Healthy Cavalier Puppies Start With Healthy Parents
Has your breeder health-tested your chosen puppy’s parents?
Using an online tool, you can check that the puppy’s parents have been health tested and check their COI (inbreeding).
Health Testing and COI Explained...
What is health testing and why is it important?
Cavaliers, like many pedigree dogs, can suffer from a number of health conditions.
These are the essential health conditions for which both of a Cavalier puppy’s parents should, at a minimum, be tested for:
- Heart disease: Mitral Valve Disease (MVD)
- Curly Coat / Dry Eye
- Episodic Falling (EF)
- Eye conditions
- Chiari-malformation / Syringomyelia (CM/SM)
Only by carrying out these tests can a responsible breeder make a well-informed decision about which Cavaliers to breed from, to most likely produce a healthy puppy.
You can check whether the testing has been done using the ‘Health Test Result Finder’ online tool.
Check Health Testing and COI Here
Use the Health Test Result Finder to check your puppy’s parents’ health testing and COI.
You will need both parents’ pedigree names or registration numbers to use the tool. Pedigree names need to be entered precisely including any apostrophes (‘).
If you need assistance please contact us.
What is COI and why is it important?
COI stands for ‘Coefficient of Inbreeding’. The lower the COI figure the better. For example, a Cavalier with a 0% COI is likely to have unrelated parents and a Cavalier with a COI of more than 25% is the equivalent of father/daughter or brother/sister mating.
Ideally a Cavalier would have a COI of below 5%. While this is not a guarantee of perfect health, any higher than 5% almost certainly means the puppy will suffer common breed health issues.
Check a puppy’s parents’ COI and health testing before you commit yourself to buying. Walk away if you are in doubt.
Check Health Testing and COI Here
Use the Health Test Result Finder to check your puppy’s parents’ health testing and COI.
You will need both parents’ pedigree names or registration numbers to use the tool. Pedigree names need to be entered precisely including any apostrophes (‘).
If you need assistance please contact us.
What else can I do to ensure a healthy puppy?
Please see our easy-to-read guide to buying a Cavalier puppy.
Puppy Buying Advice
A guide on how to get the best from a breeder when choosing your new puppy.
The Law and Dog Breeding
‘No dog may be kept for breeding if it can reasonably be expected, on the basis of its genotype1, phenotype2 or state of health that breeding from it could have a detrimental effect on its health or welfare or that of its offspring.’
In principle, therefore, such protection is enshrined in law.
- Genotype = Genes, genetic makeup
- Phenotype = Observable traits