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The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a small breed of dog usually considered one of the toy dog breeds.
Appearance: The Cavalier is by most measures the
largest toy breed: though clearly a lap dog, fully-grown
adults tend to fill one rather amply. It is nonetheless quite
small for a spaniel, with fully-grown Cavaliers roughly
comparable in size to an adolescent of a more conventional
spaniel breed.
Breed standards call for a height between 30 and 33 cm
(12-13 inches) with a proportionate weight between 5 and 8 kg
(13 and 18 lbs). Unlike most other spaniels, the Cavalier has
a full-length tail well-feathered with long hair, which is
typically carried aloft when walking.
Coat: The breed naturally grows a substantial silky
coat of moderate length. Breed standards call for it to be
free from curl, with a slight wave permissible. In adulthood,
Cavaliers grow lengthy feathering on their ears, chest, legs,
feet and tail; breed standards demand this be kept long, with
the feathering on the feet cited as a particularly important
feature of the breed.
The breed has four recognized colors:
Blenheim (rich chestnut on pearly white background)
Tricolor (black and white with tan markings on cheeks,
inside ears, resembling eyebrows, inside legs, and on
underside of tail)
Black and Tan (black with tan markings)
Ruby (rich reddish-brown all over)
Parti-colors are the colors that include white: Blenheim
and Tricolor. Whole-colors have no white: Black and Tan, and
Ruby. The Blenheim is the most common color, although the
others are not rare.
Temperament: The breed is highly affectionate, and
some have called the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel "the
ultimate lap dog". However, Cavaliers require a great
deal of human companionship and do not tolerate well being
left alone for long periods of time.
Most dogs of the breed are playful, extremely patient and
eager to please. As such, dogs of the breed are usually good
with children and other dogs. A well-socialized Cavalier will
not be shy about socializing with much larger dogs.
History: For many centuries, small breeds of
spaniels have been popular in the United Kingdom. In the
eleventh century, in the reign of King Canute, it was illegal
to hunt with any dog that could not fit through a gauge that
was eleven inches in diameter. Hence, the "birth" of
the Toy Spaniel in the United Kingdom. Some centuries later,
Toy Spaniels became popular as pets, especially as pets of the
royal family.
In fact, the King Charles Spaniel was so named because a
Blenheim-coated spaniel was the children's pet in the
household of Charles I. King Charles II went so far as to
issue a decree that the King Charles Spaniel could not be
forbidden entrance to any public place, including the Houses
of Parliament. Such spaniels can be seen in many paintings of
the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. These early spaniels had
longer, pointier snouts and thinner-boned limbs than today's.
Over time, the toy spaniels were replaced in popularity by
short-snouted, dome-headed dogs of asian descent, such as the
Pug and Japanese Chin. The King Charles Spaniel was bred with
these dogs, resulting in the similar-shaped head of today's
English Toy Spaniel breed. The King Charles Spaniel remained
popular at Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough,
where the brown and white version was the most popular -
resulting in the name Blenheim for that color combination.
In the 1920s, an American named Roswell Eldrige offered
twenty-five pounds as a prize for any King Charles Spaniel
"of the old-fashioned type" with a longer nose, flat
skull, and a lozenge (spot) in the middle of the crown of the
head, sometimes called "the kiss of Buddha,"
"Blenheim Spot," or "Kissing Spot". So,
the breed was developed by selective breeding of short-snouted
Spaniels. The result was a dog that resembled the boyhood pet
of the future Charles II of England ("Cavalier King
Charles"), whence the breed derives its name.
Two breed clubs/registries are found in the United States:
the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club (CKCSC) USA and the
American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club. The latter club
is the breed club of the American Kennel Club.
Health: The breed suffers from a number of severe
genetic defects. If considering a puppy, ask to see its
parents' heart and eye certificates to reduce the chance your
puppy will have the defects described below. Many breeders
supply these and most breeders choose pairings to try to
reduce the incidence of these defects in the breed.
Mitral valve disease: Virtually all Cavaliers suffer
from mitral valve disease, causing progressively worsening
heart murmurs leading to heart failure. This condition can
begin to emerge at an early age, and is present in more than
half of all Cavalier King Charles Spaniels by 5 years of age.
It is extremely rare for a 10-year-old Cavalier not to have
at least a slight heart murmur. It is the leading cause of
death of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Veterinary
geneticists and cardiologists have designed breeding
guidelines to eliminate early-onset mitral valve disease in
the breed, but only an insignificant minority of breeders
follow these guidelines.
Syringomyelia: Syringomyelia (SM) is a condition
affecting the brain and spine, causing symptoms ranging from
mild discomfort to severe pain and partial paralysis.
Syringomyelia is rare in most breeds but has become widespread
in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Veterinary neurologists
who have been researching the disease in Cavaliers have
estimated that at least half of all Cavaliers have either
syringomyelia or occipital hypoplasia, the skull bone
malformation believed to cause SM.
The 2005 Cavalier Heath Survey done by the AKC Cavalier
club indicated that about 4% of Cavaliers showed clinical
symptoms consistent with SM. Although symptoms of
syringomyelia can present at any age, they typically appear
between 6 months and 3 years of age. Symptoms include
sensitivity around the head, neck, or shoulders, often
indicated by a dog whimpering or frequently scratching at the
area of his neck or shoulder.
Scratching is often unilateral -- restricted to one side of
the body. Scratching motions are frequently performed without
actually making physical contact with the body. The scratching
behavior appears involuntary and the dog frequently scratches
while walking -- without stopping -- in a way that is very
atypical of normal scratching. Scratching typical of SM is
usually worse when the dog is wearing a collar, is being
walked on leash, or is excited.
Not all dogs with SM show scratching behavior. Not all dogs
who show scratching behavior appear to suffer pain. If onset
is at an early age, the first sign may be rapidly appearing
scoliosis. If the problem is severe, there is likely to be
poor proprioception (awareness of body position), especially
with regard to the forelimbs. Clumsiness and falling results
from this problem.
A vet should be asked to rule out primary secretory otitis
media (PSOM - glue ear) before assuming that a Cavalier has
SM. PSOM can present similar symptoms but is much easier and
cheaper to treat. An MRI scan is normally done to confirm
diagnosis of SM.
Hip dysplasia: Hip dysplasia is a common genetic
disease in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. It rarely is
present at birth and develops with age. Hip dysplasia is
diagnosed by x-rays, but it usually does not appear in x-rays
of Cavaliers until they mature.
Luxating patella: Cavaliers, like many toy breeds,
are subject to a genetic defect of the femur and knee called
luxating patella. The disorder is believed to affect 20% to
30% of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. This condition is most
often observed when a puppy is 4 to 6 months old. In the most
serious cases, surgery may be indicated.
Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca: Another common defect
among Cavaliers is keratoconjunctivitis sicca, colloquially
known as "dry eye". The usual cause of this
condition is an autoimmune reaction against the dog's lacrimal
gland (tear gland), reducing the production of tears. The
condition requires continual treatment and if untreated may
result in partial or total blindness.
Puppy Mills: The recent increasing popularity of the
breed has led to breeding of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
in puppy mills and an upsurge in the number of Cavaliers sold
in pet stores.
It is usually a mistake to buy a Cav (as cavalier king
charles spaniel owners call them) in a puppy mill. The dogs
bred in puppy mills usually have more diseases and health
issues then the other dogs.
Notable Cavalier King Charles Spaniels:
Rex, pet of U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Hopper and Harley, pets of Courteney
Cox and David Arquette.
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