Hello all. I am new to the forum but grateful to have a place to turn. I am desperate. Our cavalier, who is not even 2 years old yet is in constant pain. Please help us if you can or offer words of advice. We don't know what to do. Here's our story...
Basically Shiloh has been in pain since we brought her home at 10 weeks old. But in the beginning the episodes were very mild compared to now, and they happened every now and then. The first sign was constant scooting. Yelping in pain and jumping off the couch and running around screaming while trying to chase her bum. We immediately sought advice from her vet and for the first year we would go back multiple times a month to have her anal glands expressed. "Anal gland this, anal sac that...." Bla bla bla. Here's the problem. After spending hundreds of dollars to get her glands done, multiple times a month, she never had any relief. Not one time has the scooting stopped or slowed as a result of expressing the glands. Over and over and over again. Constant pain, yelping, scooting, squealing. Finally the vet says, "it's allergies. "
Great. So the entire second year of her life has been spent feeding her strict hypo-allergenic food, absolutely nothing else. Still expressing the glands, still no relief. After spending hundreds of dollars at the vet trying to figure it out, I finally took videos of her behavior and begged the vet to watch them. I pleaded with him to hear me out that SOMEtHING IS WRONG with my dog! Her symptoms have intensified and over the last year she has declined significantly.
Her quality of life is absolutely heartbreaking. She itches constantly, rubbing herself raw, yet she has no dry skin, yeast, rashes. Nothing whatsoever to suggest allergies. She has always hated going into her harness for walks, has always ducked her head down when people try to pet her, she cries and screams in pain daily, she digs non stop, always fidgets, is never comfortable, won't lie still, and in the most recent months has started biting and licking her paws obsessively. The absolute worst behavior of all, is that she spends about 85% of her life hiding under our bed. We live in a loft and have concrete, cold floors in the bedroom. Whenever I work on my music or choreography in the living room when she's in pain, she will scream and cry until I let her under the bed where it is cold and dark. It is literally the only place she is comfortable. Needless to say, all of this led me to do my own research, and I eventually found out about SM. I insisted the vet listen to me at her last visit and he finally agreed to do a bunch of tests to rule out other things. He finally agreed this is NOT allergies and that something is horribly wrong with my young cavalier. He reluctantly gave a referral to a numerologist, but warned me the cost of trying to get a dx would be astronomical. We are in the U.S. and the only neuro here said the cost would be $2000-$4000 just for the initial scan and consult. We have no money to move forward but are convinced she has SM. She air scratches constantly. My dog is in agony. She currently is on trauma doll but the poor thing gets sick to her stomach with. WHAT do we do!? We are desperate to find help but absolutely do not have the money to do an MRi. The irony is that we bought her as source of therapy for me after I was diagnosed with Lupus, and she has been suffering every day of her life. I'm heartbroken.
Basically Shiloh has been in pain since we brought her home at 10 weeks old. But in the beginning the episodes were very mild compared to now, and they happened every now and then. The first sign was constant scooting. Yelping in pain and jumping off the couch and running around screaming while trying to chase her bum. We immediately sought advice from her vet and for the first year we would go back multiple times a month to have her anal glands expressed. "Anal gland this, anal sac that...." Bla bla bla. Here's the problem. After spending hundreds of dollars to get her glands done, multiple times a month, she never had any relief. Not one time has the scooting stopped or slowed as a result of expressing the glands. Over and over and over again. Constant pain, yelping, scooting, squealing. Finally the vet says, "it's allergies. "
Great. So the entire second year of her life has been spent feeding her strict hypo-allergenic food, absolutely nothing else. Still expressing the glands, still no relief. After spending hundreds of dollars at the vet trying to figure it out, I finally took videos of her behavior and begged the vet to watch them. I pleaded with him to hear me out that SOMEtHING IS WRONG with my dog! Her symptoms have intensified and over the last year she has declined significantly.
Her quality of life is absolutely heartbreaking. She itches constantly, rubbing herself raw, yet she has no dry skin, yeast, rashes. Nothing whatsoever to suggest allergies. She has always hated going into her harness for walks, has always ducked her head down when people try to pet her, she cries and screams in pain daily, she digs non stop, always fidgets, is never comfortable, won't lie still, and in the most recent months has started biting and licking her paws obsessively. The absolute worst behavior of all, is that she spends about 85% of her life hiding under our bed. We live in a loft and have concrete, cold floors in the bedroom. Whenever I work on my music or choreography in the living room when she's in pain, she will scream and cry until I let her under the bed where it is cold and dark. It is literally the only place she is comfortable. Needless to say, all of this led me to do my own research, and I eventually found out about SM. I insisted the vet listen to me at her last visit and he finally agreed to do a bunch of tests to rule out other things. He finally agreed this is NOT allergies and that something is horribly wrong with my young cavalier. He reluctantly gave a referral to a numerologist, but warned me the cost of trying to get a dx would be astronomical. We are in the U.S. and the only neuro here said the cost would be $2000-$4000 just for the initial scan and consult. We have no money to move forward but are convinced she has SM. She air scratches constantly. My dog is in agony. She currently is on trauma doll but the poor thing gets sick to her stomach with. WHAT do we do!? We are desperate to find help but absolutely do not have the money to do an MRi. The irony is that we bought her as source of therapy for me after I was diagnosed with Lupus, and she has been suffering every day of her life. I'm heartbroken.