Cavalier Matters
Well-known member
Professor Clare Rusbridge has shared an excellent video:
The most infamous clinical sign of syringomyelia is phantom scratching.
However there is much confusion in the veterinary and dog owning community about what phantom scratching is and many dogs are misinterpreted as having phantom scratching when in fact they have Chiari pain. With Chiari pain they scratch and rub the back of their head because of headache. By contrast phantom scratching is a maladaptive scratch reflex due to damage by the syringomyelia cavity to the input centre for scratching in the cervical spinal cord.
Management of the two types of scratch is different. This video informs you how to distinguish Chiari pain scratch from phantom scratching. [Thanks to Jemima Harrison for the video.]
The most infamous clinical sign of syringomyelia is phantom scratching.
However there is much confusion in the veterinary and dog owning community about what phantom scratching is and many dogs are misinterpreted as having phantom scratching when in fact they have Chiari pain. With Chiari pain they scratch and rub the back of their head because of headache. By contrast phantom scratching is a maladaptive scratch reflex due to damage by the syringomyelia cavity to the input centre for scratching in the cervical spinal cord.
Management of the two types of scratch is different. This video informs you how to distinguish Chiari pain scratch from phantom scratching. [Thanks to Jemima Harrison for the video.]