Only half of SM dogs scratch, many will not even show pain in any obvious way even though they are constantly enduring terrible symptoms:
- Sensitive to touch, especially neck and ear area
- Spinal pain/sensitivity
- Light sensitivity (squinting)
- Walking and moving slowly (due to pain)
- Hesitating before jumping on furniture or climbing stairs
- Limb weakness (Molly’s was front left leg)
- Scratching – esp. ears, head, face, neck, shoulders
- Air scratching
- Sudden yelping for no apparent reason
- Biting hind quarters
- Restlessness
- Withdrawn/quiet
- Yelping when picked up
- Scooting
Molly was initially misdiagnosed with joint problems and sent to a joint specialist, some of the other possible incorrect diagnoses include:
- Allergies
- Ear problems
- Spinal problems
Differentiated Scratching
The most infamous clinical sign of syringomyelia is phantom scratching. However there is much confusion in the veterinary and dog owning community about what phantom scratching is and many dogs are misinterpreted as having phantom scratching when in fact they have Chiari pain.
With Chiari pain they scratch and rub the back of their head because of headache. By contrast phantom scratching is a maladaptive scratch reflex due to damage by the syringomyelia cavity to the input centre for scratching in the cervical spinal cord. Management of the two types of scratch is different. This video informs you how to distinguish Chiari pain scratch from phantom scratching:
