Scratching?

[cavalicious]

How much is too much?

Ollie scratches quite a bit, mostly around his collar and ears. I know scatching around the ears is a sign of SM so thats whats getting my worried

His had his collar on for around 4 weeks now but still scratches it a lot and he scratches at the base of his ears.

Also, with the yelping at the hind quarters.. I was starting to think it might be his anal sacs. But my dad had a feel around there and when he squeezed the glands Ollie didn't yelp and nothing came out. If he keeps nipping around his bum we'll take him to the vet on Monday because unfortunately we don't have any time tomorrow. Will this be too late?

Thanks for reading, as you can tell I'm a bit of a worry wart! The thought of SM just freaks me out

[PamH]

Oh, Emily, I know it's worrying when you know something is not quite right. But it probably will end up being something simple. You are doing the right thing going to the vet though.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Pam

[cavalicious]

Thankyou Pam Lets hope it is just something simple!

[Nicki]

So sorry to hear about this Emily - at this age, it's more likely to be something else, but it's best to get Ollie to the vets, and get them to rule out other causes.

Don't forget to print off the pages from here for your vet - many still haven't heard of Syringomyelia sadly

http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/

Hoping for good news for you

[Joanne M]

Do you comb ollie's ears? I comb Tucker's daily especially the inside flap. I also clean the ear canal with a fast drying epi-otic cleaner. It comes in a liquid. I squeeze a little into his ear canal, I massage the ear to help get the cleaner all around (he hates it) and I try to mop up any excess fluid with a rolled up tissue or cotton ball. Tucker also always gets little hair mats behind his ear which cause him to scratch. I also notice Tucker gets an itchy chin. I haven't figure that one out yet.

You're probably looking at his avatar thinking, those ears don't look like they're combed every day, but they really are.

[cavalicious]

Thanks Joanne and Nicki.

Nicki, I'll see if I can take him to the vets. My dad now thinks he has a sore bum and we shouldn't bother with the vet But I'll do my best to convince him.

Joanne, I must admit I've been slacking off with grooming I'll start brushing around his ears more and hopefully that will help.

[Charleen]

Emily,

When I read your symptoms I think of two more possibilities.

1) fleas - have you applied any flea protection?
2) allergies - My Merry had the same symptoms at a very young age and finally at 2 years old, I took her to a dermatology vet and it turned out that she was allergic to the ingredients in most dog foods and treats. She is allergic to beef, chicken, wheat and corn. Now that I don't feed her these things, her itching stopped.

I am sure if you go to the vet, he'll eliminate a lot of the ideas we are listing and come up with what is bothering Ollie.

Let us know what happens.

[cavalicious]

Thankyou Charleen! I'll mention allergies to my vet too, but I don't think it's fleas. He has a lot of white on him and also gets a regular check over a couple of times a day. I'm used to finding them through longer coats because of my big boof ball of a cat!

Allergies wouldn't be my favourite option either after just buying a new big bag of food! Lol But boy would that be better than SM!!!