@Shawna, thank you for the prayers! They are appreciated! As for her SM, yes it is something Cavaliers can have (not the only illness prevalent for the breed, as MVD is one of the main ones, but very unfortunately SM is becoming almost as prevalent :(…). Stella will be 12 years old in Feb. and that is quite a long life for a Cavalier, actually. I have had her since she was 5 years old. Around 8-10 years old I suspected a mild case but the vet I went to at the time didn’t know very much about Cavaliers. She was also x-rayed once and I was told she had bone spurs. I thought at the time maybe some of her symptoms were attributed to those, but now I’m not so sure. She has not been MRI’d, which is the only exact way to diagnose SM, but my holistic vet said that her symptoms seemed very much like SM and she was sure that the neurologist they work with would just look at the symptoms and diagnose her….so, we decided to give her Gabapentin and see if it helped. We started out at a small dose but had to increase it to 3 times a day. She seems to be doing fine with this dosage right now. Sometimes other meds are added, like prilosec, but Stella isn’t taking any others atm. Her blood panel was very normal, so she really is doing fine right now, considering. Stella was a therapy dog for 5 years and a show Champion when she was 18 months. She never had any pups, mating just never took, and in hind sight with the SM diagnosis it’s a good thing. She is my special girl and very, very bonded with me (they all are special and are all bonded with me lol!). I know I will be devastated when “that time” comes.
