Deafness

[hannah]

My 6 month old CKCS, Rusty is deaf in both ears. He is due to have an MRI scan on Friday to check for Arnold Chiari syndrome. He does scratch his neck quite alot but does not show any symtoms of pain. I'm really feeling lost about what the future might hold. Very little I have read links the deafness with Chiari so I am confused as to why he is being sent for the scan.

[Maxxs_Mummy]

Hi Hannah,

It sounds very much like it could be PSOM. A good link is http://www.cavalierhealth.org/psom.htm but the site is down at the minute.

I am sending you a write up explaining it all by PM - hope this is of some help

[Karlin]

Welcome, Hannah. As Donna says, this *definitely* could equally be PSOM, especially because of the deafness. I have one dog that I MRI'd believing he had SM and it turns out to be PSOM; symptoms can be very similar. Read through the symptoms document on SM here and you can find info at the end on PSOM. A good idea to buy the article linked there, and print it out for the neurologist:

www.sm.cavaliertalk.com/symptoms.htm

If he is already deaf it could indicate a lot of the gunk in the middle ear that also causes other symptoms like shoulder/ear scratching. If he isn;t showing signs of pain, you might want to have an exam done for PSOM instead of a full MRI.However, an MRI will show you the PSOM as well as whether he has the malformation and/or SM, but it would be good to make sure your neuro is awar of the high incidence of PSOM and the fact that it causes similar symptoms.

As you are in Wales, are you going to see Mr Skerritt for the MRI? If so, he'll know what to look for with PSOM but you might bring along the article just in case he hasn't seen it. As you can get a low cost MRI from Skerritt I'd have the MRI anyway and then you'll get a good idea of what you are or are not dealing with. Skerritt did the MRIs for both my boys.

[hannah]

Lucky for us we live about 15 miles from chester so yes Rusty is going to Mr Skerrit for his MRI. I am very reassured that he is obviously someone who knows alot about these conditions and we are in good hands. Rusty has been bilaterally deaf since birth it would seem and sounds like there could be a good chance that it is the glue ear. Fingers crossed

[Karlin]

Mr Skerritt is a very comfortable person to deal with. Be sure to bring something to read as sometimes there's a bit of a wait and not much in the waiting room or around the hospital area to do. He brings you in and goes through everything in detail.

Let us know how the scan goes -- I'll be wishing Rusty and you the best of luck on Friday.

[hannah]

Good news Rusty does not have PSOM and although he does have the keyhole shape at the back of the skull, his brain is not squashed as in chiari and he has a very clear spinal cord. Mr Skerrit said it had been a while since he had seen such a clear spine. So his deafness is an inner ear problem from birth and we will continue with his hand signal training and hopefully a long happy life. He and his big brother, Chester are just so precious to us. Thanks to everyone for their replies and support it is so good to know that other people are just as mad about Caviliers as me.

[Karlin]

This is great news!! I am sure it comes as a real relief to knwo just what is wrong and to know you do not need to worry about having to take surgical steps.

Deaf dogs like deaf cats do really well; they just need extra special care so they are never near traffic or any similar danger where the inability to hear you or other sounds could be dangerous. Most dog trainers do train anyway with a combination of handsigns and commands as dogs respond better and more consistently to handsigns -- I read an interesting paper on this some time ago.

[rory]

What wonderful news!!!