How long ago was SM discovered in the Cavalier?

I have been wondering recently how long ago that SM was actually discoverd in the Cavalier, before we got Jasper which was nearly 9 years ago now I bought some books to read about the breed, one is quite a complex book written by a breeder, it was printed in the nineties, but there is no mention of SM in this book, there are 2 pictures of Jasper`s GT GT GT Grandparent and GT GT Grandparent in the book who was apparently a very popular stud dog and Champion in the eighties.

It appears that both Clare Rusbridge & Geoff Skerritt share the credit for identifying SM in Cavaliers in the late 1990s when MRIs became available for animals.
There had been a few 'scratching cavaliers' around for decades. They were the quirky dogs that could not be walked on a lead and were not kept for showing.
There are quite a few people who now realise they owned mildly affected dogs back in the 70s & 80s

Some of the stories of the early diagnosed cavaliers can be read here... http://cavalierkingcharles.org.uk/syringomyelia.html

You can read a bit more here, Holly's own story was on page one & that appears to now be blank, but she is on the link above.
http://website.lineone.net/~malburley/page2.html

Margaret C

I spoke to a breeder about 5 years ago who said she had had a dog with severe SM about 10 years before that - so early 1990s, before scanning was available; I think her vet had met it before, so made a provisional diagnosis based on the symptoms, and in retrospect, when more was known about SM, the breeder realised that he had been right. I think it's been known in humans for a longer time? So perhaps this vet was making the connection between recognised human symptoms and what this dog was experiencing.

Kate, Oliver and Aled

If you read my blog it says that I had a dog back in the middle 70's who started screaming for what seemed no apparaent reason, he was seen by several vets, had many tests ( not MRI ) but no diagnosis was made. My vet still has a tape of Nemo screaming and after many discussions he is convinced that he had SM.

Nanette

I remember first hearing about SM about ten years ago from one of the founders of the CKCSC, USA Cavalier Health Foundation. She was a human doctor, and she had a young Cavalier bitch showing some extreme symptoms - head tilt, scoliosis, limb weakness. The owner did consult a neurologist. From that time, I paid close attention to whatever information I was able to gather.

Interestingly, my first Cavalier was a rescue who came to me at age 7. She was born in 1982 - came from a long defunct kennel called Sunnybrook in Florida (but had some well known dogs in her pedigree). I could never walk her on a lead; she would continually bunny-hop and air scratch. I just thought it was some idiosyncrasy/quirk. I simply never put her on a lead - I had a fenced in yard so there was no need. There was never any sign of pain, scratching off lead, limb weakness, yelping - nothing else. She lived to be 14 1/2 and died of kidney failure; she had moderate but compensated MVD when she died. The last few months of her life, she had several seizures, about six weeks apart. Internist felt she might have a brain tumor, and I think that was likely. She also had one vestibular episode when she was 14. She died in 1997 - a couple of years before I ever heard the term SM. Of course I always think of her when I think of SM.

My ten other Cavaliers have never shown overt or subtle symptoms of SM, but of course none were ever MRI'd so I have no idea of their status.

Pat

There is a book on king charles from around 1900 that mentions old dogs getting into a " habit" of scratching for no reason.

We had a rescue cavalier who probably had it in around 2000 ( she was about 10) & her daughter definatly had it. though it was only after she was rehomed the owners vet picked it up.