Progress on the Genetic Front : Early-Onset MVD Can be Bred Out
It seems to me that every time a discussion of MVD arises, the same list of long-lived cavaliers is produced, listing dogs by name and age at death. These cavaliers are now deceased and don't seem to have much ability help the cavalier breed today. What good does it do to continually bring their names up, when their genes are gone? We are dealing with the present, not the past.
The reason I'm posting this is because all four of the names recently mentioned are in my dog’s pedigree, and what good are those names now to him (early onset MVD and SM) and us? We were so proud of his pedigree when we bought him as a puppy from a show breeder. We were thrilled that he came from the best lines with so many champions in his pedigree! It is really very distressing to hear the words, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your dog has early onset MVD,” especially when you’ve gone to such trouble and expense to find a beautiful, healthy cavalier puppy from the best lines. How many other cavaliers today have those names in their pedigrees and what is their health status?
If we think we know any given cavalier’s health status, is it based on actual testing, or is it what we observe? There is a huge difference in these two ways of determining whether or not a cavalier has MVD and SM. Unless a dog is repeatedly examined by a cardiologist and scanned by MRI, one cannot honestly make any claims about the health status of any given cavalier.
How much better would the CKCS MVD situation be today if club breeders had followed the MVD protocol when those long lived cavaliers were alive? The many examples of the protocol not being followed are open and viewable to all on the pedigree sites and in the puppy registrations produced by the national breed clubs -- studs routinely used starting at a year of age or even younger, bitches having litters before age 2.5 -- anyone can do their own research and see this fact. Did breeders feel there was no need to use the health protocols their national clubs and cardiologists support, based on previous luck in breeding?
I recently read a post by a show breeder who only has cavalier heart screening performed at ages 3, 5 and 7 with a vet. I have to ask, how will this help the cavalier breed? When one doesn't even know at what age a murmur starts, and has very little idea of the progression of the disease in each individual cavalier - how does this help the cavalier breed? How does one trust a regular vet to grade a murmur, when we all know this should be performed by a cardiologist and that vets miss half of low grade murmurs (that means guesswork is nearly as good as having a vet listen for breeding purposes)? Doesn't it make more sense to get cardio testing every year on all breeding stock? If so, why isn’t it being done?
In other posts, breeders discuss bringing their old cavaliers for club heart screening. Why not bring all of their cavalier breeding stock, every year? Why choose certain ones - doesn't that skew the statistics and deprive other breeders of important information about age of onset for murmurs in those all-important older dogs? What does that accomplish for the cavalier breed?
Thanks Cathy, for your Post, don't know if I've done this right but here goes.
Could I say that I believe there will be no-body better than me to give the information about Long Lived Cavaliers, having collected about 2,000 names of Cavaliers ,this List is at the Kennel Club Library ,London, but as the saying goes, 2 Swallows don't make a Summer!!
As Cathy says, we are where we are with the Cavaliers' MVD and SM Problems.
Because of the In- Breeding in our Cavalier Breed ,the MVD Researchers say that there could be many ,many Cavaliers around now Carriers of the MVD Gene/Genes.
So even although Cavaliers did live to a good age ,there is every possibility that they are Carriers of MVD Genes,this is the result of Many Cavalier Breeders not following the Cavalier MVD Breeding Guidelines given years ago ,not to Breed from a Cavalier before 2.5 years of age.
What a pity this Guideline was Thwarted at the last UK CKCS AGM by a Vociferious Few for SM.
I have read that some Cavalier Owners only want to enjoy the company of their Cavaliers , and for other Cavalier Owners not to Rock the Boat, about mentioning the Health of our Cavalier Breed.
All I can say in answer to this Statement, don't we all want to enjoy our Cavaliers.!!
Many of us never had the chance of enjoying the pleasure of our Cavaliers company for very long.
They died at such a young age because of MVD ,and now there is the Dreadful SM Disease which is causing so much Suffering to Cavaliers and Heart-Ache for their Owners.
We now know that here in Britain Cavalier Breeders were warned 27 years ago about the Serious MVD Problem Cavaliers had.
It's the Cavalier Club Breeders of that time who have got the Cavalier Breed into the MVD Mess it's in to-day, not Puppy Farmers , BYB's, it's the CKCS CLUB Members who were given the warning 27 years ago. !!!
So it's up to many of to-days ' Cavalier Breeders to make amends for what they were the cause of all these years ago,follow the Cavalier Breeding Guidelines for MVD and hopefully to be introduced at the next Club AGM ,SM, give the Researchers all the help that is needed with information for their Research to try and save our Breed from extinction.
I know that there are some Cavalier Breeders trying their Best to help the Cavalier Breed, but there are the Vociferious Few who look to every excuse to say that the Cavaliers don't have much of a Health problem ,even to Twisting the MVD Figures of this Latest Genetic Veterinary Paper.