Cavalier Size and SM

[GraciesMom]

I was quite shocked it was openly stared on their webpage!!

[ByFloSin]

Foetal tissue research has shown that there is a mismatch in the growth of the cavaliers skull v growth of brain, so in terms that I understand this means that when the skull stops growing, the brain continues to grow for a bit longer, instead of what should happen ie: when bones in skull stop growing, the brain should do also.

So to my simple mind - if this is the case, it wouldn't make any difference whether you tried to breed Cavaliers the size of Great Danes, until the faulty genes are found that control the brain/skull growth you would still have the problem of not enough room at the back of the skull - in a much bigger dog. That's how I undertand it anyway.

To my simple mind Davecav you are absolutely right.

Not sure if this is really relevant or not, but when I was in Edinburgh some years back, one rainy day I ended up in the Museum of Antiquities, where they had a display about the development of man, complete with skulls and tools and implements found in the area and devised in that period of time. It was plain to see that the size and shape of ancient man's skulls changed and enlarged with the increased capacity of the brain they needed to work towards invention of the wheel and more effective tools and implements.

[Cavaliers2kiss]

I've often heard that some lines of Cavaliers mature slower than others. I wonder if these slower maturing Cavaliers have less incidence of CM/SM.