Just got back from having our four cavaliers blood sampled for DNA testing for Syringomyelia & MVD

We arranged for the appointment after morning surgery & glad to say everything went well. The dogs were very good & co-operative & the vet(I like him anyway)was nice & explained everything. Knowing that they are showdogs as well as our babies ;) he managed it with no shaving/cliipping of the coats & even the very introvert one came back wagging his tail & happy

We had been asked to starve them(well not give them breakfast)& this helped apparently. He also did a heart test, two clear, one with a slight murmur & one to keep an eye on & go back in 3 months as he has no clinical signs. The cost is met by the researchers & the KC is now funding MVD research

Whilst we were waiting there was a very badly behaved GR in the waiting room barking & lunging at the dogs & people with no chastizing, the poor vet also had to see him before us & apparently he has to be muzzled even for the nice very dog loving vet who saw him. No wonder some vets get wary of handling dogs.

Needless to say he was happy to handle our dogs as they are used to strangers them at shows, no chance of getting bitten or worse by them.

how much blood did they take for the tests as we just did some sampling and were informed you need 5ml per dog for the dna test???? and we had 3 12week old puppies to sample, getting a ml was hard enough!!!!

They would not have done DNA sampling for SM on young puppies as the minimum age is 3 years old as this is the age that SM has usually manifested itself by

For ID testing blood is no longer necessary & can be done from a mouth swap or hair clipping

The excess after the bloods taken for testing was 5 ml per dog but they would have accepted any amount . You are not allowed to take blood from from a healthy animal for testing for research in the UK would you believe(makes canine blood donations against the law too). This is because the dog cannot give it's consent apparently.

I have a good friend who is a Forensic Surgeon(actually she is a professor clever woman that she is & no she is not scottish as per Silent Witness ;) but welsh )she works a lot with the Police & Home Office & apparently even a microsopic amount of tissue can be used for ID. Different kettle of fish when looking for marker genes for SM, MVD, etc blood is the best source she tells me. All my boys are related so make an idea study group so I am reliably informed