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Murmur question

LexieAndSprinkles

LexieAndSprinkles

Well-known member
Just curious...someone told me at my vet (they were waiting in the waiting area with me) that Cavaliers in the US are less likely to develop murmurs than Cavaliers in the UK. She said that the breeding stock here was better and that while it's still a problem here, it's much less of a problem than in the UK. She had 2 Cavaliers but I have no idea where she received this information.

Is this true? Or was she misinformed? I have never heard anything about this so I was just curious...
 
My initial reaction is to doubt this. It's more likely this is a line they were fed by their "breeder". I've been told the exact opposite by someone with similar "qualifications" (that dogs from UK heritage don't have the MVD issues, and it's only US lines and other countries that have the defects).

If conclusive studies existed showing this I'm sure Rod (and others) would have let us know.
 
LexieAndSprinkles said:
Just curious...someone told me at my vet (they were waiting in the waiting area with me) that Cavaliers in the US are less likely to develop murmurs than Cavaliers in the UK. She said that the breeding stock here was better and that while it's still a problem here, it's much less of a problem than in the UK. She had 2 Cavaliers but I have no idea where she received this information.

Is this true? Or was she misinformed? I have never heard anything about this so I was just curious...
Click to expand...

Oh, man! "Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!", to whoever that person may be! Sounds like some irresponsible US breeder's pitch to sell puppies.

If there is any difference between the percentage of cavaliers with murmurs in the UK and US, it should be the other way around.

Here is why: At least the UK cavalier club has endorsed the MVD breeding protocol which an international team of cardilogists and geneticists has established to reduce the incidence of early-onset MVD in the breed. (Read about it here: http://cavalierhealth.org/mvdprotocol.htm

In the US, the two national CKCS clubs have rejected that protocol and made up their own watered-down versions, which recently a Swedish cardiologist showed do not work to reduce MVD. So, the US breeders, who rightfully should rely upon their breed clubs to advise them about genetic health concerns in the breed, are not even being told about this breeding protocol, much less actually following it.

And most significantly, all US cavaliers' ancestors came from the UK.

Just two years ago, at a UK cavalier club meeting, cardiologist Simon Swift stated, "In the UK and the USA, about ½ of all Cavaliers have a murmur by the time they are 5 years old."

So, at best, there is no difference between the cavaliers being produced in the two countries. But, most likely, a much higher percentage of UK breeders are following the MVD breeding protocol than US breeders, so the UK should be producing fewer litters affected by early-onset MVD than US breeders are.
 
Kind of like SM was only recently known to affect cavaliers in the usa and was a uk problem I was told about a year ago. My personal feelings are why even compare or look at %? Just ask for pedigrees and heart certificates. There are good breeders who I feel would never make a statement like that. People are responsible for their litters and puppy buyers for asking questions. If they are doing what the mvd protocol said to do, there would be no reason to even make a comment.

Actions speak much louder than words. Unfortunately, we can be led to believe things based on what people say.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 
Thanks so much for your responses. I thought she was a little crazy and I took all she was saying with a grain of salt (She also informed me they were going to start accepting Chocolate Cavaliers as a color and while I know chocolate cavs are a random rare occurrence, I have also read on here that they aren't considered a breed standard color...she also informed me she had a chocolate cav at home lol)

I pretty much figured she was lying but it had me thinking just enough to ask! Thanks again
 
Probably believing what the breeder of her dog told her - having bred a Cavalier who is a non-standard colour, and not heart tested, make out it's extra special (and probably charge more!).

My obedience forum (mostly border collie owners) was in uproar a couple of weeks ago about an internet advert claiming that a litter of blue merle collies from two blue merle parents were something rare and special (and therefore worth more). Rare and special - yes, this breeding leads almost inevitably to blindness and deafness! You just don't do it. The forum protested so loudly that the advert got taken off, and the breeder threatened legal proceedings if people didn't stop emailing her!

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
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