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Cavalier club in turmoil

Hi Rachel,
I don't have any problem with Carol Fowler being listed on Dogstoday magazine as their contact for health advice. She's experienced SM in it's worst form in her spaniels and has presumably nursed them through their health issues and lost one of her pets to the condition.
Dogstoday is a magazine aimed at petowners who mainly have little interest in breeding or showing and just want some basic health info for their new companion.She's also pleasant and personable and is very approachable and also does the important job of steering potential pet buyers away from puppy farmers.
However the health rep on the cavalier club committee is a very different position.Whoever takes the role will have to be wholeheartedly committed to improving the health of the breed,will need to have extensive experience in breeding,be prepared to embrace the medical and technological advances on offer to breeders,should be PR savvy and uphold the recommendations if the club regarding breeding protocols. You can't really compare the two positions at all.
Best of luck to the new incumbent,whoever he or she may be.
Sins
 
Health advisers

Hello Rachel,

I think you are right, Carol has only owned two cavaliers, but she is one of the most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to the health issues in the breed. Many people, including myself, have been glad to take her advice.
I'm sure there are many long established breeders that know more, but only too often their pet buyers find them unwilling to help or advise when a health problem shows up in a puppy they have bred.

Margaret C

Margaret - I do not wish to personalise anything so I am speaking in general terms - I certainly have full respect for people who have an interest in a subject and learn as much as they can - we are all learning throughout our lives - but there also has to be a place for good old experience and that cannot be gained easily and certainly not from a text book.....
 
Trisha -

Those comments weren't deleted on the thread - they are still there #s 57, 58 and 59:

Original comment: "I can tell you that a lot of neutered pets who are often grossly overweight do die before tha age of ten I now do not sell male puppies to people if they intend to neuter. Neutering of males should only be done if the dog has a problem. I have seen far too many obese dogs with huge fluffy coats that have to be clipped to want any of mine to to end up looking like that."

Pauline replied: "thought that a neutered dog simply needs less food, male or female. Any overweight dog can go on a diet."

Reply to Pauline: "That is true Pauline. Sadly that doesn't always happen. Believe me, over the years I have seen too many overweight cavaliers. The extra weight must put a terrible strain on hearts." (My interpretation - she doesn't want them to look fat and fluffy, but mainly she doesn't want them to die before the age of ten - a valid concern. If I were rehoming a rescue and did a home visit where all the pets were obese, I wouldn't place the dog in that home. Not only strain on hearts but strain on joints, other internal organ and metabolic functioning, you name it.)

So I really do think the poster was more concerned about health of puppies sold as pets than about appearance. But, as Karlin pointed out from her experience in rescue, the problem of obese pets has far more to do with pet owner education than with neutering/spaying. I think that in the US there are far more spayed/neutered pets than in the UK.

Trisha - big congrats to you for recognizing that you had a problem with your pet and then DOING something about it! Most people, even if they recognize the problem, just don't ever follow through because it's hard work to change their behavior and their pet's expectations. And they are doing a real disservice to their pets. Congrats also for your own changes! I always say that I wish someone controlled what goes into my mouth as I do for my pets! I'm not obese, but I'm sure not as trim as my pets!

Pat
 
Wow, that comment has been deleted [about not allowing adopters to neuter her males so they won't get fat and have fluffy coats].

Pauline, I know you saw it and commented on it!

Yes, my breeder told me the same thing, not to neuter as he will get fat. Well Dylan isn't neutered and he isn't fat but that's because I keep an eye on his weight.
 
the problem of obese pets has far more to do with pet owner education than with neutering/spaying.

Absolutely!!! I get very frustrated when I hear someone advising not to neuter a male because of the change in coat/weight. The coat may change but that simply shouldn't matter to a pet owner. The problem is that unneutered males are too much of a temptation to too many unscrupulous people. The weight is totally an owner issue not a neuter issue. Jake is very slim and trim....and neutered.
 
Pat, I must not be looking at the same page as you...comments 57-59 have nothing to do with neutering. Perhaps it was on breed notes and not the cav club article?
 
Jasper/Gabby is right - Jan 23 breednotes. Pauline's link takes you to comments in rebuttal to the discussion over here, but the original comments were in breed notes.

Pat
 
That's okay, Jan. Chloe is the name of my very first dog- a toy poodle who was with me for 14 years so I take no offense! I've been using the same user name and password since 1992 when I created that one since I don't want to learn another one! haha.
 
Original comment: "I can tell you that a lot of neutered pets who are often grossly overweight do die before tha age of ten I now do not sell male puppies to people if they intend to neuter. Neutering of males should only be done if the dog has a problem. I have seen far too many obese dogs with huge fluffy coats that have to be clipped to want any of mine to to end up looking like that."

Pauline replied: "thought that a neutered dog simply needs less food, male or female. Any overweight dog can go on a diet."

Reply to Pauline: "That is true Pauline. Sadly that doesn't always happen. Believe me, over the years I have seen too many overweight cavaliers. The extra weight must put a terrible strain on hearts."
Pat

Trisha,

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one! You quoted one line, but that is why I quoted the entire dialogue - which began on the subject of neutered dogs/grossly overweight/die before the age of ten.....and then another comment about extra weight/strain on their hearts. And no, she doesn't want dogs with her affix to "look like that" -- obese and fluffy. And I wouldn't either! I once saw a rescue dog that I had placed that had become quite obese and I was horrified. At a party last night, I saw a boy that won an award of merit at Westminster about five years ago, and he is overweight. He belongs to my friend, and I had a gentle talk with her about it, as did two Cavalier breeders who were also at the party. He obviously was not nearly as beautiful as he was before he gained the weight, but the motivation of all three of us who approached our friend is that his lifespan is going to be shortened because of the extra weight!

I truly do not believe that this breeder's comments were driven by vanity.

Since we've gone far afield the topic of "club in turmoil" I'll start another thread about neuter/spay - US versus UK, evolutions in thinking. It's kind of similar to vaccination protocol and feeding protocols.

Pat
 
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