annie121
Active member
Hi all,
I've been doing a lot of reading on SM and am afraid that my 10-month old Bentley may have it. All of his symptoms are typical SM symptoms but they are also typical doggy behavior. Individually, I would think nothing of it. But with all the symptoms together and knowing the high incidence of it in cavs, it makes me believe the worst. My husband thinks that I am overreacting and jumping to conclusions because overall, he is a happy and playful puppy that doesn't seem to be in obvious pain. I guess I just need some advice from experienced Cavalier owners to see whether I should pursue this with our vet, or just keep watching him to see if there are any more symptoms or if his current symptoms worsen.
His first symptom is his ear/neck scratching. I think he's been doing it for months now, but it seems that in the last several weeks or couple months, it's been getting more frequent and intense. He scratches most in the morning and at night, and some times will take breaks while playing to scratch. The scratching can be pretty intense (similar to some of the videos I've seen) and the only way to stop him is to physically interfere, he won't respond to me calling him. He does this several times each day, though the sessions don't last for more than 10-15 seconds.
His second symptom is face rubbing. He would put one side of his face down and walk in a semi-circle, then do the other side of his face. He would repeat this several times. It's not the same as when my other Cav does it, usually after a good meal and you could almost see his pleasure when he face rubs. I don't see pleasure from Bentley, but then again, I don't see pain either. He would also do this several times a day.
Those are the two main symptoms. Other symptoms I've noticed is that whenever we reach out to pet his head, he would duck away from us. This doesn't always happens, but it happens enough for us to notice it. Another symptom is his chewing/biting his hind legs. His chewing would cause his fur to become wet and causes little mats on his legs that I would have to cut out. This happens at least once a day. He also hates putting on his step-in harness and collar. At first we thought he was just lazy and didn't want to go for a walk. But once we get out the door, he is okay. Whenever I put his collar on him, he would tense up and almost flinch. But it could also be that he doesn't like the sound of the click that the buckle makes.
Sorry for the long post. I just don't know if I am overreacting (I tend to be overprotective of my dogs) or if there is reason to believe that there could be something more to it and make an appointment with my vet. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I've been doing a lot of reading on SM and am afraid that my 10-month old Bentley may have it. All of his symptoms are typical SM symptoms but they are also typical doggy behavior. Individually, I would think nothing of it. But with all the symptoms together and knowing the high incidence of it in cavs, it makes me believe the worst. My husband thinks that I am overreacting and jumping to conclusions because overall, he is a happy and playful puppy that doesn't seem to be in obvious pain. I guess I just need some advice from experienced Cavalier owners to see whether I should pursue this with our vet, or just keep watching him to see if there are any more symptoms or if his current symptoms worsen.
His first symptom is his ear/neck scratching. I think he's been doing it for months now, but it seems that in the last several weeks or couple months, it's been getting more frequent and intense. He scratches most in the morning and at night, and some times will take breaks while playing to scratch. The scratching can be pretty intense (similar to some of the videos I've seen) and the only way to stop him is to physically interfere, he won't respond to me calling him. He does this several times each day, though the sessions don't last for more than 10-15 seconds.
His second symptom is face rubbing. He would put one side of his face down and walk in a semi-circle, then do the other side of his face. He would repeat this several times. It's not the same as when my other Cav does it, usually after a good meal and you could almost see his pleasure when he face rubs. I don't see pleasure from Bentley, but then again, I don't see pain either. He would also do this several times a day.
Those are the two main symptoms. Other symptoms I've noticed is that whenever we reach out to pet his head, he would duck away from us. This doesn't always happens, but it happens enough for us to notice it. Another symptom is his chewing/biting his hind legs. His chewing would cause his fur to become wet and causes little mats on his legs that I would have to cut out. This happens at least once a day. He also hates putting on his step-in harness and collar. At first we thought he was just lazy and didn't want to go for a walk. But once we get out the door, he is okay. Whenever I put his collar on him, he would tense up and almost flinch. But it could also be that he doesn't like the sound of the click that the buckle makes.
Sorry for the long post. I just don't know if I am overreacting (I tend to be overprotective of my dogs) or if there is reason to believe that there could be something more to it and make an appointment with my vet. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!