Oh Kate, I do hope it's nothing serious and the vet and find out what the trouble is before Daisy has to suffer anymore discomfort.

Poppy occasionally yelps when she jumps up, but we found out yesterday that her 2 middle toes on her back right paw a very close together and sometimes they cross over, so when she lands and they are crossed, it's a bit uncomfortable for her.

Me and Poppy send lots of hugs and kisses to Daisy for a speedy recovery.

The more I read, the more I think this is her problem. Even when sitting her head keeps drooping like she cant hold it up I have supported her head with a cusion under her chin, but I am becoming very worried.

Dogs with SHM can lead normal lives Kathryn let the medication kick in to ease the pain I was in a panic over Abbie & she's munching on a pigs trotter today free from the pain that laid her low on wednesday. Don't forget she doesn't know what is wrong with her so treat her as normal as possible. You might want to use a harness & lead instead of a collar & lead for walks

I've a friend in Scotland you has a dog with SHM & he's fine 99% of the time now he's on medication & treatment.

You might want to join this Yahoo Group which is for support for owners whose dogs have SHM

Do make sure your vet is aware of SHM though you can copy & print off the articles from the Cavalier site or mine to show them

Claire & Geoff(Skerritt)are both really helpful & heavily involved in research & treatment

I know you are watching football Inca, but this is for when you have finished watching. My daughter is sure that she has got the pedigree in her files, but I cannot locate them at the moment (cant understand her filing system). I have rung the vets because I am becoming increasingly worried about Daisy she is going to ring me back in 15 mins.

Kathryn

Whilst Inca is not on line, please don't get upset, one of the things that can make symptoms worse is the heat, so that is what might be affecting her make sure she can lie somewhere cool,.

I'm sure our older dog, Kaycee(aged nearly 10) has SHM(same breeder & bloodlines as Loukar)he likes to lie on the tiled fireplace surrounds.

He's on treatment for his heart which also helps relieve the SHM symptoms(2.5 mg of Fortekor daily) He doesn't cope too well in really hot weather(he has a grade 3 heart murmnur which doesn't help), but I keep a fan on & make sure he can get somewhere cool & he is fine

Gentle cuddles for your girl & you

Thanks Joedee Daisy also has a grade 2 heart murmur. We have the ceiling fan blowing down on her at the moment.

Before you start getting all worried Katie, just remember that you saw a VET with Daisy, and I would have thought a vet would have come across this SHM on numerous occasions with numerous dogs with this condition, and I would have thought she would have passed on her concerns to you at the time, when she saw Daisy? Instead, she has initially thought it is a soft tissue injury, so let's just hope it is. It's pointless to start stressing yourself out thinking the worst, when the vet's diagnosis could in fact be right. Obviously have a good read up on it as you must be aware of this condition, BUT, I do strongly feel that if your own vet had a suspiscion of this when she saw her, she would have mentioned it to you. Fingers crossed that you are worrying unnecessarily, I do hope so, and as someone else has said, it's very, very hot, all our dogs are feeling worse than normal today.

Helena

You would be surprised about the number of misdiagnosis of SHM by GP vets, I'm lucky as my vet was one of Geoff Skerrit's students & as such is aware of a lot of neurological problems that mainly GP vets have never seen, so when he saw his first case of SHM he researched it as the symptoms fitted several problems & after contacting Geoff & having the results of the MRI scan the cause of SHM was revealed

I know of one local vet who has in his words"never seen a case of SHM"yet in fact he has had at least three living clients(ie the dog)with SHM which has been confirmed by MRI scan ! & he has the most modern of practices ! He has actually lost the clients to my vet by word of mouth. All the dogs whose owners have contacted me are doing ok on the treatment they are receiving

However the treatnment Daisy has received is applicable to SHM & it maybe that Daisy's vet doesn't want to diagnose SHM until the results of the treatment are seen.

Have spoken to the vets and she has assured me that the head drooping is probably due to the morphine she has received and not to worry too much and give the treatment time to work. She also said that it was unlikely to be SM in a dog of Daisy`s age, and this illness usually shows in dogs about 2 years old, but does not rule it out which has given me a little bit of hope. I guess I will just have to wait and see over the weekend how Daisy gets on with the medication over the weekend.

Jodee, and the treatment Daisy has had, is also applicable for numerous other conditions, such as the soft tissue injuries, etc. etc.

I didn't know that vet's are incapable of diagnosing certain conditions that maybe they have never come across, no I didn't know that, I thought they would have been taught about every conceivable illness/condition associated with animals when they were doing their studies. So when Daisy is taken back to the vets and seems better on the medication she has been given, are you saying Katie should ask for an MRI scan possibly, to determine whether or not she does have it? It might be an idea to do this I think under the circumstances, as this seems to be becomming quite a commonplace illness from what you have said? Or would you say that when she goes back to the vet with Daisy and the vet is happy that it's all cleared up because it was in fact a soft tissue injury, she should leave it at that? After all, if it aint broke.......