I Love My Dogs, But We Shouldn’t Have Bought Them…
Like most people, I love dogs, so when my parents finally said we could get a puppy 10 years ago, I was over the moon. My mum’s favourite breed has always been Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, so there was no question what type of dog we were getting. We took Jessi home in April 2009, and with her big eyes and floppy ears she was pretty much the perfect puppy. If Instagram had been invented by then, she would have been a star.
Jessi was my best (furry) friend for almost 10 years, and while I believe we gave her a great life (and a lot of love), she went through a lot over that time. Cavaliers are, like pugs, known for their breed defects, which are the result of years of breeding for aesthetics rather than health.
Those big eyes, while adorable, weren’t exactly the most practical feature in a dog, and led to regular eye infections as she got older. Her extremely loud snoring made for funny videos, but was a result of her squished face, and could cause her discomfort.
Cavaliers have notoriously shallow hip joints, and so a walk in the snow ended badly, when she slipped and both back legs popped out of place. Sounds like a pretty unlucky injury, but when we took her to the vet, he was unsurprised, and the operation to fix the joints was one he’d performed on numerous dogs like her. Naturally, after an operation like that, we were advised not to take Jessi for walks for quite a while, which inevitably led to weight gain (her nickname was chubby for a reason).
The worst and most common of all Cavalier defects is Heart Mitral Valve Disease (MVD). MVD causes the degeneration of the mitral valve, which slowly begins to allow more and more blood to flow backwards and can lead to heart failure. More than half of all Cavaliers will have MVD by the time they’re 5 years old, and virtually all that live to 10 will have it: it’s pretty much guaranteed.
Jessi’s heart was checked every time she went to the vet, and after several years a minor heart murmur was spotted. In most dogs, this wouldn’t be reason to panic – normally MVD only leads to heart failure in 20-30% of dogs, but not for Cavaliers, for which the disease progresses much more rapidly and leads to heart failure in most cases.
October 2018, Jessi died of heart failure caused by MVD. Everyone loses their dog at some point, and Jessi almost made ten years, which I’d say is pretty impressive. The thing that upsets me most, is that if I had known all of this, I could have predicted what she would die of even when she was a puppy. She was pretty much bred to die of MVD.
The family didn’t feel complete without a dog, and so that Christmas my parents got a new puppy, Lola. Just like Jessi, she’s adorable, with the characteristic big eyes and floppy ears, and I love her to bits. The thing is, now that I know the trouble with breeding Cavaliers, I can’t stop thinking that all the health issues Jessi had could easily be in store for Lola too. It isn’t right that we keep breeding and buying dogs for their looks, knowing the pain it can cause them.
The reason I wrote this article, even though it made me tear up thinking about Jessi and how much I miss her (yes, even now, I’m crying again), is because I want to encourage people to think before you buy a dog, especially one so notorious for health issues.
That’s without even mentioning how breeding contributes to overpopulation and there are hundreds of dogs waiting in shelters for their forever homes. According to Peta UK “At any given time, there are an estimated 100,000 dogs […] without homes in the UK”.
Steve Craddock, centre manager at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home was quoted in The Metro saying “There are thousands of rescue dogs across the UK who are looking for a second chance at happiness, many of them still under two years old. Re-homing a rescue dog is hugely rewarding and you will be given advice and support to ensure you take home exactly the right pet for you.”
So, I’m not saying don’t get a dog, my life wouldn’t be the same without them, but please think about the consequences of what dog you’re getting, and where from, for their sake.
Peta: https://www.peta.org.uk/issues/animals-not-abuse/homelessness/
The Metro: https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/23/important-adopt-not-shop-comes-dogs-8994580/
Dogs Trust: https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/buyer-advice/