very interesting. I have an ill dog of a different breed (rat terrier) but displays some of this behavior

Thank you for your story. We just lost our beloved Daisy to CM – she was one day shy of 11 weeks old. She had a weird episode at 9 weeks when she lost the use of her back legs for around 12 hours – they thought it was a tick but it wasn't. She was 100% recovered the next day with no tick serum or intervention except an expensive day of observation at the vet. From then on she returned to perfect health until last week when I woke to find her paralysed and she couldn't lift her head (she had vomited spit down her chest. Again after a full day seeing 4 vets – including a neurologist, she was diagnosed with CM – she died of her own accord at 9.30pm. She was clearly a severe case – her heart and breathing were going all day until the end but her brain seemed to be cut off from her body – she lost her eye reflex and gag reflex. After researching it on the net post diagnosis we were amazed at the number of symptoms she had in her short life – ear scratching, squealing at odd times; would simply not allow us to put a collar on her and would freak out if we tried to use a lead to walk her; squealed if we checked her neck for ticks – especially if we lifted her chin; wouldn't drink out of one particular water bowl because it was too high; fussy eater – taking breaks between mouthfuls; ate with one back leg in the air to adjust her spine; had some very quiet days and looked really sad sometimes; was exceptionally small (runt of the litter) and weighed less than 2 kgs and we tried really hard to make her eat and put on weight; had days of amazing manic energy with no symptoms; insomnia; slightly eratic breathing at night; would always rest her head on something when she lay down – can't believe the number of photos we have of her like this. We are so sad because she was simply the prettiest puppy you could imagine – everyone was in awe of how beautiful and symmetrical her markings were (tri-colour but nearly all black on top and white underneath with perfect facial markings of all three colours). It cost us $2700 in vet bills and we did everything to save her. We feel truly guilty that we had no idea and for all the times we tried to insist she wear a collar and thought she was being a wimp. She just wasn't meant to live – at least she only really suffered two main episodes. In the time she was here she was so loved – I spent so much time with her – hated leaving her. The breeder has put aside another puppy for us – we are so afraid! Wendy

Hi I feel for you and Mylee. I have a toy poodle that has suffered for 4 years seeing 7 different vets and specialists. His MRI came back normal but after being reviewed by a new team a chiari malformation was reported. His symptoms are a once daily episode of scratching his jaw and head for about 30 sec while screaming. He also shuts from being touched on the head or ears. His neurologist says she suspects a syring too but I don't know what makes her think that. Piper sounds just like your dog. His fits usually come after he goes nuts because I have returned home. It's so heartbreaking. He is on furosimide and gabapentin. It's so hard to get any help here in Canada as its so rare here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.