anniemac
Well-known member
I see now they are requesting swabs from all the owners of dogs fully clear of everything including any Chiari-like malformation... as the project need "a number" of such dogs out of the 1000 as controls.
Well, this was the key problem for the existing DNA project and even for the BVA/KC scheme. I am told there are NO fully CM clear dogs in the entire cavalier database for the BVA/KC. Clare Rusbridge has seen just a few in over a decade of research. I think ANY fully clear dogs MUST have scans confirmed by some sort of neurologist panel as I absolutely do not believe that a reading by a single radiologist/neurologist giving a clear for CM can be accepted. Too many are not that good at reading for CM and every case I know of a clear dog that has gone for review has been found to have CM to some degree.
Assuming a dog is clear for this research from a single person's reading is just insane. This is NOT the way to do DNA work.
I have to agree with Karlin on this. When Elton had his MRI I KNOW his neurologist at first said he had NO CM and of course NO SM. I thought it was so rare that I was shocked. I know if it was another person they would stop at that. I thought to myself that he could be valuable to research. I then told him let me ask some people because maybe they would want his DNA or images. Nothing against his neurologist (I loved him with Ella) but he came back and said he spoke to a radiologist and looked more and he DOES have mild CM. So I can see how this can really be hard and one neurologist may think one thing, which is nothing against their abilities, but I would want more than one opinion since it is something that is not common in our breed.