IMO - Maltese, Shih Tzus, mini poodles, Bichons, and Havenese are all some great (healthier) alternatives to consider. Knowing there’s a virtual guarantee my dog will die slowly of heart failure as I try to stave it off is bad enough… but knowing it’s essentially a coin flip that they’ll also develop an unbelievably painful, non-treatable condition… that pushes it somewhere I decided I couldn’t go. Syringomyelia is an incredibly painful and totally untreatable condition related to the Chiari malformation - here ( ), are some people with the condition describing what it’s like, and here ( ) is a video of an affected dog (warning: video has a dog in vocal distress). Here’s ( ) a longitudinal study that found 100% of 1,000+ Cavaliers examined with an MRI had a chiari malformation and some 40% ultimately developed syringomyelia. The breed club set up breeding guidelines to try and breed our heart disease, but no one followed the rules so they abandoned them - īUT THAT’S NOT EVEN ALL! They also literally all also have a skull deformity called a Chiari malformation. The typical lifespan with MVD is two years past diagnosis - the death is slow as their heart function fades away. Half develop serious mitral valve heart disease by the time they’re five years old an additional 10% of dogs are affected each year moving forward, with 100% affected by age ten ( Since I knew that generally you can go to a good breeder and get a healthy dog, I took a deep dive into Cavs. I knew they had health problems, but so do lots of breeds. I’m a dog sport competitor who seriously contemplated a Cav. The breed is wholly affected by serious and untreatable heart and brain problems. Do your research, get educated and find the best breeder you can! No matter their problems there is no other dog for me. MVD is an absolute problem, so keep a good healthful diet and don’t let them get Fat! My educated understanding on SM is not matter testing, etc most cavaliers after age 5 if MRI’d will should malformation, even if asymptomatic, due to shape of their heads. Breeder would not breed her again and I got her. She only had 1 pup and second breeding she needed emergency c-section and her pup died. I joked with the breeder and said if she ever didn’t want her, I would take her. This fabulous breeder had a bitch I saw pictures of with 1 pup. Her Dad used to help us when we needed him to pick up a surrender in his area and keep the dog until we found a foster. I love cavaliers so much I fostered for cavalier rescue usa for several years and these 2 were always accepting of my fosters. She is on 4 meds and turned 12 April 30th. She went into heart failure last July at age 11, had in a few months progressed into a grade 5/6 and CHF. I never thought she would live to old age. She had severe pneumonia as a pup which left her with lung damage. Peanut, second rescue, had a grade 3 murmur at 3 yrs old.Also has SM. Nosey, my first rescue, lived to be 15.2 yrs old…heart clear until 14, old age got her 2 years ago. I had 3 cavaliers, 2 rescues )mill dogs) and 1 from an excellent breeder! Thanks!Ĭavalier owner and lover! The best website for information. I suppose all this is to say, if Cavs are your breed, I would love any and all first hand experiences about their health issues. Are these issues more-so tied to certain lines, or is it a breed-wide problem? I’m assuming there is some sort of parental testing to help control for these potential issues in litters? I was initially thinking that I would try to rescue, since they are pretty common and I would just be looking for a pet, but if buying from a breeder would drastically help me in avoiding some potentially large health issues, I’m fine with going that route. That being said, I have had trouble finding a lot of info about these issues outside of the same generic info on websites like Animal Planet/PetMD/Canine Journal/etc. In this research I have found that they are apparently extremely prone to heart problems, specifically mitral valve disease, and syringomelia. However, I am fairly certain that I would now like to get a Cav once I am in a position to get a dog, and am doing some preliminary research. I will not be able to have a dog for a while - I am only halfway through college and won’t be able to support a dog for a while. They are adorable as hell, so sweet and snuggly, and I totally love them (and this is after feeling like I am solidly a Big Dog person!). I work at a dog daycare and have fallen completely head over heels for Cavaliers.
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