patellar luxation

Hi all. We are just getting into breeding cavaliers. We already had a female that we love so much. We now have another female (4yrs old) and two males (8months & 4yrs) all from a well established breeder. We also bought another female (6months old) from a kennel about 30 miles away. She has the sweetest personality, but we noticed that she walked a little wierd shortly after we purchased her. We took her to our vet and she was diagnosed with grade 4 patellar luxation. We called the kennel, the refunded our money, but told us to keep the dog. Which was fine with us because our kids love her and we were really struggling with having to send her back to that kennel. We treat our pets like family they, on the other hand, do not. We hated the thought of her not having a loving family.

Has anyone out there had any experience with this problem?? We are not going to breed her because we do not want to pass on that trait.

We also have a question about the 4 yr old female. She has not been bread before. They tried once, but said that she would not stand for a male. Breeder said that she would need to be AI'd. Siad she had bought a puppy to breed her to last year and was just waiting on the puppy to come of age. Any advice about this??

Thanks and any advice is greatly appreciated.

For ethical reasons, I don't allow general discussion and advice on breeding on the site, though other topics are more than welcome.

I think you need to be researching the breed far more thoroughly before breeding and ideally, to have a reputable show/breeder mentor so that you make the right decisions. You also need to be showing yourself so that you are aware of correct conformation.

Most importantly, there are very serious health problems in this breed (patellar luxation is a very well known problem but in light of other health issues in cavaliers, would be considered a minor concern). I'd be concerned at how reputable the kennel is that you got the patellar-problem dog from if they could not themselves spot this very common breed issue in one of their own dogs, especially if it was such a severe case as a grade 4 luxation (that is *really* bad) and caused the dog to walk strangely. They should be pulling the parent dogs from their own breeding programme and you should not breed any related dog, period.

You also need to be aware of, and following, the MVD protocol, as 50% of this wonderful breed have established heart murmurs by age 5. The protocol rules out breeding any dog before age 2.5 and only if the parents are cardiac-certified murmur free at age 5 themselves. If you don't know the status of the grandparents the dog shouldn't be bred til age 5 if still murmur-free. You also need to be testing eyes, hips and patellas as a routine task. And you need to be fully informed on syringomyelia, a growing problem in the breed, with research so far showing 50%+ affected.

More info on breed health problems: http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=26

Because the health issues are so very serious, I do not want to risk encouraging backyard breeding and the further proliferation of these problems in a breed all of us dearly love. Hence I don't allow specific breeding discussions (eg asking for breeding advice).

I would encoruage you to read experienced show breeder Bruce's wise words here:

http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1356

And also:

http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2758

http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/

http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/protocols.html

I hope you will take these important points on board and move to breed following these responsible practices, with stock from reputable breeders breeding for health, or consider a breed less prone to severe damage from poor breeding practice than cavaliers. Be aware that breeding puppies with these health defects opens you and your family to 'lemon law' lawsuits and compensation claims from puppy buyers, so breeding should only be undertaken with these responsibilities and financial liabilities in mind, on top of everything else.