Love my Cavaliers
Well-known member
Having one severely affected SM dog, I have a tendency to look at all my dogs through an SM lens. So, please help me determine whether I am just being a worry wort or whether I should press further with Madison - the one dog out of my four without any identified health issues so far. For the past several months I have noticed that she has become hesitant when jumping up on the couch and chairs. She will look like she wants to and will move her feet like a little dance and sometimes jump, sometimes not. She always makes it when she does jump. But, she hesitates more often than not, although sometimes she just jumps up like she always had. She reminds me of Riley who has difficulty jumping because of her SM, although she manifests it differently than Riley. Riley circles to gather up steam before she jumps and only makes the jump about half of the time. In the bedroom Madison uses Rileys' stairs up to the bed - always, without fail. The bed is a little higher than the sofa or chairs.
Other things that make me wonder are - Madison has always hated being petted on the top of her head, and we have had her since she was 10 weeks old so no abuse issues there. I know a lot of dogs don't like it, but she seems abnormally averse to it, especially in comparison to my other three. She also frequently urinates at night and when left for long stretches during the day (which is rare since I work out of my house). I wish I could tell you when it started but I thought it was Riley peeing at night for the longest time when she would have a seizure at night.Finally figured out it was Madison. I put a diaper on her at night. She has been checked out by an internist and had so many tests to check for abnormalities and has tried so many medications but she is very normal anatomically and no medication helped. She was spayed at about 9 months of age, before her first season. Also related to urinating, when going for a walk, she will give a little whimper when peeing. I always interpreted it as not wanting to stop to pee because the other dogs weren't stopping and she didn't want to get left behind but she does it when she's on a walk by herself, so maybe there's something else to it. She does not whimper when peeing out in the yard.
I took her to her vet yesterday for some blood work and an exam and of course she moved beautifully and jumped on every chair and couch easily. I should get the results of the blood work on Monday. The vet is thinking maybe a little arthritis (she will be 7 years old on the 18th of this month), but I'm just wondering if her symptoms could all add up to something more. Maybe some SM related weakness causing the incontinence and the jump hesitancy? Am i being crazy? Looking for something that's not there? I know it's important to look at the whole picture but I also know it's important not to jump the gun. Any thoughts?
Other things that make me wonder are - Madison has always hated being petted on the top of her head, and we have had her since she was 10 weeks old so no abuse issues there. I know a lot of dogs don't like it, but she seems abnormally averse to it, especially in comparison to my other three. She also frequently urinates at night and when left for long stretches during the day (which is rare since I work out of my house). I wish I could tell you when it started but I thought it was Riley peeing at night for the longest time when she would have a seizure at night.Finally figured out it was Madison. I put a diaper on her at night. She has been checked out by an internist and had so many tests to check for abnormalities and has tried so many medications but she is very normal anatomically and no medication helped. She was spayed at about 9 months of age, before her first season. Also related to urinating, when going for a walk, she will give a little whimper when peeing. I always interpreted it as not wanting to stop to pee because the other dogs weren't stopping and she didn't want to get left behind but she does it when she's on a walk by herself, so maybe there's something else to it. She does not whimper when peeing out in the yard.
I took her to her vet yesterday for some blood work and an exam and of course she moved beautifully and jumped on every chair and couch easily. I should get the results of the blood work on Monday. The vet is thinking maybe a little arthritis (she will be 7 years old on the 18th of this month), but I'm just wondering if her symptoms could all add up to something more. Maybe some SM related weakness causing the incontinence and the jump hesitancy? Am i being crazy? Looking for something that's not there? I know it's important to look at the whole picture but I also know it's important not to jump the gun. Any thoughts?