Sorry it's taken awhile for me to get back - my 13 1/2 year old is in the midst of a vestibular episode that started last night so I've been preoccupied with that. And it takes me a long time to do posts because of the time I spend checking the literature, etc. I'll break the post into comments about MVD age of onset, food and supplements. I wish I could just scan pages and post but these forums don't allow for posting attachments and I'd be a little concerned about copyright laws also.
For those who want to do research for themselves, I highly recommend these texts (not terribly expensive and found on Amazon and other places):
Manual of Canine and Feline Cardiology (Saunders) - I have the third edition edited by Goodwin and Tilley (2001) and I just purchased the fourth edition (2008) edited by Tilley, Smith, Oyama and Sleeper (Dr. Goodwin, a wonderful man, has sadly died).
Small Animal Cardiology Secrets, Jonathan A. Abbott, DVM (2000) (this book is really inexpensive and is fairly easy to understand). However, it is now somewhat dated since there has been much progression in treatment options.
Notes on Cardiorespiratory Diseases of the Dog and Cat - Mike Martin, Brendan Corcoran (Blackwell Publishing - 2006) These clinicians are from the UK so it was interesting for me to compare with the US vet texts
Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XIV (edited by John Bonagura and David Twedt - 2008) This text is the "Bible" of cutting edge diagnosis and therapy. I have the last three volumes. It is published about every ten years and covers the latest and greatest "stuff" in the vet world. There is one chapter on endocardiosis here. I just purchased this about a week ago. I've been intending to do a long post about the chapter on SM (which was not mentioned in the previous editions), and I'll get to that eventually. I've already transcribed a good bit of info about some of the recent topics on various boards such as brain/skull size, etc., etc.
Back to the above texts, the first two I highly recommend for anyone. Price is about $80 and $40 (not bad compared to other vet texts). The pertinent sections for Cavalier owners are really pretty easy to understand, and the more you read, the more familiar you become with terms and the more you will understand. This gives a wonderful education so that you can talk more intelligently with your GP vet and your cardio about diagnosis and treatment planning. Professionals give much more information to clients who "speak the language"!
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First topic - age of onset.
Bev, I would love to have a copy of the various reports you have. I have a filing cabinet full of 20 years of reports written by various cardios on many dogs, mine and others. I should be able to understand most of the report by virtue of having read so many for so long. I'll pm my street address to you, or you could scan and email to
[email protected]
As Rod said, those are excellent clinicians and I do not doubt the findings, which makes Oz rather extraordinary so I'm eager to learn more about him.
I did a long search of the literature. Every text said "middle aged to older dogs" and every text mentioned that CKCS were an exception as "clinical evidence" of the disease was found in "younger" dogs than the norm with more rapid progression. The only references I've found that mention a specific age are:
My notes from the 1996 seminar, as I mentioned (and Rod was sitting near me taking his own notes!) where Dr. Beardow (who with Dr. Buchanan had done a U.S. study of Cavaliers noting ages of dogs and grades of murmurs) said that one year of age was "about the youngest" where an MVD murmur was heard.
Dr. Abbott in Small Animal Cardiology Secrets - Chapter 34 - "Degenerative Valvular Disease" page 213..." Point#7 - "What is distinctive about MVD that affects the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?"....." "In the CKCS, murmurs of mitral valve regurgitation are occasionally encountered in dogs as young as 2 and 3 years."
Somewhere in my attic are newsletters that I did as editor for COS way back in the early 90's that include data from Gil Jacobs' (bd. cert. cardio) heart clinics. He listed ages 1-10 and numbers of Cavaliers with murmurs. There were never any dogs younger than 1 included and as I recall very few or no dogs with a murmur at age 1 but there were some dogs at age 2.
That sums up age of onset info. I'll post again later about food and supplements.
Oh - someone used the term "snap" - that would be a systolic or mid-systolic "click" which is the proper terminology. Clicks are thought to be a precursor to a murmur and could represent a prolapsed valve (This is where the two valve leaflets are deformed, bowed inward, but still close pretty tightly so there is not yet any regurgitant jet and so not yet a murmur. A prolapsed valve, though, can go on to become an incompetent valve which starts leaking).
Pat
Atlanta, GA