would you do it all over again?

[Super Princess]

We ALL LOVE cavaliers..theres no question there..if your on CT..your heart belongs to the breed.

I lost my oliver last valentines day to the Heart problems this breed is inflicted with.
knowing about the heart problems and the brain problems.. , which according to my research are HUGE problems ..the %'s i found were terrofying. both those are said to shorten the life span (which was our case..i felt 'robbed' of olivers last years..
i swore i couldnt do it again..as much as my heart belongs to the breed i coudlnt risk it

I am moving into a new apartment that allows dogs.. and at the moment im a dog person living in a cat world (two cats..ones 16 and the other is 1.5) but im thinking in a few years of adopting a pup again.

ive been looking at small breeds and theres a few i like.. but theres nothing like the cavalier..

so for those who have had pups affected by these horrible illenesses..would you do it all over again?

[Pepe]

Hi Chelsea,

We lost our dog age 7 to MVD last August, i said i couldn't go through it again, but here i am with another dog age 8 months which we have had now for 4 weeks, and its like he's been here forever. We have done the best we could be going to a breeder which has got the certificates of the parents etc., so for now we are going to enjoy him each day.

[Sabby]

The way I feel right now and what I have been through with my Harley only 4 in August and my Ebony last year I say a big NO. When we got our first Cavalier Rosie six years ago I fell in love with the breed and said I never have anything else but a Cavalier.

I knew Ebony had a heart murmur from when she was two, and then came her patellar operation what she recovered from great, straight after that she had an MRI because she couldn’t jump on the sofa. They found 3 degenerated discs and she also has symptomatic CM. Also last year Harley went lame and after month of investigation he was MRI’d and he has got symptomatic SM. There is more to that also with his ears but I am trying to keep it short. The trips to Cardiologists, Neurologists, Vets and the trial and error with the medication are horrendous, it wears you out emotionally. Between 5 and 6 every morning I have to make sure I am up to give Ebony her pain killer otherwise she starts scratching and she has already damaged her eye 4 times now. On top of that I was ask why it is that only my dogs have it and not the other dogs they have breed and thought I was over reacting with Ebony even when I emailed Ebony’s Neurologist Report.

Harley is the love of my life (in dog’s terms) and I am tearing up just writing this. Me & Harley used to compete at agility but have stopped competing because his SM. I still train agility once a week because he was unhappy without it. We also train & compete in Rally Obedience. The bond I have with Harley I have never had with any other dog and nearly every day I think about how long I will have with my boy. We are all different and some people can put it to the back of their minds. I wish I could but I can’t. It’s like a ticking time bond and I wouldn’t want to go through this again. I know with other breeds or X Breeds you can be unlucky with and get an unhealthy dog but getting another Cavalier I would already know and watch all the time. I don’t think I could do it again.

[Kate H]

When my second Cavalier in succession died of MVD, I thought long and hard about whether I got another (this was 10 years ago, so SM really didn't come into the equation). But decided eventually that I have to have a small dog for practical reasons (very small garden and no car) and there simply isn't another small breed that matches up to Cavaliers. However, it is 20 years since I had a puppy - Oliver was a year old when I had him, Aled 18 months. So when Oliver dies (which I hope won't be for a few years yet, but he is nearly 11), and if I can afford it, I think I would adopt another rescue, perhaps an ex-puppy farm breeding bitch who could do with some love. Even if you feel that at this present time you don't want to encourage people to breed Cavaliers, there are many already existing Cavaliers who need loving homes - and what will be their fate if people like us don't take them on?

Kate, Oliver and rescue Aled

[murphy's mum]

My quick answer is "no". My husband and I have talked about this a lot since Misty was diagnosed with SM. It's been an emotional rollercoaster with her, and everytime Murphy farts the wrong way I start worrying if it's a symptom of SM.

I know there will never be another breed like the Cavalier, they are perfect for us. Yesterday we walked miles around the coast, and came home with happy, tired and very sandy little dogs. Today we had two short walks, and the pooches slept the day away having a lazy Sunday with us. They fit in with our lives perfectly, they shower us with unconditional love, they don't take up too much room on my couch(a good job as they wont move). I really struggle to think of another breed that would suit us so well, however, the thought of spending my days worry about another Cavalier is heartbreaking. Whether it could have SM, or having it confirmed that it had SM, I just don't think I'll be able to go through it all

[BrooklynMom]

I would do it again, but next time it will be a rescue. And that pending on the fact that we still have the time and the finances should anything go wrong.
Not sure I could do searching for a breeder again, wondering if my puppy will get sick everyday. But I can do a rescue, knowing that this dog needs a home regardless of what it is going through, and that I could take on.

[Brian M]

Hi
Yes ,but start younger and go for health as top prioirty

[Karen and Ruby]

I wouldn't no, but I would get another rescue if it came to it x

I just don't think they should be bred until this whole mess is sorted out x

[pippa]

I don't think I could, to be honest...I am lucky enough as I don't have any with symptoms of SM and I have Gus who is 10 and has a very healthy heart but he has disc disease. Pippin has epilepsy and MVD and we think slight disc problems. DJ my rescue boy has slight disc problems too and has eye problems, he probably has half sight in one eye and almost blind in the other and has a few issues because of his bad start in life and I very much doubt any health checks were carried out in his past lines, so worry what might be round the corner for him. Don't get me wrong I don't spend all day worrying and I enjoy their company but I don't think I could go through the stress of having another Cavalier. I get so upset when they are not well and dread to think what is ahead for us with Pippin... saying that I know I'd be a sucker if I was asked to rescue a Cavalier, but I would think long and hard and given the choice I would probably go for another breed. I think I would go for rescue rather than get a dog from a breeder, there are so many dogs looking for homes.
My husband - who usually just does what I want re. the dogs, he didn't especially want a third, but I persuaded him and he loves DJ - said after a visit to the vets with Gus last week (when Gus was in a lot of pain, when a disc slipped) said when we came home he doesn't ever want a Cavalier again, and I am sad to say I feel the same, even though it breaks my heart as I couldn't imagine life without one and they are so gentle in every way...

[Karlin]

I waver back and forth. I think once anyone has been through caring for a cavalier with severe MVD or SM, especially one that dies too early because of it, they must have serious second thoughts about the breed as it does absolutely break your heart and is so, so stressful for the people in the household as well. And for other owners with less severe dogs, with any diagnosis of either, with the uncertain roller coaster that follows -- and the expense and the constant watch for worsening symptoms -- that can be very distressing over the years even if the dog doesn't much worsen, because there's always a significant likelihood that they will.

I don't really know whether I'd go for another myself, as I like other breeds too, and like mixes of all sorts.

Going through the final stages of MVD with a dog that should easily have lived several more years as otherwise her health was perfect, and watching her confusion and distress at why she increasingly could do so little, was very difficult. Owners find it becomes so hard to do much day to day -- you don't want to leave them very long, and for months to years, your life ends up being truncated by these often long term endemic illnesses in the breed. I dread knowing my most affected SM dog (which has created 7 years of background worry on its own) also has an advancing heart murmur as well.

I consider myself lucky so far to have had three SM dogs that have not been difficult to manage; especially Leo, as all the indications were that he might be far worse much earlier. It is actually MVD that has been the hardest for me so far. Both MVD and SM have been very expensive to manage. I am also paying now to cover meds for one of my rescues placed with an elderly man nearby -- as I knew she had advanced MVD and didn't want him to cover that cost. It is a lot of money out every month on MVD and SM meds.

This is probably a higher maintenance & costlier breed than many others as they get older too, because of the progressive diseases.

I do think people just naturally, don't think about what their dog will be like when older, when getting that adorably cute cavalier puppy. I agree that there's a point where you wonder about whether it is right to breed a dog that has such a great likelihood of a shortened lifespan due to one or other progressive diseases. Really living to 14-16 should be a norm for a small breed like this.

No definite answer to the question -- I just don't know. Maybe a rescue someday; maybe a puppy someday. I do know this: my partner's dog (GSD) almost never sees the vet, nor did the breed I grew up with. Nor do most of my friends' (with other breeds/mixes) dogs -- can only think of one significant exception. Whereas many of the cavaliers seem to be on something for pain or hearts or epilepsy (also rife in the breed -- was astonished to see a breeder recently claim incidence is dropping -- researchers like Jacques Penderis see it as endemic in the breed as well!! (this is what he told me last year -- MORE epilepsy than many other conditions, and endemic in the breed). My pal who home-boards small dogs says large numbers of the cavaliers -- always the cavaliers -- come in with meds.

I also do not think I'd now get one for my mom, though she loves them. She is concerned about the health issues and it would be very difficult for her, in every way, to manage MVD or SM if they arose.

All that said many people own and love the breed and muddle through the MVD when they get older as a 'norm' now, and maybe that will increasingly happen with SM as well.

It really shocks me beyond belief that some breeders now argue that we should change our assumption of what is 'normal' in this breed though and accept skull malformations (a malformation that causes distress *is a malformation* bred into the breed, not a new "feature"!!!). It also is very alarming, how readily so many breeders just accept MVD in the breed as well, and do so very little to work to breed it out.