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Vets that have knowledge on SM in the Solihull area?

ZigsBro

Well-known member
Ziggy was quite bad earlier on. Just before we fed him, he literately couldnt stand... In light of this we are worried about taking him to the vets we currently go to (Your vets, Solihull branch) and they keep fobbing us off with anti biotics for his ear. We are really sick of this. Can somone suggest a vet clinic in the Solihull area which do well with SM? That would be great.
We have a few videos of Ziggy and his SM symptoms which il put below to give you an idea:
[video=youtube;jd5YQTgjBGc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jd5YQTgjBGc[/video]
 
[video=youtube;zYIz4YuEHNk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zYIz4YuEHNk[/video]
I do have more evidence on my phone of which I will take to the vet. We know about the Willows vet but any other suggestions would be welcome.
 
Ziggy was quite bad earlier on. Just before we fed him, he literately couldnt stand... In light of this we are worried about taking him to the vets we currently go to (Your vets, Solihull branch) and they keep fobbing us off with anti biotics for his ear. We are really sick of this. Can somone suggest a vet clinic in the Solihull area which do well with SM? That would be great.
We have a few videos of Ziggy and his SM symptoms which il put below to give you an idea:
[video=youtube;jd5YQTgjBGc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jd5YQTgjBGc[/video]

I will send you a PM about this as I cannot say what I need to on a public Forum.
 
The Willows in Highland Road is a referral veterinary hospital, which means that your present vets would have to refer you there, but one of their neurologists, Sebastien Behr, is very clued up about CM/SM; his research subject is cerebral-spinal fluid. I haven't needed to take either of my two to him for their CM/SM, as they are pretty stable at the moment and our local vet keeps a good eye on them, but Sebastien is treating Aled's myoclonus and inevitably CM/SM comes into our conversations!

Kate, Oliver and Aled

PS Sorry, have just reread your posts and seen that you alredy know about the Willows!
 
The Willows in Highland Road is a referral veterinary hospital, which means that your present vets would have to refer you there, but one of their neurologists, Sebastien Behr, is very clued up about CM/SM; his research subject is cerebral-spinal fluid. I haven't needed to take either of my two to him for their CM/SM, as they are pretty stable at the moment and our local vet keeps a good eye on them, but Sebastien is treating Aled's myoclonus and inevitably CM/SM comes into our conversations!

Kate, Oliver and Aled

PS Sorry, have just reread your posts and seen that you alredy know about the Willows!
We messaged The Willows on Facebook to ask about Ziggy and the probability of it being SM and they came back and said it sounds probable and that we should try to get a referral. (Progress?) As we speak right now it appears that Ziggy has anal gland issues now which is rather strange because he had his anal glands expelled only a month ago. So as a result, we will be going to the vets tomorrow to put everything including the SM to bed. Heres whats really strange, about 5 minutes ago, he got off the bed (he is sleeping with me toninght because he needs to keep going outside to toilet every 30 minutes or so) and got up and sat next to the fake fire and started crying at his reflection in it (its a fake fire with a glass door). Ziggy has never ever done anything like this ever. Really abnormal behaviour for him. He litrarely sat with his face directly in the glass pane door on the fire and started crying as if it was a door (he knows perfectly well it is not a door for going outside)

Maybe just an odd moment of randomness? I have video footage of this. It wasnt on or anything so it wasnt giving out heat which is even more bizarre for him to go over to it.
 
One loooooonnnnngggggg night later and its now morning!

Ziggy did some more strange things in the night. For example, at about 3am he got up and went to the front door and cried (he never ever does this and he never uses the front door for anything) as if he wanted to go out which is really strange. Its like he literately lost his mind slightly... The same day before all this he did collapse off of his feet about 3 or 4 times. Related? Really weird. Past 8AM he stopped going out and is now sleeping in a cool spot underneath the table.

Il just elaborate on his anal gland issues incase they could be linked in some sort of impossible way. He basically keeps feeling like he needs the toilet and goes out and strains for a poo but nothing comes out. After about 4am he started to have diarrhea and that was it pretty much. Cant think of anything he could have eaten to make him bad. Hes on Chappy (the hard food type. We switched him from James Well Beloved last year and his bowels have thanked him for it since) incase that matters.

Anyways, thats the update so far.
 
We have just got back from the vets and we have finally managed to get a referral! Im so happy! (Dont get me wrong im absolutely distraught hes got this horrible neurological disorder but im thrilled we can atleast make a start on doing something about it)

We went to our branch at Your Vets and managed to get one of the senior vets there to check him out and she thinks that our best bet is a referral to The Willows. We need to get in touch with the insurer streight away to confirm it with them (it says that in the Ts and Cs) which we are doing right now so we can get all this sorted ASAP.

Anyway, Il keep you all updated.
 
I wonder if the trouble at the 'other end' could be caused by an anal abscess. One of my dogs had one a year or two back and it does sound a little similar. She needed a course of antibiotics.

The other things you mention are likely to be caused by neuropathic pain of some sort. None of us are neurologists here, but many of us do have experience of the several conditions in our dogs which can cause this. The Willows will probably run tests to determine the cause. Good luck when you take up the referral appointment.
 
Thanks Flo!

Heres another video we have which was took just before going into the vets:
We shal show this to the neurologist at The Willows
 
Hi everyone!
Ziggy had another really bad night, poor soul. Bloody diarrhea like last night (he did have it the night before which we did mention to the vets but they thought it might be just something he ate) so we have another appointment for him today. Last night he had quite a few SM symptoms like digging at the ground and lying with his bum in the air with his ear to the floor as if he was itching it (might have been a playing thing but I doubt it in the state he was in last night).

He also just did a really weird walk which im uploading as we speak. We have another vets appointment for the back end later on.

Oops! Forgot to press the post button! Well we have just gotten back from the vets and we have good news on the backside front. It turns out so far as far as we know its gastro irritation due to a bug of some sort which is rather strange because he hasnt gone for any walks in over a month... Strange but still... Maybe he got it in the garden or something. He was given an injection and tablets to ease and fight off the irritation. I have seen an improvement with him already so thats a start!

I sound like a bit of a zombie in the video because I my self have just gotten over the glorious mixture of Flu, sinusitis and an ear infection, mixed with no sleep for two nights. (haha)

Anyways, Il keep you all posted! Thanks to all for all the support. Such a great community.
 
Hi there,
We visited Willows at the beginning of this year just before lost Megan. They were very good, and I wouldn't hesitate to go back again. Only thing we found was that you have to pay upfront for treatment and then claim afterwards from your insurance company.
Keep us posted, your vids were very interesting. I've seen Teddy display a few of those characteristics (the early vids), and I thought the were just him playing so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.
Lynne x
 
Thank you Lynne!
Ziggy has finally had 2 nights of full sleep in a row which is excellent. His stools (I think) are back to normal. As a result wel be rebooking his MRI scan so we can get this all sorted!
 
Ziggs bowel has improved thanks to all the medication he has had! The past 2 days his SM has gotten quite bad. Has there been a pressure change?
 
Ziggs bowel has improved thanks to all the medication he has had! The past 2 days his SM has gotten quite bad. Has there been a pressure change?

I haven't checked the barometer but I would say yes, there has. Rebel is much better after several days of holding his head very low and being irritable and demanding. I increased his Gabapentin, which helped him a little, but he still looked stressed. Then, a couple of nights ago he started to look better and now he's back to his old self, even though I have now adjusted his dosage back to normal.
 
Ahh right, sounds about right then I suppose. As a result of ths pressure change I have nticed hes squinting his eyes... Could this be squinting in pain? I cant find too much info on this. Any ideas?
 
Yes I think it is. A while after Rebel started to show symptoms I realised that he was squinting with the one eye and keeping the other closed. I made an appointment with the view for review, but meanwhile looked through the many photos I have taken of him over recent years. I was shocked to find that he had been closing that eye in almost all of the pictures for at least a couple of years, so I checked on the dates each were taken and showed them to the vet. She immediately agreed it was neuropathic pain. She said she could also see from the muscles of his face that he was in serious pain.

It will help at The Willows if you list anything and everything that has happened that you think might have anything at all to do with SM, including any photos you may have. They would rather have too much information than too little.
 
Ahh I see. Yeah I have to admit he has been squinting one hell of a lot lately. Thank god our appointment will be soon so we can hopefully get the poor chap sorted for Xmas! :(

I do have one question.. (Full of them arent I?) Namely about the paw licking. Why do they lick their paws? I have read up that some humans with SM scratch their skin raw because of hallucinations of bugs crawling on their skin? Not sure though. Just curious as we arent sure if its something we should tell him to stop as sometimes it gets so out of hand.
 
Rebel does that sometimes. I think it might be that the licking helps to relieve the sense of pressure inside the skull. The neurologist might be able to tell you more about that.
 
Squinting is a common SM symptom and usually seems to mean a headache - often produced by the pressure within the skull resulting from dilated ventricles, where - because the free flow of cerebral-spinal fluid is prevented by the Chiari Malformation - the fluid backs up in the ventricles instead of changing direction to go back down the brain to the spinal cord. The squint is most obvious in bright sunlight, but can also be caused by fluorescent light and even the bright white light you get on a cloudy day. Oliver is particularly affected and wears a soft sun hat with a long brim on sunny days - he's less affected on walks because his nose is always on the ground and at that angle his eyelids keep the sun out. He used to get a lot of headaches, but is now on a new drug that really helps, although I still protect his eyes in sunlight. I regard squinting in sunlight as a sign that CM/SM may be present (it can, of course, simply be an eye problem); last year I was at a training class for small dogs on a sunny day and Aled, my other Cavalier who also has CM/SM, was squinting when he looked up at me, but when I looked around, none of the other dogs were squinting - pekingese, Lancashire heelers, Italian greyhounds, corgis, shelties, none of them were affected by the strong light, only my CM/SM Cavalier.

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Thank you all for the information given. We got back from The Willows 1 hour ago and they said they would give him an MRI! I was a little startled as they booked him in the same day and I left without him. They said his heart murmor was higher than the other vets said and that he should be ok to come home by about 5. I feel a little worried about that with his murmor but it needs to be done. She said it could be meningitis, slipped disk, CM or SM... So wel just have to see what comes of it I suppose.
Il keep you posted!
 
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