Would you buy another one?

[Sugar and Spice]

With all the health problems that us owners have with our cavaliers, would you still buy another one, especially with all of the SM cases coming to light. My cavalier is 2 years old and healthy at the moment and I am looking for a second one, although I am beginning to feel that I have just been very lucky so far with the health of my dog with the more I read. Cavaliers are a wonderful breed and it would be hard to find another breed that comes anywhere close to them but are they worth the heartache and upset. Do the health problems put you off the breed?

[sins]

Yes I would! They're simply the most marvellous little dogs imaginable.I think if you're committed to taking any dog in the first instance you must be prepared to look after any medical issues that arise.There are plenty of medical worries in other breeds too.Plus it will be equally heartbreaking if they die at 12 or 6.
My cavalier seems healthy and will be scanned but even if she has SM she's asymptomatic and I'd hope she'd live a long and comfortable life.
I'd look back along the pedigree though and check the age at which a dog's parents/g parents were bred at and if they're still alive.Her sire is 12 and dam will be eight soon so I have every reason to expect that she'll do ok.
There's a few long lived cavaliers back along the lines too so that gives me hope to cling to in the interim.
Sins

[Lani]

I spoke with my vet about this very issue ...

I was thinking of going with another breed that I thought was relatively healthy and then my vet started listing all the genetic issues inherent with that breed ...

Cavaliers have their share of health issues, for sure, but for the second dog (which will be a rescue), I am just planning to get pet insurance and deal with anything that comes along.

[WoodHaven]

I am contemplating getting another right now. All breeds have health issues. Mixed breeds aren't immune to them either.
If I would have know all the health issues and diseases that children could get (way back when) I probably would have been scared to do that too.

[Brian M]

Hi

With my three girls all being under Two and with them being my first cavaliers I Pray that i never will experience any of the health issues that these beautiful animals seem so cursed to suffer from and so i hope in the future to certainly add to my little family as the impressions that they have bestowed upon me are so great i wonder how i never experienced them in my life before ,even though Daisy would not stop barking at 2.30 am this morning till she had been out to the toilet then upstairs to slumber in her cat radiator bed in our bedroom ,bless her.

[shippers]

I would definitely have another Cavalier . I'm trying to persuade the OH to let us have another. It is difficult to find reputable breeders though.

[Alison_Leighfield]

After having had four affected Cavaliers I wouldn't buy again unless on both sides (mum and dad) there were clear grade A MRI's and clear heart certificates within the year of the litter in question.
Also the parents would both have to be at least 4.5 or 5yrs when the litter was born with their parents still going strong and healthy. Also I would want to know if affected or symptomatic dogs had been in the family, and if so then to what degree. The same with heart history.
Some clear MRI'd close family like siblings or offspring to the parents would also be good to know about.

A grade A MRI scan would only allow for a mild malformation. Nothing else.
The enviroment in which the puppy was reared is also an important factor.
All paperwork and certificates related to all health to be openly shown by the breeder.

Even with all this I would still be a little nervous but more confident that I myself along with the breeder had done everything possible to give this little life it's best start.

Alison.

[Cathy T]

Absolutely!! I like to think that I will always have a Cavalier (or two, or three ) in my life.

Next time around though I will be extremely selective in who I deal with. I've learned so much in the past six years....and even more in the last several weeks! I know what to ask for and if I can't get it....I'll go to the next person on my list. Yep, I've already started making a list for use in 10 years!!

[brotymo]

I absolutely would! They are a joy. Like the others who posted, I have learned, and am still learning more of what to ask and look for. Pixie, I hadn't a clue, but because of the age at which, and the way she died, I never knew if there were health issues. My little Bandit's mom is 7 and was heart clear right up to her pregnancy. She was only bred once, I think, and that was the last litter for her. Bandit's Dad is only 3 but clear with clear parents. Of course, that can wind up meaning nothing.

I will say, my malamute, shepherd, husky mix has more health issues than any of my purebreds. I wish I had health insurance on her, but all her problems would be preexisting! She has so many skin issues, I am constantly battling them. I spend probably between $500.00 and $1000.00 a year treating and managing her skin issues. Watching her walk, I suspect I might deal with hips in the future, too. She is 5 1/2 years old and walks "weird", always has. Being a big dog, 100 lbs, I worry about that.

[Karlin]

I likely would, yes, either a rescue or from a breeder I knew did the testing I'd want to see at the right ages and had a strong sense of the health picture around their own dogs (not just the sire and dam but actual families -- we all will know how often it is with people, that whether a grandparent, sister or aunt has a problem -- eg breast cancer -- is as relevant as whether a parent has ever had it. Parents are only a small slice of the picture).

On the flip side -- I think most people who are saying 'yes I would' are those who have not yet dealt with a dog dying from advanced MVD or living with the pain of syringomyelia. I think many more would be unsure about owning a cavalier, were they dealing with either of those problems, or had to put down dogs, especially young dogs, with those afflictions. Many I know who have gone thorugh this cannot stand to risk it again, no matter how much they love the breed. I question this myself.

I now have two dogs with syringomyelia, both experiencing pain, in Lily's case bad enough that she has suddenly started attacking her own hind legs and tears out pieces of fur in frustration from her sides (this is why I never homed her when she came in as a rescue. She had the pattern of occasional extensive scratching, especially when excited, that made me suspect she had SM from the very first day I had her in my own house. Unfortunately, I seem to have been right).

I think when you have had to hold a dog to try and calm them from a frenzy of attacking their own legs -- or had to remove harnesses with great tenderness to keep a dog from yelping in pain at being touched under the arm as is the case with Leo -- when you've had to ask your vet and neurologist to up the dosage of painkillers because what you were giving doesn't help any longer -- and when you've seen the MRI that shows the brain of your dog being squeezed like toothpaste down into its own spinal cord because its skull is too small to contain it -- and you know nothing will ever cure that pain, and what you are doing gradually stops working -- it does make you very seriously question whether you want to go through this all again. Especially when those dogs are only 3 and 5.

So I can only answer probably. I haven't dealt with nearly as much as some SM and MVD dog owners yet, and I don't know what capacity I will have for potentially doing it all again. There are a lot of other breed genetic problems I would rather deal with than syringomyelia.