Cavalier screening day

[Margaret C]

I received this email from one of the low cost scanning centres.
I am posting it just in case one or two of the breeders that read this forum are interested.

Dear Cavalier owners,

We are plannign to hold a screening day on the 19th of August 2009.

Please forward this information to other Cavalier breeders as I have only a few on my records. It is easiest to reply by email as I tend to be tied up in theatre a lot of the time.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Kind regards,
Gerard te Lintelo

WEAR REFERRALS
Gerard te Lintelo, CertSAS, MVM, MRCVS
5-11 Tenters Street
Bishop Auckland
County Durham
DL14 7AD
Tel: 01388 602707
Fax: 01388 605660
Email: info@wear-referrals.co.uk
Web: www.wear-referrals.co.uk

[tupup]

Hi Margaret,
Is this only open to breeders?

[Karlin]

That's a great opportunity for breeders in that region of the UK.

[Margaret C]

Hi Margaret,
Is this only open to breeders?

It is possible they will accept non-breeder cavaliers, I don't really know.
There is nothing to stop you contacting Gerard and asking him.

Basically these schemes were not designed to diagnose dogs with symptoms of SM, only to screen dogs that may be used in a breeding programme.

[Kate H]

These low-cost scans are mini-scans of head and neck only. Since most dogs with SM have a syrinx at the top of the spine, the mini scan can pick up whether or not the dog has SM (and therefore can or cannot be bred from) - what it won't do is pick up whether there are also syrinxes further down, which may eventually do greater damage. Having used them for my own dog (on the Midland Cavalier Club scheme, which allows any member to participate for whatever reason), I have found them a useful indication of what you are dealing with - ie I found out 2 years ago that Oliver had SM, despite having no symptoms. So a mini scan can be useful (it may tell you your dog doesn't have SM - hooray!), but be aware of its limitations. Also bear in mind the possible dangers of anaesthetics - though some vets just sedate for MRI scans.

I think the researchers would be grateful if more non-breeder pet owners scan - this will give a much more realistic indication of the extent of the disease. There must be thousands of pet Cavaliers out there with asymptomatic SM whose owners are completely unaware that they have the disease - which makes estimates of its prevalence educated guesswork. And if your pet has a pedigree, that can help the EBV scheme as well.

Kate, Oliver and Aled