Interesting Observation from the BVA /KC SM Seminar.

[Bet]

Just heard that one of the Researchers at the BVA /KC SM Seminar ,Dr R .Dennis,mentioned as an Observation that Cavaliers with Longer Noses seem to have less SM Severe Symptoms.

Could this Link in with many of To-days' Cavaliers having Shorter Noses and Deeper Stops than the Cavaliers of Earlier Years.

This look To-day has given many Cavaliers what is termed ,The Pretty Look,even the Male Cavaliers as well as the Cavalier Bitches.

Bet

[Bet]

Just heard that one of the Researchers at the BVA /KC SM Seminar ,Dr R .Dennis,mentioned as an Observation that Cavaliers with Longer Noses seem to have less SM Severe Symptoms.

Could this Link in with many of To-days' Cavaliers having Shorter Noses and Deeper Stops than the Cavaliers of Earlier Years.

This look To-day has given many Cavaliers what is termed ,The Pretty Look,even the Male Cavaliers as well as the Cavalier Bitches.

Bet

I have added this to this Thread

It has just appeared on the CKCS CLUB WEB SITE.

www.thecavalierclub.co.uk

It is Notes from the BVA/KC CMSM Scheme Seminar held on the 7th October 2010

[RodRussell]

Bet is Dr. Dennis' comment about "Cavaliers with Longer Noses seem to have less SM Severe Symptoms" supposed to be contained in that article on the club's website? I can't find the comment there.

[Tania]

I was at the meeting. Dr. Ruth Dennis said it had been noted "The longer nosed Cavaliers tended to have less severe symptoms"

[Margaret C]

I was at the meeting. Dr. Ruth Dennis said it had been noted "The longer nosed Cavaliers tended to have less severe symptoms"

I was there with Tania & I remember there was some mention of nose length, but I'm not sure that there was any studies quoted that supported this?

As Bet has already noted there is an excellent detailed report on the CMSM Seminar now up on the cavalier club website...........

www.thecavalierclub.co.uk

I have added the website address to a comment on my blog which, I am delighted to report, has been viewed over 800 times.

Isn't the Internet wonderful when it comes to sharing information?

[Bet]

I was at the meeting. Dr. Ruth Dennis said it had been noted "The longer nosed Cavaliers tended to have less severe symptoms"

Interesting Observation from the BVA/KC SM Seminar

I suppose I will be getting into trouble again by the Cavalier Breeder Mafia ,so what is new !!!! by mentioning this, ...

Dr Rusbridge had said at the Seminar,that the Volume of the Brain within the Skull Caudal Fossa is signifiicantly greater in SM Cases ,even greater in early SM Cases,the Larger the Syrinx ,the Larger the Brain within the Skull.

Tania has Posted that she was at the Meeting ,Dr Ruth Dennis said it had been noted " The Longer Nosed Cavaliers tended to have less Severe Symptoms.

What else Dr Rusbridge said ,was that Genomic Values through time will be good enough ,and Scanning will become less necessary.

Does this mean that when the Genes for SM are found ,this will be the Result.

Bet

[Kate H]

Dr Rusbridge had said at the Seminar,that the Volume of the Brain within the Skull Caudal Fossa is signifiicantly greater in SM Cases ,even greater in early SM Cases,the Larger the Syrinx ,the Larger the Brain within the Skull.

I would guess that what Dr Rusbridge meant is not that the actual size of the brain is bigger, but that CM/SM causes enlarged ventricles, which push the brain outwards towards the skull, as in Hydrocephalus - which is partly why CM alone also causes pain.

Kate, Oliver and Aled

[RodRussell]

I would guess that what Dr Rusbridge meant is not that the actual size of the brain is bigger, but that CM/SM causes enlarged ventricles, which push the brain outwards towards the skull, as in Hydrocephalus - which is partly why CM alone also causes pain.

My understanding is that one of the current theories is that the hindbrain of the Cavalier continues to grow after the closure of the skull's growth plate, resulting in that portion of the brain being too large for its share of the skull. So, I think that Dr. Rusbridge has hypothesized that the brain is too big for the skull. Hence her comparison to the size ten foot in the size six shoe.

[RodRussell]

If nose length is determinative, then I suppose a quick solution to the continuation of passing on this defect would be to change the breed standard, briefly open the stud book to cross breeding with, say, whippets, and then see how long a nose Cavalier breeders can create in future generations.

[Kate H]

If nose length is determinative, then I suppose a quick solution to the continuation of passing on this defect would be to change the breed standard, briefly open the stud book to cross breeding with, say, whippets, and then see how long a nose Cavalier breeders can create in future generations.

Or go back to one of the probable original outcrosses which created the modern Cavalier, which is the Papillon (possibly one parent of Ann's Son, our 'founding father'), also a spaniel breed - you can see the similarity if you look at a phalene, the drop-eared version of the Papillon.

I stand corrected on brain size - thanks Rob, can't keep up with all this research (but also have a dog with hydrocephalus - the condition, not the disease)!

Kate, Oliver and Aled