| Pencil Drawing courtesy of Art Sweet. |
As a Blogger I receive daily emails asking me to help support one cause or another. I share as many as I feel are relevant and appropriate with all of you. It is interesting that I have never been approached by anyone to do health awareness events. I know that doing any genetic disease awareness event will make me very unpopular with some people but the more people that are aware of genetic diseases in any dog purebred, designer dogs, or mutts the healthier our dogs will be.
I have decided to tackle Syringomyelia (SM/CM) one of the most devastating diseases to the Cavalier breed. Syringomyelia (SM) is an extremely serious condition in which fluid-filled cavities develop within the spinal cord near the brain. It is also known as “neck scratcher’s disease”, because one of its common signs is scratching in the air near the neck. While the Cavalier is the breed most effected (or maybe its just that we admit it and testing has begun) other small breeds are effected as well.
The event will take place January 23 – 30th and I will be posting all the information I can get my hands on in order to help spread awareness. As a Blogger it is my responsibility tp make people aware of what is going on. Genetic diseases are something that no one wants to take on so I will but I need help. That is where you all come in. I am looking for:
- Breeders who are currently doing MRI testing that would like to write a Guest Post
- Owners who have dogs affected by the disease no matter what breed they are who would like to share their dog’s story
- Veterinarians (neurologists mainly)
- Bloggers who would like to cross post the event on their blog to help spread awareness even further
Diagnosis and Treatment Video
If you would like to participate please email us [email protected] and let us know how you would like to help.
Our February Awareness event will be Mitral Valve Disease (MVD) quite fitting for the month of February.
that sounds like a scary disease.
I believe what you are doing here is great! Every time I read stories like this I cry!! Everyone that want to have a cavalier for companion has to know these things about the breed!
I'm a cavalier owner but thanks God he is healthy (at least for now)! Keep doing this great work!! I'm glad there are people like you out there! A friend from Greece!
We're going to be trying to get out boy, Danny, in for an MRI this month. He's had seizures since he was 6 months old and it's been our fear that SM is what he has, but our old vet was pretty lax, and didn't even know what SM was. Our new vet is very proactive. It's good to get the word out, as there are even vets out there that don't know what it is.
Great idea Davinia and Indiana!
Feel free to find and connect with us and other members interested in and affected by SM/CM. Join the CM/SM group, read our articles and read blog posts and stories from our members:
http://www.dogheirs.com/categories/15-chiari-malformation-syringomyelia
Your friends,
The DogHeirs Team
I've just found your blog and am reading backwards, so please forgive the comment on an old post. I just had to say that SM is the reason I can't get a Cavalier. The disease, numbers affected, and breeder denial horrified me. To this day I adore the breed and it truly depresses me as they are perfect for my life, but I just couldn't risk such a serious issue. I want to applaud you in publicizing this disease and I truly hope a day will come that those beautiful wee dogs will be free of SM (and MVD).