Re: CM/SM grading

James Laidlaw — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 10:06:22 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]

I think you mean Clare Rusbridge, and she's now at Fitzpatrick Referrals (I found this out the hard way when it took me about a month to get a reply from her)

[/quote] Autocorrect fail...

Re: CM/SM grading

Mark Lowrie — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:47:11 GMT

I think the important thing to remember here is that this scheme is a breeding scheme. It doesn’t give useful information regarding prognosis. We also know very little of the aetiology and genetics of this condition and so even with regards to breeding, the advice precipitated from performing this scheme may be flawed. This doesn’t mean I am not in favour of it, quite the contrary, it is just important to highlight that this scheme is based on the little scientific fact that we have about the disease and may later be found to be too simplistic.

The reason I say this, is it has long been known that the radiological signs of CM/SM are not proportional to the clinical signs of CM/SM. So a dog with a really bad looking MRI scan may be asymptomatic, whereas a dog with minimal radiological signs on MRI may be severely affected clinically. A recent study suggested the prevalence of radiological changes of CM/SM in asymptomatic dogs could be as high as 70%.

Therefore, with regards to the dog you mention, yes, radiologically this dog is bad. However, if it is asymptomatic then that is the most important thing to remember. The disease is thought to progress radiologically and clinically (in around 75% in the latter) with age but it is difficult to know how many asymptomatic dogs become symptomatic.

In summary, you are right to be concerned that this dog may develop symptoms of CM/SM but the risk is relatively high in the CKCS population in general and the majority of dogs with CM/SM are very easily managed with medication in my experience. So you are right to say it is ‘not a given’ that this dog will develop signs. As a pet I think this dog will be fine. However, I would certainly agree with the breeder’s decision not to breed and I think it is correct to mention the risk (albeit we cannot quantify it) to the owners. I wouldn’t feel embarrassed for not understanding the scheme fully as you are in good company!

Re: CM/SM grading

Karen Eggleton — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:39:07 GMT

Yep, at Fitzpatrick. Have emailed. Thank you! Hoping I'm not the only one who struggles to understand this complaint

Re: CM/SM grading

Anthony Dennison — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:30:19 GMT

I think you mean Clare Rusbridge, and she's now at Fitzpatrick Referrals (I found this out the hard way when it took me about a month to get a reply from her)

Re: CM/SM grading

James Laidlaw — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 08:34:14 GMT

Try and talk to Clare Tusbridge at Stone lion in Wimbledon. Think she is heavily involved in CM/SM investigations.

Re: CM/SM grading

Karen Eggleton — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:04:43 GMT

Forgot to add Syrinx transverse reading 2.8