Mitral valve disease in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

[lady_pritimah]

I love the disposition of this breed, but worry about their high prevalence of eventually lethal mitral valve disease. Does cross breeding the Cavalier King Charles with another breed reduce the risk of mitral valve disease in the offspring?

If you have a reference from a veterinary journal, I’d be grateful.

 

[davecb]

@lady_pritimah It does not. The problem is that while it exists in Cavs it also exists in other breeds.

And if you're not testing dogs, and looking at pedigrees, there is nothing that says you'll do better by creating cava-poos or whatever.

You can read this if you want. Basically it's a bunch of factors at work.

 

[lady_pritimah]

@davecb Thank you

 

[shagsnacks]

@lady_pritimah The Finnish Kennel Club is doing an outcross project for Cavies. They only have a few litters on the ground can’t remember what all is involved but I know one of them is the Danish Swedish Farmdog. Found a link that has more details. From this press release it does look like they’re hoping to decrease the incidence of mitral valve disease. Don’t go looking for these guys outside of Finland for a looooong while if every though. https://www.kennelliitto.fi/en/abou...f69B5iyvt_19TCM3dogIKTSprsbooh-qirAH0_1YAANIU

 

[lady_pritimah]

@shagsnacks Thank you

 

[dvm0071]

@lady_pritimah I would check out the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of America has a good health page devoted to MVD

https://www.ackcsc.org/index.php/health/heart

There’s also this article and study from January of this year with good info!

https://www.frontiersin.org/article...YUR63-D_ouvlyMOCTvXKfN-b1Ocbo5M4zibYVvPsqRSko

But going with an ethical breeder who si actively selecting AGAINST MVD is your best bet for a healthy Cavalier

 

[marriage007]

@lady_pritimah Yes, it does. Most problems in purebreds can be solved with cross breeding as long as it's done properly, with health tested parents and knowing the lines so you don't end up breeding healthy carriers that may bring the condition again.

I don't have any reference other than knowing how population genetics work, but I remember someone on tiktok making a survey comparing purebred cavaliers with mixed cavaliers. The user was called redefine.ethicalbreeding. Obviously using tiktok as a source is ridiculous, I know. But I think it does give a bit of insight on the problem. I'm sure there are serious studies done on that matter too.

 

[andrew742]

@marriage007 The issue with this logic is that any breeders which produce structurally and genetically sound dogs are not going to be giving puppies to people who intend to breed them to other breeds. This is one of the main issues with "doodles". The original breeding stock is extremely low quality, often not healthy tested, and crossing two low quality dogs does not produce a healthy mutt.

 

[marriage007]

@andrew742 This is an issue with the dog breeding community itself. I totally understand how an ethical breeder would refuse to sell breeding rights to a person who wants to produce designer mixes for selfish reasons, but there should be a way to make it easier and more acceptable for breeders who want to do an outcrossing program to bring a breed full of issues to health again. I feel like everyone is too focused on selecting inside the same breed and it's hard if the entire breed is affected or carrier of the same issue.

I even met people who thought that outcrossing programs are unethical and breeding a dog with health issues if the entire breed is affected is not a big deal (this was in context of dalmatians). I think it's far from what ethical breeding means, sometimes it's truly impossible to keep a breed pure and healthy at the same time, and we have to pick one. For me the choice is obvious.

 

[lady_pritimah]

@marriage007 Thank you. I’ll try to find the TikTok survey.