Thanks to Margaret C. for helping me find the New Thread button.
Our Basil is a 2 1/2 year old Cavalier. He is definitely on the large size as he has long legs and weighs in at 32 pounds Otherwise he has all the wonderful attributes. Great personality, beautiful eyes and an ability to get us to do his bidding.
He started scratching a short time ago. I immediately started looking online and found this horrible disease that too many of these wonderful dogs are falling victim to everywhere. We took him to a Neurologist and had him checked out. We tried him on Prednisone and that stopped the scratching for a while. After that he started up again but more consitently. He has scratched off his long beautiful ears, they still have hair but are not as long as pretty as they were in the past.
He still plays, chases his balls, and other than the scratching, occasional biting at his legs and paw he is great.
We have found the cost of the MRI to be very expensive here, 2500+ Also as we are not breeders and after reading non stop for several days, we are not convinced that having that and surgery would resolve the problem. Our goal is to make him as happy and comfortable as we can for as long as we can. We are checking out the skin to make sure it isn't an allergy, but having read the great posts here we are more leaning toward the SM.
Anyway, how great it is to be able to hear from other owners of Cavaliers. I have had many dogs in my life and all kinds of breeds. Cavaliers are indeed special and I hope all of the work you do on this board helps relieve them of this problem.
His symptoms are scratching obsessively on both sides of his head, throat and sometimes on the side. Otherwise is his same sweet self, no personality change or any other signs. He has always had bouts of limping since he was a puppy. It lasts for a day or so and then goes away. He has had one bout of gastritis that caused an overnight stay at the hospital. We learned not to give him anything spicy, never happened again(we felt very guilty).
Any ideas would be welcome, I think people on this board are very knowledgeable. Basil appreciates your expertise too, as his owners are clueless. Thanks.
Our Basil is a 2 1/2 year old Cavalier. He is definitely on the large size as he has long legs and weighs in at 32 pounds Otherwise he has all the wonderful attributes. Great personality, beautiful eyes and an ability to get us to do his bidding.
He started scratching a short time ago. I immediately started looking online and found this horrible disease that too many of these wonderful dogs are falling victim to everywhere. We took him to a Neurologist and had him checked out. We tried him on Prednisone and that stopped the scratching for a while. After that he started up again but more consitently. He has scratched off his long beautiful ears, they still have hair but are not as long as pretty as they were in the past.
He still plays, chases his balls, and other than the scratching, occasional biting at his legs and paw he is great.
We have found the cost of the MRI to be very expensive here, 2500+ Also as we are not breeders and after reading non stop for several days, we are not convinced that having that and surgery would resolve the problem. Our goal is to make him as happy and comfortable as we can for as long as we can. We are checking out the skin to make sure it isn't an allergy, but having read the great posts here we are more leaning toward the SM.
Anyway, how great it is to be able to hear from other owners of Cavaliers. I have had many dogs in my life and all kinds of breeds. Cavaliers are indeed special and I hope all of the work you do on this board helps relieve them of this problem.
His symptoms are scratching obsessively on both sides of his head, throat and sometimes on the side. Otherwise is his same sweet self, no personality change or any other signs. He has always had bouts of limping since he was a puppy. It lasts for a day or so and then goes away. He has had one bout of gastritis that caused an overnight stay at the hospital. We learned not to give him anything spicy, never happened again(we felt very guilty).
Any ideas would be welcome, I think people on this board are very knowledgeable. Basil appreciates your expertise too, as his owners are clueless. Thanks.