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ACKCSC Claims Less Than 0.002% of CKCSs Have SM!

RodRussell

Well-known member
The American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club's website reports that less than 0.002% of Cavaliers have syringomyelia. How does ACKCSC square this figure (only two SM-affected Cavaliers among every 100,000) with the reports from the CM/SM researchers, which was between 42% and 74,5%? Here is what Dr. Clare Rusbridge writes at http://www.veterinary-neurologist.co.uk/part2.htm#16 of her website:

"All scientific papers looking at groups of 16 or more asymptomatic Cavaliers have found a high incidence of syringomyelia ranging from 26.5% (Cerda-Gonzalez et al 2009 – 49 dogs) to 65.4% (Rusbridge et al 2007 – 55 dogs). These figures increased to 42% and 74.5% respectively when symptomatic dogs were added to the population."

Here is what ACKCSC states on its website at http://ackcsc.org/health/sm.html :

"This condition [SM] is known to affect less than 0.002 % of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels so you have a very good chance that your Cavalier will not have this condition."
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Rod Russell
 
If I click on the link...I don't find this statement.

It is gone. It took them two days to remove it. This is a much better record for them than the eleven years it took them to post any recommendations about reducing early-onset MVD by testing hearts and waiting until at least age 2 years to breed murmur-cleared breeding stock.

ACKCSC still is downplaying the CM/SM disorder by lumping Cavaliers in with other toy breeds. Here is what they state:

"Syringomyelia has been reported as one of the most common spinal cord disorders of toy breed dogs and has been documented in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, King Charles Spaniel, Griffon Bruxellois, Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese Terrier, Chihuahua, Miniature Dachshund, Miniature and Toy Poodle, Bichon Frise, Pug, Shih Tzu, Pomeranian, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Boston Terrier, Pekingese, Miniature Pinscher, and French Bulldog."

This spin totally ignores the researchers' findings of prevalence in the CKCS as far higher than in any other breed. It is like the way ACKCSC deals with MVD. They lump Cavaliers in with other breeds:

"Mitral valve insuffiency is the most common of the acquired cardiac diseases in older dogs, affecting over 1/3 of dogs older than 10 years. However, in certain breeds including the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, mitral valve insufficiency develops at a younger age, due to an inherited predisposition for the disorder."

They ignore the researchers' findings that MVD is 20 times more prevalent in CKCSs than in other breeds.

The ACKCSC has a long way to go before it makes honest, thorough comments about MVD and CM/SM in the Cavalier, as is its duty to AKC breeders and pet buyers. But at least it has begun.
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Rod Russell
 
The problem is the whole article -- it is factually incorrect in a number of ways and totally confuses human and canine SM. Given that they use a bunch of human sites as a resource but strangely, not a single website connected to any of the researchers such as Clare Rusbridge or LIVS, and don;t reference a single peer-reviewed journal paper on the condition, no wonder perhaps...:rolleyes:). For example dogs do not have cerebellar tonsils. They also confuse syrinxes with herniation :sl*p: -- not at all the same thing -- a dog can have herniation of the cerebellum and NOT have SM. They then go into great detail about the types of Chiari malformation -- a classification system not used with dogs, who have a malformation similar to Chiari but not the same as Chiari as their anatomy is different.

And it is ridiculous to state that SM is 'one of the most common spinal disorders' in toy breeds -- if it were, then toy breeds would truly be in very serious crisis! This claim is pure hogwash: the ACKCSC's own breed survey in 2004-2005 had the survey's author, a leading professor of vet medicine, Prof Larry Glickman at Purdue, note: "Neurological disorders were reported for 9.2% of CKCSs. Nearly 4% of CKCSs were diagnosed with syringomyelia which is considered extremely high compared with other dog breeds."

Again, I think few now would even believe that low self-reported number accurately reflects the state of the problem -- though nearly one in ten cavaliers reporting a neurological disorder is pretty bad as is. And note that 4% directly contradicts the earlier figure of 0.002%, making you wonder if whoever is writing their health information even follows what the club itself funds and reports on health issues.

Note that 0.002% is only 2 in 100,000 dogs -- this is 15,000 times lower than the lowest figures that have come back from actual studies (at least 30% affected) and more than 15,000 times lower than the figures produced in the ACKCSC funded studies from North Carolina State University -- which also noted that all the dogs in the research group had Chiari-like malformation or skull anomalies. The latter information is left off this document even though it goes into more detail on CM than SM...

For anyone interested:

ACKCSC Survey: http://ackcsccharitabletrust.org/CKCSFinalReport.pdf
 
Since ACKCSC is under the umbrella of the AKC, we are not surprised.
In researching the Cavalier breed before even talking to breeders, I noticed the CKCSC-USA has stricter code of ethics for breeders via their guidelines for testing the dam & sire for patellas, eyes, and heart, than the ACKCSC.
 
ACKCSC Claims Less then 0.002of CKCS Have SM!

Could I just say that ,here in Britain, there are about 11,000 Cavaliers Registered by the Kennel Club every year.

The approx life-span of Cavaliers is around 10 years of age, .

So to-day there could be about 100,000 Cavaliers alive.

To say that only 2 in those 100,000 Cavaliers are suffering from SM is to put it politely, PIFFLE !!!

Thank goodness this ridiculous figure has been with-drawn, but unfortunately it will have been seen by those who are always trying to down-play the SM Problem in our Breed and will make the most of those figures.
 
WHAT!!!! This is rediculas, maybe americans dont scan theres and dont realise they have this problem until the poor dog is very ill. di
 
No, it has nothing to do with location; much of the research has come from US samples of dogs and some of the neurologists have spoken at club events. Some of the research has actually been supported by the ACKCSC itself. So why its health pages are so amateurish and so filled with incorrect and misleading information raises many questions about who wrote this stuff, why, who oversaw it and approved it, and is this, seriously, what the club is telling its own breeders about the gravity of this condition (because if so, God help the breed as the club is showing itself to be utterly clueless and incapable of even the most basic research and preparation of helpful information).

You would think that as Pedigree Dogs Exposed just aired in the US and is about to air again in Canada, that the breed clubs would want to be sure they are seen to be offering up to date, clear, accessible health information and guidance for puppy buyers and breeders. To appear to deliberately obscure a decade of research and to not even understand the difference between a human malady and the canine version, surely only proves the concerns of the film.
 
No, it has nothing to do with location; much of the research has come from US samples of dogs and some of the neurologists have spoken at club events. Some of the research has actually been supported by the ACKCSC itself. So why its health pages are so amateurish and so filled with incorrect and misleading information raises many questions about who write this, why, who oversaw it and approved it, is this, seriously, what the club is telling its own breeders on the gravity of this condition (because if so, God help the breed).

You would think that as Pedigree Dogs Exposed just aired in the US and is about to air again in Canada, that the breed clubs would want to be sure they are seen to be offering up to date, clear, accessible health information and guidance for puppy buyers and breeders. To appear to deliberately obscure a decade of research and to not even understand the difference between a human malady and the canine version, surely only proves the concerns of the film.
 
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