I was talking to my puppy's breeder about it, and she said she's never seen a case of SM personally and none of her dogs have had it. She said she's heard alot about it, some things true, some not. She's very involved in the show ring and has been breeding champion cavalier's for years. Since she has never had or seen a case of it, is it really that common? Or does there seem to be more cases in the UK than the US (i'm in the US). Just curious about this...thanks!
It all comes down to recognising and admitting there is a problem, something that breeders traditionally resist as being some sort of disloyalty to the breed.
If your USA breeder has never seen SM personally, then she is either not that involved in the show ring, or she is in denial.
It is relatively easy to explain away the varied symptoms of SM, UK cavalier breeders did it for years, King Charles ( English Toy Spaniels in the US) breeders in this country still do.
The words " none of my dogs have had it" is classic breeder denial, as it is well known that cavaliers can have SM, but not show symptoms for years.
Breeders that have any interest or knowledge of SM know that only a MRI scan will show whether a dog has SM or not.
UK breeders denied there was a problem with SM until the BBC film publicised the problem and they came under pressure to check their breeding stock.
It has now been found that over 50% of cavaliers screened through the low cost scanning schemes have SM, although they may show no obvious symptoms. They can of course pass the problem on to their puppies, and SM is a problem that is thought to become more severe with each new generation.
UK dogs are very successful in America, many of your champions and your top stud dogs are from UK or have UK dogs behind them.
Many of those cavaliers will have SM, the genes do not disappear just because the dog is exported from this country.
Breeders here in the UK are selling unscanned ( or even scanned failures ) to USA buyers and SM is being ignored, or hidden, by breeders in America who feel they cannot afford the very expensive MRIs, but somehow believe they still have the right to continue to breed even though they may be producing cavaliers that will have a pain filled life.