A Cavalier film, health related, BBC1........

[*Pauline*]

I'm very sorry Karlin Dylan never scratches the back of his head as seen in your videos. Just a bit of air scratching. I was putting it down to his harness itching and he does stop after a minute and all the itching stops. Do I have to get a MRI or can I get meds on the evidence of air scratching?

[Karlin]

Air scratching tends to only be associated with SM I am afraid -- so you might want to at least talk to your vet or else just keep an eye on things and be aware of other problems. I am sure there may be reasons he starts to scratch that could not be SM related so don't panic but if you are seeing that kind of air scratching I'd want to keep an eye out for anything else and then if other things arise or the scratching gets more frequent, talk to a vet or neurologist. You don't want to just go get an MRI. On the other hand a neurologist can do a clinical exam that can indicate whether there are problems -- a neuro will test for things that indicate signs of pain, weak limbs etc. There's a lot of info on all this in my SM site.

It helps to just get a video of the scratching you are seeing and show that to your vet.

[Margaret C]

I watched the midday BBC1 news & was interested to hear Caroline Kisko say that only "2%" of cavaliers have SM.
She was quoting the 2004 Report from the Kennel Club/British Small Animal Veterinary Association Scientific Committee.

This was an exercise where forms for self reporting of health problems in dogs were sent to breed club members.

The survey was done four years ago when there was little acceptance that SM was a problem among cavalier owners, the first low cost MRI centres had not long started, and very few breeders had scanned their dogs.

For cavaliers 1150 forms were sent out through the breed club & only 306 returned, representing 1253 live dogs.

There are approximately 11,000 cavalier puppies registered each year.

Not a very representative sample and the warning at the start of the report seems to indicate that........

'Warning: The results of this survey and particularly the breed-specific analyses should be interpreted with caution. The overall response rate was only 24% with breed-specific response rates from 4.5 to 64 .7%'

Cavaliers had a 26.6 % response rate ( 306/1150 )

Despite their own admission that the results of the survey should be interpreted with caution, figures from it were used to downplay the problem of SM in a recent Kennel Club article & they have often been quoted by Jeff Sampson their Genetics Coordinator.

Margaret C

[*Pauline*]

Thanks Karlin. I'll start research tomorrow, I can't face it today.

[Cleo's Person]

Oh god Pauline, my heart stopped when I read your posts on this thread. to you today.

Karlin, I'm sorry to hear Leo has lost his lovely ears.

This really is such a horrid disease. I hope programme really opens peoples eyes and begins a change in the attitude of both buyers and breeders of dogs. I'll be glued to the tv while it is on.

[Alison_Leighfield]

Did anyone watch Richard and Judy on Channel 4 at tea time? a friend informed me a discussion was on air concerning the film tonight and I missed it
This film is getting ALOT of attention and coverage.

Pauline, be strong tomorrow when you start your research (((hugs))) for you x

Alison.

[Karlin]

Jemima the producer was on it. She will also be on Radio 5 live tonight right after the programme airs, 10pm. They are giving the whole show to it.

People anywhere can listen live: http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/

10pm GMT +1

[Karlin]

Try this link: http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache...&client=safari

[srp999]

Anger !

That's what I now feel, having sat through tonights program it never fails to surprise me the ability of some breeders to totally dismiss that our breed has problems that simply can be ignored.

I was worried that program would not represent Cavs in a fair way , but watching that poor animal suffer because of SM put all it into perspective.

Its about the dogs themselves surely they deserve better than this ? We have lost two Cavs to MVD, the pain of trying to nurse them, worrying if we were making the right decisions and finally making that awful gut wrenchng decision that will haunt me for the rest of my life when you know that the time has come to put them down.

Maybe it is time to take a fresh look at what we are looking for in our beloved Cavs. If someone asked me what i look for in my dog its simple ,a happy ,healthy Cavalier not a show piece that is doomed to a short life in pain.

[Karlin]

I've set up a discussion thread on the programme in the main section that people can use if they want too. If you keep the chat here, be sure to avoid making statements about individuals that are not based on published fact, please.