will be people that will not test or if it is possible find a 'tame ' vet that will not pass results on for fear of having positive results published.

I don't know if the UK KC has a system whereby an application to the KC through breed councils or breed clubs can be made to have testing a registration limitation but the UK KC does not like mandatory health testing or at the least their representative that I talk to about it doesn't.They prefer to 'encourage' which to my mind does not do anything to protect purebred dogs, support their promotion or protect puppy buyers.

I agree.I think they have made a huge mistake by trying to make the vet pass the results on to anyone other than the person paying for the scan.

[periannath]

I think an all (mandatory) or nothing ( vet gives results to client) may be better.My own breed has this scheme in place in the UK.The results of dogs tested by DNA were recorded in the breed supplement.A percentage of breeders side stepped the system by having their dogs DNA tested in the USA and so kept their results private.At least they did test though....

Unless our KC's make health testing mandatory everything will proceed as normal.Good responsible breeders will go on doing all they an to ensure their puppies are 'fit for the life' while those who don't care will also continue on with little to distinguish between the two for the average puppy buyer.

I may be wrong and the UK KC may be inundated with scan results.I hope so but we will see in time..

[Steve]

I think an all (mandatory) or nothing ( vet gives results to client) may be better.My own breed has this scheme in place in the UK.The results of dogs tested by DNA were recorded in the breed supplement.A percentage of breeders side stepped the system by having their dogs DNA tested in the USA and so kept their results private.At least they did test though....

Unless our KC's make health testing mandatory everything will proceed as normal.Good responsible breeders will go on doing all they an to ensure their puppies are 'fit for the life' while those who don't care will also continue on with little to distinguish between the two for the average puppy buyer.

I may be wrong and the UK KC may be inundated with scan results.I hope so but we will see in time..

however, if breeders can scan have the results and decide whether they want to share those results at least they will scan and they wil know - even if they dont want to share what the status is on their dogs.

making a situation where vets send the results the KC will mean less -not more will scan.

[periannath]

Exactly, but the scheme is in place regardless of if it is a good or bad thing or if breeders want it.If you go to PDE blog you will see that most people are applauding this scheme without knowing enough to realise the implications i.e. that it may indeed decrease the amount of dogs being scanned.

Lets hope that there are enough breeders in the UK that are working towards a solution for SM that ultimately it will help reduce the incidence of SM because the choice of how they handle results is now offically out of their hands.

I hope somewhere that there are stats on how many Cavs are scanned per year prior to this scheme for comparison.