Margaret Carter explains why Faith and her very special Cavalier puppies became the poster girls and boys for the health petition
Faith and her puppies are the poster girls and boys for the Cavalier health petition
When Faith was expecting puppies in September 2013, she spent each night as usual sprawled over my pillow. She was enormous and there was very little room left for me. Towards the end of the pregnancy a little leg would occasionally biff my ear.
Unfortunately Faith started to whelp nearly a week too early. History seemed to be repeating itself as her earlier litter of five puppies had been born too soon and the sad little survivor had only lived one day.
This time three of the litter were stillborn. There were four living puppies, one of each colour, but sadly the tiny tricolour girl died within a few hours.
Woody refusing to feed was a real low point for Margaret
The remaining three lost a lot of weight and gave great cause for concern. I was advised to supplement their feeding, and one of the lowest points of my life was at 3am one morning when the frail little Blenheim clamped his mouth tight shut against the freshly prepared bottle of milk. I shed tears of exhaustion and despair, convinced he would die and it would be all my fault.
Thanks to help from friends and family the pups survived and thrived. The biggest boy, a ruby like his father, was by far the strongest and was forever bulldozing his smaller siblings from the milk bar. I spent much time moving “the Ginger Tank” to the end of the whelping box so the smaller two had a chance to feed from Faith without interruption.I had never owned a ruby Cavalier, and “Tanki” was butch and beautiful as he remains today.
Tanki uses brother Woody as a pillow for a nap
Woody, the little quicksilver Blenheim, too pretty to be a boy, should have been sold but he was the baby and I worried about him: his official name is “Touching Wood”. To be honest, I loved him too much to let him go, so both the boys stayed at home with Faith and my bevy of Japanese Chins.
Topsy, the little black and tan girl, had long been promised to a good friend who had waited patiently for years in the hope of having a daughter of Faith’s. Sue knew a keen amateur photographer who came to take pictures of the puppies at when they were six weeks old. Faith and her pups were full of energy, only wanting to play, but as they grew tired we were able to persuade them to snuggle up together.
Special girl Topsy
There were some very sweet photos taken that day, including the now well-known photograph of Faith and her puppies that I used to illustrate the Cavalier health petition on the Change.org page but also many other Cavaliers Are Special material.
It isn’t the photogenic qualities of Faith and her pups that makes them special but also their health credentials. Cavalier litters bred following health breeding guidelines from two fully tested parents are like hen’s teeth – hence the need for our petition.
Woody, Tanki and Topsy are some of the very lucky few. If like us, you think all Cavalier puppies deserve the best chance of the healthiest life possible, please join over 27,000 others and sign the petition for mandatory health testing.
All grown up! From left: Woody, Tanki, their mum Faith, Topsy