Charlie's Yelping, Sensitive Moments...

Hi,

Sometimes Charlie has funny turns where he wants you to cuddle him all the time, and if you pick him up, he yelps really loudly.

He's been doing it for a while, it's not all the time but it's just sometimes.

It wont always last all day, sometimes just until lunch time E.T.C...
But then other times it might last 2 days. It's weird :lpy:

Also, sometimes, he wont want is dinner.

Does anyone know what this is?
Any other dogs who have acted like this before?

When you pick him up do you use two hands? One under his ribs and the other under his bum? I've seen people pick their dog up by lifting them by the arms, or two hands under the arm pits, so I'm just asking!

When he yelps, do you notice anything else, like at those times or days, does he keep to himself and find a quiet place to lay?

If he's yelping, he is definitely in pain and I don't think dogs are wimps (although there are the exceptions). I would take him to the vet if this is a regular occurance. Unfortunately this is one of the "red flags" that owners notice and then find out their dog has SM. So get him checked out.

The first thing to do is to get him to the vet right away. This is a sign of pain and you will want to determine the cause. He could have problems with limbs or with his back. You also should make sure your vet is familiar with syringomyelia and the high rate of this within the breed. Yu can read more and download some documents to bring to your vet here:

www.smcavalier.com

These would be very typical potential signs of SM -- for example, the reasons dogs sometimes won't eat when they have SM is because it hurts them to lower their heads towards the floor. Try raising his food dishes -- put them on a shoe box for example -- and see if that helps. But that yelping and sensitivity are signs that you need to consider the possibility of SM and therefore start by eliminating other possible causes because they are signs of unusual pain anyway. Whatever the cause, he needs pain relief to address this.

Good luck and let us know what your vet thinks.

I would second that advice, it could be SM, harley does the same (sometimes and not others) he has CM, which could develop into SM as the spnal canal is wider than it should be. We couldnt work out why he yelped suddenly and where the pain actually was, when the animal health trust neurologist examined harley he pushed in several places around the neck area and he yelped each time. It will flare up on occasions so hense why it happens sometimes and not others. It worth ruling it out. di

Lou had similar symptoms

My cavalier used to yelp when picked up. We had to learn to pick him up very carefully, supporting his entire body, making sure we were not putting too much pressure on his back or hips. It also turned out later on that because of his hip dysplasia his back end was more sensitive and since he was over exerting his front legs to get up and move around, those were sensitive as well. Since he's been on pain meds and supplements he has stopped yelping.

chloe92us said:

When you pick him up do you use two hands? One under his ribs and the other under his bum? I've seen people pick their dog up by lifting them by the arms, or two hands under the arm pits, so I'm just asking!

When he yelps, do you notice anything else, like at those times or days, does he keep to himself and find a quiet place to lay?

If he's yelping, he is definitely in pain and I don't think dogs are wimps (although there are the exceptions). I would take him to the vet if this is a regular occurance. Unfortunately this is one of the "red flags" that owners notice and then find out their dog has SM. So get him checked out.

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I pick him up with one under his ribs and one under his bum.
When he yelps he'll just lay there normally somewhere quite, and when you go up to him, he'll start to stand up really slowly, like he's finding it
hard too.

Like i said, this isn't all the time, he's ok today, it's just sometimes.

I would bring him to the vet just to be sure. He is obviously in some degree of discomfort. Hopefully its nothing serious :flwr: