episodic falling

[vicarrieous]

Can anyone tell me more about this? I have heard this quite a bit relating to Cavys and I am trying to learn as much as possible about all areas for my little Kip. I know that Cavys are prone to murmors and bad hips/knees but I am not to familiar with what this entails.

THANKS

[WoodHaven]

MVD-- early onset mitral valve disease is in this breed. It starts with a mild malfunctioning that results in an odd sound in the heart (murmur). It is graded 1 to 6. A grade one is most mild and a six you can hear with your ear. Most women over 40 have a mitral valve murmur. It can progress quickly or slowly. Many dogs that have an early onset murmur can live full lives. FWIW many small breeds have murmurs-- some early. Breeders are trying to push the age of the early murmurs to a more normal small dogs time table.

SM-- syringomyelia is a disease that may be prevalent in cavaliers. This is a life altering disease

Patella problems are common in small dogs. It can be hereditary or enviromentally caused or exacerbated. This can usually be treated by supplements or surgery.

HD--I don't know how 'common' it is in the breed. I have heard of cavaliers that have it- but I haven't seen any that their lives have been affected by it.

Here is a website on episodic falling-- I have heard about 10 cavaliers that have been diagnosed with this.
http://www.episodicfalling.com/

[lady and amber]

Here`s a link to a very good website on EF, this site has been of great help to me, sadly my youngest has EF.
http://cavalierepisodicfalling.com/first.html

[Karlin]

Key breed health issues:

http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=8701

The two most serious are MVD and SM. EFS has a much lower frequency.