AMS in cockers.

[scot-ish]

everyone is im sure if that, i have a bitch from scimitar, one from Gun and a dog which goes back to a prominent sire who features in a 5 gen 7 times. he also features in every single AMs carrier or affected dog that i know of. i just bit the bullet and done it, relief when i get clears back.

[beechessam]

It will be a relief if it comes back clear thats for sure.

[Teddy]

I've got a puppy and I became obsessed watching him in case he started to chew his feet, I had him tested at just a few weeks old.... I didn't care if he came back as a carrier as long as he wasn't affected, I almost cried with relief when the test results came back clear.

[LucyLab]

Excuse me for being thick, but where did you guys read that there's only been 8 confirmed cases? Something very wrong with that figure - i.e. Vets are clearly not reporting this as they should be! When I went to my vet for the swabs, she told me they've seen 3 cases in the last 3 years there! Now statistically, that's a rural vet with a small catchment, and the three pups were not closely related...so what are the chances of 3 out of this '8' all being my neighbours?? Since then there's a new poster up at the vet, telling of a pup who has recently been pts, diagnosed with AMS...a 4th for this vet? Next time I go in I will be asking if the KC is aware of the apparent hot spot up here...

[Amberquest]

Those are confirmed cases on the cocker spaniel database Lucy

[LucyLab]

Those are confirmed cases on the cocker spaniel database Lucy

Ah ok, thanks Scott. So just the ones that the owners themselves have reported? The words "tip of the iceberg" spring to mind.....

[Amberquest]

Yes the ones which have sent their certificates in to the CSDB.

[Bwana]

Lucy, please let us know who your vet is. As you say, if this rural practice has had 4 diagnosed cases in the last three years, this is very significant.

[Judy]

Perhaps we should all be quietly asking our vets whether they have had any cases? Particularly if its a rural practice with shoots nearby. At least we may get more of an idea of the scale of the problem and can pressure people into testing before things get out of hand.

I have some experience of a genetic disorder (in humans) which causes peripheral neuropathy, some children die in the first few years of life, some are still alive at 30, some can walk some can do next to nothing yet they all have the same syndrome, maybe there are affected dogs out there that have few apparent signs, we won't know until we have more experience and more people testing. Plus some vets / owners may not recognise the problem thinking its just an extreme allergy. Hopefully threads like this will spread the word.

[scot-ish]

Lucy,

i would take your vets word with a pinch of salt.

the 8 confirmed "affected" dogs- is information direct from Anatage - the only company with a test for positively diagnosing Affected/carrier/clear status.

that means any other "confirmed" cases you talk off are not official, as such - and diagnoses possibly by symptoms (which is difficult to differentiate from ganglioradiculits. they can do nerve biopsies after being PTS-but i would imagine the glasgow vet school would have been involved in this, as they were involved in the initial research into this.

Antagene only released this DNA test 18 months ago - so the 3 years your vet mentions, i wouldnt not be relying on that too much.

the poster which is up in your vet, was a case diagnosed in Guenrsey (as far away from Aberdeen as you could get nearly) again - not 4 confirmed cases of dogs PTS in a rural area.

the poster was put together by a few ladies who have being researching and working on AMS for the past few year- it seems it is serving its purpose at least and raising awareness. if you search this forum for "bailey" or "Dennis high Jumper" you will find the owner of that dog featured in that poster, and see him also trying to raise awareness with regards to AMS.