First and foremost we are Boykin owners who love this breed and want it to be the healthiest it can be and whose dogs have been diagnosed with Intervertebral Disc Disease. Some have responded well to treatment, some have had recurring issues. Still others have crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Our mission of this website is to create awareness, educate, support and provide data regarding Intervertebral Disc Disease.
This website is part of the Boykin Spaniel Health Organization, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to improving the health and well-being of Boykin Spaniels. BSHO aims to educate current and potential owners about preventable diseases, support research initiatives, and assist with individual hardship cases as appropriate.
Our main priority has always been education about pet insurance, and then about this disease. We do not want to scare owners, only to make them aware of this disease, what it is and how to best prepare IF there is an injury.
And that injuries caused by the progression of IVDD is not always, but can be, a life-threatening condition. It is a TIME CRITICAL situation to be seen by a neurologist.
What we also have done is provide a website and Social Media pages with a plethora of scientific data and papers, information regarding pet insurance and support for hardship cases. This not to confuse owners but to be a landing page for information all in one place and to help them regarding:
In summary, we LOVE this breed and want many families to enjoy their companions for years or we wouldn’t do this. We in no way want to give any opinions or misinformation. We will be more than willing to look and publish If there is other published and legitimate data that we have missed from the genetic or neurological community.
This website is part of the Boykin Spaniel Health Organization, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to improving the health and well-being of Boykin Spaniels. BSHO aims to educate current and potential owners about preventable diseases, support research initiatives, and assist with individual hardship cases as appropriate.
Our main priority has always been education about pet insurance, and then about this disease. We do not want to scare owners, only to make them aware of this disease, what it is and how to best prepare IF there is an injury.
And that injuries caused by the progression of IVDD is not always, but can be, a life-threatening condition. It is a TIME CRITICAL situation to be seen by a neurologist.
What we also have done is provide a website and Social Media pages with a plethora of scientific data and papers, information regarding pet insurance and support for hardship cases. This not to confuse owners but to be a landing page for information all in one place and to help them regarding:
- Breeding & Injury Questions {https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/news/managing-genetics-chondrodystrophy}:
- “This means that a dog with 1 or 2 copies of CDDY is 5-15 times more likely to have a disc herniate then a dog without the mutation. Based on the dominant nature of the mutation and the high allele frequency within some breeds selection against CDDY should be done cautiously.“
- “Breeds with a high allele frequency (>0.5) will benefit from a much slower approach over multiple generations. There are some breeds that only have CDDY and no normal chromosomes in the breed and are thus said to be fixed for this trait, in these breeds all dogs test as CDDY/CDDY. It is not possible to breed away from this trait within breeds where the mutation is fixed.”
- “Chondrodystrophy changes the character of all of the intervertebral discs at a young age. The discs have abnormal degeneration of the nucleus pulposus, which is the center of the intervertebral disc that normally provides cushion and flexibility to the back. The end of the degeneration process is a mineralized or calcified disc. The change in the cellular structure of the disc is what predisposes it to herniate (move into the spinal canal impinging on the spinal cord).”
- “This means that a dog with 1 or 2 copies of CDDY is 5-15 times more likely to have a disc herniate then a dog without the mutation. Based on the dominant nature of the mutation and the high allele frequency within some breeds selection against CDDY should be done cautiously.“
- Breeding:
- The IVDD in the Boykin Spaniel website and social media pages have never recommended immediately neutering a dog if the gene is found. In fact, we don’t make breeding recommendations at all. Dr. Casey Carl, in this webinar
https://www.boykinivdd.com/uploads/1/3/4/4/134455252/southern_boykin_spaniel_club-_9-29-20.pdf
goes along with The UCDavis suggestion of a slow reduction of the gene in the Boykin Spaniel gene pool to not hurt the attributes that make the breed what it is.
- The IVDD in the Boykin Spaniel website and social media pages have never recommended immediately neutering a dog if the gene is found. In fact, we don’t make breeding recommendations at all. Dr. Casey Carl, in this webinar
- Research:
- Data we are gathering with our Injury Form is not just dna, but diagnostic and environmental information that will be shared confidentially with UCDavis. This after years of many communications with the geneticists and neurologists. We hope this study will provide new information regarding early onset calcification of discs specifically in Boykin Spaniels with the FGF4 12 retrogene.
- Our “numbers” of cases we received through our Injury form that many people in the Boykin community have consistently asked for, are in no way a true and accurate reflection of what they are. How can they be? We only have cases that have been reported on the chance that our social media has reached them. As stated several times in other comments on our posts in social media, a MRI at this point is the only diagnostic tool available and is extremely expensive and not feasible for the majority of owners (even with insurance if they don’t have immediate funds to get into a neurology clinic). So how many dogs have unfortunately passed away or were euthanized and we never know? Or cases that did have surgery and are not on social media? We don’t have that kind of outreach to give out “numbers”.
In summary, we LOVE this breed and want many families to enjoy their companions for years or we wouldn’t do this. We in no way want to give any opinions or misinformation. We will be more than willing to look and publish If there is other published and legitimate data that we have missed from the genetic or neurological community.
