Need CM/SM stats please

[Zumie05]

This was her reply:

Thank you for the info. I am well aware of it. If you do lots of digging you will find that most of the dogs affected are in the UK because of their inbreeding for registration. It is also way more prevelant in registered dogs once again due to inbreeding or breeding within a small circle. I am sorry that you dog has symptoms of any dread disease as it is devestating to love an animal and lose it in that manner.
So far I have 4 generations of Cavaliers here, always buy a new male that is completely unrelated and to date I have not had any cases of any disease in my dogs. I am in touch on a regular basis with quite a few buyers of my puppies.
I wish you and your dogs well.

I would kindly ask where she got this information from?

[BrooklynMom]

I would like to know where she got this from too.

Oye.

You did your best, and it was good of you to do so. Thank you from all of us.

[Piper]

I would like to know where she got the info from but I don't want to get into a debate with her. I just wanted to make sure she had the info. Unfortunately I have not talked to one breeder around my area that does do MRI scanning. That is one of the reasons that I won't be getting another cavalier

[BrooklynMom]

Yes, best not to get in a back and forth debate. You did what you could to make sure she was informed (good for you) and like everything in life...the rest is beyond us.

I am sorry to hear about you not being able to find and MRI scanning breeders in your area. Here in Sydney, it took me AGES to find one. It is really uncommon in Australia to scan (though Brooklyn's neurologist said that is slowly changing as they are trying to provide cheaper breeder MRI days, but it is just uncommon here and there is not a lot of equipment in the country, so not only is it expensive, but breeders have to travel very very far to get it done). Sigh.
I am not sure how serious you are about getting another cavalier, but would you ever travel to get one? Either a long road trip or a plane flight? I know some others on here have done that, and a girl friend of mine flew to get her dog as well...so it is not uncommon. Just matters how much you want another one you know? Where are you located?

And thank you....for sticking to your guns about not buying a cavalier from a non MRI scanning breeder, even if that means you never get another one. That is a big ask, and most people would say "well, there are no scanning breeders in my area, so I just have to get one from a non-scanning breeder", but you are willing to risk your "wants" for the need of the breed. That is very big of you.

[BrooklynMom]

I just realised you were from British Columbia in Canada Again, I am not sure how interested or not you are in getting another cavalier (now or later), but I am sending you a PM right now on an amazing breeder in Canada and advocate for this breed. She is in Toronto, but again, you could work out transport or...she is very willing to help people find scanning breeders near them and has wonderful connections all over. I used to live in Oregon in the US, so that is why I am a little familiar with Canada stuff BTW, every Australian here thinks I am Canadian all the time! Something about the Oregon in me I guess

[Kate H]

Just catching up with this thread and grinned at the breeder's remark: 'most of the dogs affected are in the UK' Where does she think the Cavaliers in Canada came from originally? Every Cavalier in the world can be traced back to a small number of dogs in the UK, and they all carry the same genes. If the SM problem seems smaller (or according to this breeder non-existent) in Canada, this is probably due to (a) smaller numbers of Cavaliers and (b) lack of facilities for diagnosing SM. We had no idea how widespread it was in the UK until MRI scanning became possible comparatively recently. I'd bet there are a lot of Canadian Cavaliers being treated for allergies, spinal problems, epilepsy etc. etc. who actually have CM or SM. It's difficult enough to get the message across in a small country like the UK, even more difficult in countries the size of Canada and the US - so best of luck, Piper!

Kate, Oliver and Aled

[Karlin]

In studies that have been done on scanning Canadian dogs, there's the same ratio of affected cavaliers as in the UK and US and Australia and Holland...

These people live in lala land. She sounds a small scale backyard breeder anyway.

Pat Barrington or Karen Kennedy of the Canadian CKCS Club can help you find a scanning breeder but often you do need to be able to travel. Not enough breeders test/follow protocols and those that do are worth travelling for

Pat Barrington is listed here: http://www.cavalierfanciers.ca/brdr_list.html

Finding 'a male that is unrelated' -- on what planet? It is a challenge to find dogs that are not fairly closely related, genetically. Breeders tend to try to find dogs that are more distantly related. It would be near to impossible to find one that isn't at some point in its lineage, related. And doing so would not necessarily lower any risk of offspring having SM and could even increase them -- if the dog is not MRI scanned. Shows how much that breeder knows about cavaliers and breeding, though.

[AT]

She's had cavaliers 10 years and has never had a health problems ? seriously ? either she is the luckiest person on earth to be buying dogs from different lines all the time and not get a single problem or she is a liar.

If you've never nursed a cavalier through the end stages of MVD you probably havent owned the breed long enough to have enough experience to start breeding them