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Dry Eye Curly Coat Cavalier "Flossy"in the Daily M

Alison_Leighfield

Well-known member
So have you seen Flossy? .... :D

she is my friends Cavalier who sadly has Dry Eye Curly Coat, she is in the Daily Mirror today with a lovely large colour photograh .....at last some publicity which should help to raise awareness of this genetic disorder......her mummy told me this morning when we spoke that there will also be a piece on the TV tonight as well... keep a watch out!

Flossy like my late Honey, who also suffered with this condition is receiving as did Honey, her treatment from the Animal Health Trust in the U.K. which is a fantastic place for animal health.

Flossy you are so beautiful :lotsaluv:

Alison.
 
Yeah I saw Flossie in the paper today; she looks so cute in her doggles and top. :D

Got up this morning and ordered to look at page 15 before I did anything else.
:lol:
 
Oh bless her - I was lucky enough to meet Flossy a few weeks ago, she is such a beautiful girl and has one of the best doggie Mommies in the World - Diana is very dedicated, which is essential when managing this condition.

Alison's Honey also suffered with this, and I remember many conversations about the care that Honey was receiving - perhaps Alison you'd like to share a bit more about what is involved?

It was a tribute to Alison's care -and to Diana's for Flossy - that Honey was able to enjoy a good quality of life. Sadly many affected dogs go blind.

It's not just the eyes and "strange" coat - it's a very open, coarse, stiff coat, more like a Terrier's coat. The affected dogs also have problems with their pads and their nails :(

It's wonderful to see this conditon being recognised...many vets - and breeders :yikes - are not aware of it at all.
There is some more information here

http://www.thecavalierclub.co.uk/start.html

under Cavalier Health, Eyes
 
I speak to Diana about Flossie, so it was great to see another picture of her, she is a real cutie and Diana is so lovely.

Daisy has Dry Eye/Curly Coat as well, it is hard to manage, but Diana is very supportive and helpful. It is a hard situation to be in, but i give Daisy everything i can, including several medicines every day, she just needs extra care but i love daisy very much. Her skin is one of the worst things, it is so dry and of course, her eyes are bad. I look at her feet every day to check that they are ok too.
 
what a great picture---flossy looks like a little stuffed dog toy in the clothes and goggles :)

that's wonderful about the publicity for the condition---i know that DE/CC is rare, but the fact that 2 of our board members have it shows that it's not as 'rare' as one might think.

i hope that this will lead to more networking and support emma :)

k
 
KimNIndy said:
i know that DE/CC is rare, but the fact that 2 of our board members have it shows that it's not as 'rare' as one might think.



k

The numbers for DE/CC are slowly rising :( ....and with both parents needing to carry the gene to produce affected off-spring, and with known and even well known gene carrying affected dogs/bitches still being bred from is it a wonder....

In a litter, single or multiple pups can be affected. In the following litter even with the same parents they can all be clear (but proberbly carriers) or even all affected. It'a a puzzle and a worry for the breed and so the much needed study of this condition at the A.H.T. was brought about.

My Cavalier Honey was involved in helping with this research, and was proberbly the oldest dog with DE/CC that they had seen. It does normally reduce the life span quite a bit, and ages young dogs fast.

Other breeds suffer with Dry Eye and other breeds can have Curly Coat but for some unknown reason the combination of both conditions exists ONLY in the CKCS.

Pups born with this condition certainly look very different from normal unaffected pups and most breeders kindly PTS these affected pups. They are born with a very wavy, almost curly coat and when the eyes open they look very different. The condition isn't "rare", it just isn't "seen" very often for the above reason.
Mildly affected cases seem sometimes to slip through. An unexperienced breeder might not notice or be aware of the condition at all, they might just assume that the puppy is "different" and run it on with the others.

If you ever talk with an older, much experienced, established breeder they will tell you the condition has been there for many years, many seem surprised that it now even has a name.
The name now given of Dry Eye/Curly Coat is possibly soon to change to "Rough coat Syndrome" which is a much better description of the coat alone.

To care for a Cavalier with this condition ie extremely demanding and carries with it alot of worry. It is constant care that needs to be given every hour of the day. Drops, baths, diet, sore eyes, blistered feet, dropping nails, ulcerated eyes.....the list goes on and on. As the dog grows older the problems increase and age brings new ones with them.

This is an auto immune disease and so naturally even with a tiny problem everything takes twice as long to heal and recover. There are not words to explain what it's like to watch your baby with this....you just do your best.

It wasn't the DE/CC that finally took my lovely Honey from me, she had Cushings as well. Running now two auto immune diseases along side each other was just about impossible for her.

Together we gave it a good fight, but it won us both in the end.

Alison.
 
She is so beautiful!! she definitely is a poster-girl! What a beauty!! What a great cavalier moms to do so much for this syndrome. For all of us that have cavs with serious health issues, thanks so much for doing all you can to help in the cure of Rough Coat.

Girls like Flossy & Honey are priceless!!

Sheri
 
Wow -

Thanks for posting that Alison. What a beautiful little girl on the front cover. Daisy is of course very cute too - as always. :)

It's nice to be able to read that - I didn't know it was as serious as it is. Does anybody have any pictures as to what a newborn with this condition looks like?? Just curious.

Alison I know you were brave with Honey - I am sure she will welcome you with warm love and puppy cuddles as soon as you pass over to her side. :)
 
Well at first, I was thinking what's wrong with a curly coat, then I read into more. I'm with Sarah on this one, are there any pictures of newborns with it please?
 
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