According to Terrierman, a well known blogger on dogs and dog issues:
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/02/cavalier-king-charles-spaniels-are-mess.html
It's a tough read for people who love this breed, but it should be. I will readily admit I must be insane for loving this breed, and will argue that while everyone who likes a breed will say it is for the "special personality", those special personalities are different, and I happen to really like the personality of cavaliers, which is not like other breeds or mixes I have owned or known.
But too many of us are so blind to anything but the pleasure of owning the breed that we now accept -- and do not even protest -- the APPALLING state of this breed's health.
I keep seeing posts (and even entire websites!) about how 'healthy' the breed is yet how can anyone say that of a breed where half of the entire population will be going into severe heart disease by age 5? Imagine if half the human population of, say, Chicago or London or Toronto or Dublin began to experience heart murmurs and valve failures at only age 35! There would be outrage and a rush to discover why -- yet still, this breed is regularly bred outside the MVD protocol. Still, the majority of people who breed cavaliers do not cardiologist test. Club breeders, at least in some countries, are far better than non-club breeders, but still nowhere near the level it should be. In Ireland I do not know of a SINGLE breeder who cardiologist tests their breeding cavaliers.
Meanwhile we -- the buyers of this breed who have the MOST POWER to demand change -- do not even ask and DEMAND that breeders cardiologist test, produce certificates, and breed in accordance with the MVD protocol. Because WE do not demand this, because WE are either too timid, or can't be bothered, or want a cheap puppy from some trash breeder just so we too can own a cavalier, this horrific affliction now takes a fourth to a third off the average lifespan for the breed. Yet we get excited and make up little happy lists of dog that are 'heart healthy' over age 5, as if this is some major achievement! We are thrilled to hear of cavaliers still alive at just about anything beyond age 10. How utterly pathetic is that? That should be the NORM!!
What is wrong with us? This breed for its size should routinely live til 14, 15, 16. Look at Tibetan Spaniels, about the same size... which often live til 18 or so.
And then there's syringomyelia. Yes, there are no guarantees for any puppy simply because a breeder MRIs for SM (or cardiologist tests for heart murmurs) -- yet the fact that a dog has an existing problem, regardless of whether we see -- or think we see -- or make sure we accidentally on purpose don't see -- symptoms is not an excuse to breed an ill animal.
MVD alone nearly put me off this breed and the number of dogs over 5 that come into my cavalier rescue with heart murmurs already there -- which is nearly all of them -- makes me ill.
So please: READ WHAT TERRIERMAN SAYS. And pay special attention to that last paragraph. And DO something about these problems, and for this breed, before there won't be a breed left to own. USE YOUR POWER AS A BUYER TO FORCE CHANGE!! Do NOT buy puppies from anyone that cannot produce appropriate health clearances for their dogs!
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/02/cavalier-king-charles-spaniels-are-mess.html
It's a tough read for people who love this breed, but it should be. I will readily admit I must be insane for loving this breed, and will argue that while everyone who likes a breed will say it is for the "special personality", those special personalities are different, and I happen to really like the personality of cavaliers, which is not like other breeds or mixes I have owned or known.
But too many of us are so blind to anything but the pleasure of owning the breed that we now accept -- and do not even protest -- the APPALLING state of this breed's health.
I keep seeing posts (and even entire websites!) about how 'healthy' the breed is yet how can anyone say that of a breed where half of the entire population will be going into severe heart disease by age 5? Imagine if half the human population of, say, Chicago or London or Toronto or Dublin began to experience heart murmurs and valve failures at only age 35! There would be outrage and a rush to discover why -- yet still, this breed is regularly bred outside the MVD protocol. Still, the majority of people who breed cavaliers do not cardiologist test. Club breeders, at least in some countries, are far better than non-club breeders, but still nowhere near the level it should be. In Ireland I do not know of a SINGLE breeder who cardiologist tests their breeding cavaliers.
Meanwhile we -- the buyers of this breed who have the MOST POWER to demand change -- do not even ask and DEMAND that breeders cardiologist test, produce certificates, and breed in accordance with the MVD protocol. Because WE do not demand this, because WE are either too timid, or can't be bothered, or want a cheap puppy from some trash breeder just so we too can own a cavalier, this horrific affliction now takes a fourth to a third off the average lifespan for the breed. Yet we get excited and make up little happy lists of dog that are 'heart healthy' over age 5, as if this is some major achievement! We are thrilled to hear of cavaliers still alive at just about anything beyond age 10. How utterly pathetic is that? That should be the NORM!!
What is wrong with us? This breed for its size should routinely live til 14, 15, 16. Look at Tibetan Spaniels, about the same size... which often live til 18 or so.
And then there's syringomyelia. Yes, there are no guarantees for any puppy simply because a breeder MRIs for SM (or cardiologist tests for heart murmurs) -- yet the fact that a dog has an existing problem, regardless of whether we see -- or think we see -- or make sure we accidentally on purpose don't see -- symptoms is not an excuse to breed an ill animal.
MVD alone nearly put me off this breed and the number of dogs over 5 that come into my cavalier rescue with heart murmurs already there -- which is nearly all of them -- makes me ill.
So please: READ WHAT TERRIERMAN SAYS. And pay special attention to that last paragraph. And DO something about these problems, and for this breed, before there won't be a breed left to own. USE YOUR POWER AS A BUYER TO FORCE CHANGE!! Do NOT buy puppies from anyone that cannot produce appropriate health clearances for their dogs!