Marilyn wrote:
> I would like to know from the long time breeders, what you feel is the average life span of a Cavalier. I have heard one breeder say 6-8 another 10-12. In your experience, give me two numbers that you feel are realistic.< Hi Marilyn. I've been raising Cavaliers for 26 years and, 10 - 12 years is the average life span for Cavaliers of my breeding. Average life span for Cavaliers in general...I'm not sure. I guess one would need to do a survey to determine that. Although this wasn't part of your question, to address the issue of breeding Cavaliers with early onset of MVD, in my opinion, the subjective part of this question is, what is early onset? It's been mentioned on this list that somebody's vet is advocating using 3 years as a benchmark for breeding or not. IMO this is criminal. 3 years old is still a baby. Good Lord, hips are not even cleared until 2 years old so they are never even considered for breeding before that age. Even 5, which I realize is the benchmark used in the UK, is still a very young dog but at least by waiting until hips are cleared then the dogs are not bred until they are at aleast 2 1/2 which follows of course that every dog being used should have parents who are clear at least at 5 years old. I am still using a dog who is 10 years although he has developed a murmur this year. The act of breeding certainly doesn't have any adverse affect on him (just ask him :-).) I have also collected sperm from him for my future use. A bitch who developed a murmur at any age, I would not continue to use. Just one persons opinion. Best Regards. Chris Gingell Caruaidd Cavaliers ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
