Awareness of Syringomyelia. Looking forward to writing

I have been given the opportunity to write a blog about Ella's story to raise awareness about Syringomyelia and I have been very excited but I want to get it right.  I am no expert on Syringomyelia and I am learning something new everyday, but I feel it is important for people to know about SM. I think people should, in general, know what is going on health wise with their animals, especially when there are breed specific health conditions like SM and MVD. 

I see on the Internet horrible Youtube videos of Cavaliers with SM and it makes me want to cry.  I know there was a BBC special that has been highly debated and even though SM should not be taken lightly, I also want to give people hope.  Unfortunatly to grab people's attention, those videos do a pretty good job. They also don't give the other side like what people are doing about it. The breeders who are trying to screen dogs, the surgery, the medication, some dogs living to be several years old, some never progressing.  There also are some that lose the battle.  It needs to be addressed like MVD and there needs to be healthly breeding, low cost MRI's, and other things to help our Cavaliers, but my main point is not to scare people.  I want them to notice the symptoms and hopefully start medication treatment.  I am not sure how this story will go but I do know that Ella's vet did not think she had a problem and without me noticing her symptoms and demanding her get checked with a neurologist, with her progression and severity I would hate to think of where she could be now.

So take a moment and notice your dogs. Evaluate and notice any behavior changes.  They can not talk to us so we really need to pay special attention to what is going on to them.  I look forward to writing my blog for http://www.dawgbusiness.blogspot.com/  If you want to see more stories about other dog health problems this is a good site to go to.  Stay tuned. Much more to come.