Syringomyelia/Chiari Malformation

[virgilsmama]

Oh boy, Happy Belated Birthday to Oliver!!! Happy New Year to Deb and her whole family!!! Time to say thanks for a year of support and understanding from you and all the DPers and a Healthy and Blessed New Year to everyone!

Love, Liz, Daisy, Buddy and Levon and Scott!

[jacknyc]

Happy belated birthday my dear Oliver. you are Jack's role model. I hope Jack celebrates his 9th bday in 5 years.
Deb so happy our Christmas babies are still going strong.
Please give Oliver lots of hugs and kisses from Jack and I.

[virgilsmama]

And a Happy Belated Birthday to Jack, as well!

[manitwo]

Time to wish all the beautiful babies with this very sad illness ,better health ,better everything for the coming year.
Love you all and pray for you (a few tears at times) everyday.
Shirley,Mimi and Badge xxx

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Liz, thank you so much for your message. You have been a wonderful friend and a terrific supporter not just of Oliver (and me) but all of us who come to this thread. Your little Levon has kept things interesting this year and now he's doing extremely well, which is wonderful. I wish you and yours (including Scott and "Baby Sister") all the very best in 2013!

Irene, a very Happy Birthday to Jack!!! You are so sweet to say that Oliver is Jack's role model. I'm confident that Jack will still be thriving in 4 years as Oliver has done. I can't believe he is 5 already. I wish you and yours the very best of everything in 2013. Our Christmas babies have become our Christmas miracles it seems. I always think that no news is good news around here, so when I don't hear from you for a while, I tend to think the best. Give Jack big hugs from Oliver & Henry, and of course myself, and one to you too for being such a great Mum.

Shirley, thank you too for always lending support and encouragement. It means a great deal! Wishing you the best of everything, as well as Mimi and Badge too, for 2013, which you'll see before the rest of us.

We're so blessed to have so many wonderful friends who continue to pop on here and check in with our pups, even though their dogs are happy and healthy. It truly makes a difference. Love, health, happiness and blessings to all in 2013. ♥




Irene: My profuse apologies for mixing up Jack's age....I had it backwards. He is 4 now, and will still be thriving in 5 years!

[Georgia's Mommy]

Happy New Year to all from Kelly, Georgia & Lola! Best wishes to all 2 and 4 legged creatures on Daily Puppy! Georgia and I have both valued our time here. Off for start of the year acupuncture tomorrow. It's funny b/c many people haven't seen Georgia since last year when she was at an all time low with her SM. People now have a hard time believing that she is sick. Of course everyone picks on me for her weight. I swear this dog doesn't eat enough to be so heavy. Believe in my heart it is the medication. One battle at a time. Weather change definitely impacted her legs and lots of limping. First time in about 3 months when I had to dole out some pain meds. Georgia did love the snow. Pure pleasure on her gorgeous face.

Again, Happy New Year and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your kind words and support. It's makes dealing with SM so much easier knowing we are not alone.

xx

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Happy New Year Kelly!!! Georgia looks so cute in her coat, which resembles a teddy bear from the photo. Both Oliver and Henry love playing in the snow, but the cold is hard on Oliver. Fortunately, this year he still seems to be rolling with it. I'm glad to hear that Georgia is doing well, even though the cold has been bothering her. Hopefully the acupuncture will help.

I believe the weight gain is due to the medication. I couldn't feed Oliver any less, and he's quite round. Don't let anyone give you a hard time about that; better a couple of extra pounds, and feeling comfortable than the opposite! Tell whomever to mind their owns beeswax.

I do love all of Georgia's photos, so please keep posting them. It's hard to capture definition on their black faces with a white background. Sometimes I can't tell where Henry is under my desk unless he blinks and the light reflects off of the moisture in his eyes.

[Georgia's Mommy]

Hi All!

Georgia has been doing a lot of head/ear shaking lately. She just got over an ear infection. I know he ears are clear now. I feel like it is neurological. She also does chronic tongue licking. Just sits and licks her lips (not related to eating). I usually distract her and that stops the behavior temporarily. I'm thinking it is related to barometric pressure. We have a winter warm up after some frigid weather. Georgia never had the crying out in pain symptom. But scratching/licking and head rubbing. Just wondering if anyone else's dog does the head shake/ tongue lick. I'm trying to keep track of new stuff that is developing before I go to to the neurologist. I'm hoping to wait until March for an appointment but will take her earlier if I have to.

[virgilsmama]

God bless little Georgia, I hope those symptoms ease up for her. Poor precious babies who suffer from this condition. Love them all.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Kelly, I'm so sorry I didn't see your post sooner. I've had the stomach flu and have been out of commission for the better part of this week.

Oliver has not had the symptoms you described, but as you mentioned, they can vary and manifest themselves in different ways. If you think that Georgia's medication is no longer helping her, perhaps a visit to the Neurologist before March may be in order. We're having much the same weather as you are. I know it does affect our pups greatly. For the first 2 years after Oliver was diagnosed, initially it was the cold, and then it was the heat that set him off. The Barometric pressure does play a huge role.

I do hope Georgia feels better soon. Oliver does do a licking motion from time to time, where he lifts his head and sort of air gulps and licks for no reason, but it is very short lived...no more than 5 seconds at a time. I always wonder if he's about to throw up and jump up from wherever I am to scoot him to somewhere easy to clean. He then often gives me a look as if to say "what...I'm minding my own business" and everything is fine. Henry licks THINGS, and there is nothing "wrong" with him.

Let us know how things go. Trust your instincts as you see her everyday and from here, it's just hard to say. If you think things are worse for her, then by all means go back to the Neurologist sooner rather than later.

My heart goes out to you darling. It is just so hard to see our babies not doing as well as we wish. ♥

[Georgia's Mommy]

Hi Deb,

It's just hard to tell what is a neurological symptom and what else her head jerking could be. She is doing just fine otherwise. Very happy and healthy. Loves chasing her sister Lola all around the house and barks at the animals she sees on TV. This head twitching is just odd and relatively new. I can't decide between ear infection or neurological symptom. I do think her medication is working b/c other than routine symptoms, she is a happy and healthy dog. I'll keep track of it and present it to her neurologist when I see them in the spring.

Kelly

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Kelly, I know exactly what you mean. For the first two years after Oliver was diagnosed, if he hiccuped differently, I would wonder if this was an indication of something else neurological. There is a lot of "wait and see", and trusting our instincts.

Oliver used to have these really small seizures, which I was never sure if he had or not, and really had no way to tell until after the fact. They wouldn't last long...2 or 3 minutes, and unlike the first time, there would be no lasting effects. He also used to have "cherry eye" a great deal. As soon as I had a digital camera, and my Neurologist's personal email address (for his very first Doctor who was doing the Study), they stopped. She wanted me to photograph him in that state, and it never happened again.

With Georgia's ears, it is probably hard to tell which is which. I think you're taking the absolute right approach. Your instincts have been spot on to date. I'm glad to hear she's happy and chasing Lola, and barking at animals on the TV. Oliver does that as well, and yet Henry has never noticed them. Silly dogs!

Another ironic thing is that Oliver never, ever has gunky ears, or smelly ears, whereas Henry does all the time. We have to clean his ears very frequently. It's only ironic that they are both Tri colour as I'm quite sure that has nothing to do with it. Henry doesn't head shake or bang about, but he will scratch his ears. He is so disgusting...like a Chimp, he always smells his foot after scratching his ear. TMI???

Thankfully we're enjoying a mild spell right now and almost all of our snow is gone. This bodes well for our dogs...not so great for the flu season. Everyone stay healthy!

[Georgia's Mommy]

Hi All!

Just checking in. Georgia and I are doing well in this freezing weather! She has been happy, peppy, and acting like a healthy dog. Lots of eating (almost non-stop) which is a big change. She is actually driving me crazy with begging for my food. Georgia has never been a beggar! I'm taking it all with a grain of salt. She is a gem.

Funny story. I keep telling everyone that I got a new alarm clock. I have three. A clock radio, my cell phone and when I hit snooze repeatedly, my cat Lola pokes me in the nose to get me up!! I swear she does it b/c she knows Georgia is waiting to go outside. My girls....they are a team

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Kelly & Georgia

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Kelly, I'm glad to hear that things are going well for Georgia, and Lola. They are a "team" which is ever so cute! It has been brutally cold!

Oliver has had several more instances of "Cherry Eye" lately, which has me keeping a very close watch on him. Henry also had it badly last weekend, which really worried me as he has been "fine" so far. They come from two totally different lines, but I still worry as Oliver was 4 when he was diagnosed and Henry is just 3. Fortunately, Henry has not displayed any other symptoms that Oliver had, which I didn't recognize when he was younger.

So far, Oliver seems to be managing well. He's been a little stiff sometimes, but then so have I! There has also been a lot of face rubbing, but I've not noticed an increase in pain, and certainly no yelping. Oliver did want extra cuddles this afternoon, which he has not sought for a while. It's hard to tell sometimes if it is just the loving he wants, or if something is happening. I'm going to choose to believe he just wanted some extra loving.

Compared to how he has been in the past, Oliver is still doing remarkably well.

I hope that all of our loved ones caught in this terrific cold, and snow are managing well. Irene, I've been wondering about Jack and hoping that he is maintaining well.

Let's hope this winter is kind.

[rachelleb]

Hi everyone.

(I just posted this question on the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel board before I realized that there is entire forum for syringomyelia, so my apologies for repeating it here!)

My dad's dog, Ollie, has been showing symptoms of this disease for about a year, but I didn't realize that it existed and was so common for the breed until just today. I'm just so sad that it's been ignored and misdiagnosed for this long. I've been doing some online research about SM for a few hours, but I haven't been able to find any information on the cost of diagnosis and treatment. If anyone here would feel comfortable sharing their experiences in that regard, I'd very much appreciate it.

My heart goes out to all of the pups and their people on this thread!