![]() IMO - Maltese, Shih Tzus, mini poodles, Bichons, and Havenese are all some great (healthier) alternatives to consider. Knowing there’s a virtual guarantee my dog will die slowly of heart failure as I try to stave it off is bad enough… but knowing it’s essentially a coin flip that they’ll also develop an unbelievably painful, non-treatable condition… that pushes it somewhere I decided I couldn’t go. Syringomyelia is an incredibly painful and totally untreatable condition related to the Chiari malformation - here ( ), are some people with the condition describing what it’s like, and here ( ) is a video of an affected dog (warning: video has a dog in vocal distress). Here’s ( ) a longitudinal study that found 100% of 1,000+ Cavaliers examined with an MRI had a chiari malformation and some 40% ultimately developed syringomyelia. The breed club set up breeding guidelines to try and breed our heart disease, but no one followed the rules so they abandoned them - īUT THAT’S NOT EVEN ALL! They also literally all also have a skull deformity called a Chiari malformation. The typical lifespan with MVD is two years past diagnosis - the death is slow as their heart function fades away. Half develop serious mitral valve heart disease by the time they’re five years old an additional 10% of dogs are affected each year moving forward, with 100% affected by age ten ( Since I knew that generally you can go to a good breeder and get a healthy dog, I took a deep dive into Cavs. I knew they had health problems, but so do lots of breeds. I’m a dog sport competitor who seriously contemplated a Cav. The breed is wholly affected by serious and untreatable heart and brain problems. ![]() Do your research, get educated and find the best breeder you can! No matter their problems there is no other dog for me. MVD is an absolute problem, so keep a good healthful diet and don’t let them get Fat! My educated understanding on SM is not matter testing, etc most cavaliers after age 5 if MRI’d will should malformation, even if asymptomatic, due to shape of their heads. Breeder would not breed her again and I got her. She only had 1 pup and second breeding she needed emergency c-section and her pup died. I joked with the breeder and said if she ever didn’t want her, I would take her. This fabulous breeder had a bitch I saw pictures of with 1 pup. Her Dad used to help us when we needed him to pick up a surrender in his area and keep the dog until we found a foster. I love cavaliers so much I fostered for cavalier rescue usa for several years and these 2 were always accepting of my fosters. She is on 4 meds and turned 12 April 30th. She went into heart failure last July at age 11, had in a few months progressed into a grade 5/6 and CHF. I never thought she would live to old age. She had severe pneumonia as a pup which left her with lung damage. Peanut, second rescue, had a grade 3 murmur at 3 yrs old.Also has SM. Nosey, my first rescue, lived to be 15.2 yrs old…heart clear until 14, old age got her 2 years ago. I had 3 cavaliers, 2 rescues )mill dogs) and 1 from an excellent breeder! Thanks!Ĭavalier owner and lover! The best website for information. ![]() I suppose all this is to say, if Cavs are your breed, I would love any and all first hand experiences about their health issues. Are these issues more-so tied to certain lines, or is it a breed-wide problem? I’m assuming there is some sort of parental testing to help control for these potential issues in litters? I was initially thinking that I would try to rescue, since they are pretty common and I would just be looking for a pet, but if buying from a breeder would drastically help me in avoiding some potentially large health issues, I’m fine with going that route. That being said, I have had trouble finding a lot of info about these issues outside of the same generic info on websites like Animal Planet/PetMD/Canine Journal/etc. In this research I have found that they are apparently extremely prone to heart problems, specifically mitral valve disease, and syringomelia. However, I am fairly certain that I would now like to get a Cav once I am in a position to get a dog, and am doing some preliminary research. I will not be able to have a dog for a while - I am only halfway through college and won’t be able to support a dog for a while. They are adorable as hell, so sweet and snuggly, and I totally love them (and this is after feeling like I am solidly a Big Dog person!). I work at a dog daycare and have fallen completely head over heels for Cavaliers.
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