king charles genetic disorder.

mayisuggest

my friends k.c seems to be very ill with symptoms including, irregular breathing, loud snorting and choking noises, and has passed out twice recently.
I have read about these dogs having a very hard time with heart and lung related illnesses due to intense breeding. has anyone had issues like this with k.c dogs? thanks

star-pants

Has she brought her dog to the vets?

EGAR

CKC suffer amongst other genetic disorders from epilepsy. The dog must be seen by a vet ASAP.

lrushe

Definately sounds like a heart problem, I know a large majority are born with heart murmers, the severity of which differs from dog to dog.

convert

Your friend should bring the dog to the vet ASAP, esp as the dog is fainting (it could be due to a lack of oxygen). CKCs are well known for having breathing difficulties in old age. Our last CKC had breathing problems in old age and while the vet was able to help initially, she eventually had to be put down as it was incurable, unfortunately. She was 12, and our vet was surprised she had survived to that age, as apparently it's old for a CKC....

The vet will be the best person to advise a course of action and treatment for the dog

Shellih

Snorting and choking noises may just be reverse sneezing, a common and harmless thing in cavaliers, but if she is passing out ur friend really needs to get her to the vet.
Check out cavaliertalk.com, its a mine of information on the breed

lorebringer

Choking and snorting are usually reverse sneezing and nothing to worry about. Irregular breathing, struggling to breathe or coughing is a red flag, esp for Cavaliers, and the dog needs to see a vet. These are all signs of fluid build up in the lungs and unfortunately these dogs are very prone to heart problems (particularly mitral valve disease - MVD) which will cause fluid build up. If the dog is passing out these symptoms must have been going on for a while and the dog may need pills to help it along. You haven't mentioned how old the dog is but about 50% of Cavaliers over the age of 5 have a heart murmur or other heart problem. Once they reach 10 this increases to just about 100% so it is very important to be aware of heart health with this breed. The dog is passing out (probably) because of oxygen deprivation due to the breathing problems and the dog needs to be seen by a vet to prevent this in the future.

Hope your friends dog gets sorted at the vet and please keep us updated.

mayisuggest

the dog is 8 years old, she has brought him to the vet and he told her he cannot pinpoint a specific issue, so she is bringing him to another.
thanks for all the comments guys

roxiesmammy

OMG what a crap vet. I would be going to another vet and i wouldnt be going back to him. you dont even have to be a vet to know about the problems that cavs suffer so i imagine a vet would know what to be looking for. Def tell ur friend to get to enough practise ASAP.

convert

So the vet didn't do anything or recommend a course of action for your friend? That's awful. Your friend should try another vet.

Was the original vet a small animal or GP vet?

lorebringer

mayisuggest wrote: »

the dog is 8 years old, she has brought him to the vet and he told her he cannot pinpoint a specific issue, so she is bringing him to another.
thanks for all the comments guys

Good choice on your friend part to go to another vet - that is completely unacceptable and not being able to pinpoint the specific issue does not mean that the vet cannot treat some of the symptoms while they explore more. Hope someone can get to the bottom of it soon.

BanzaiBk

This is a very naive question but is there any way of insuring that your ckc will be safe? I've read articles on the 'net just there about how the disorder is so prevalent, even among club reg'd breeders.
I have 2 close friends with cavs and both have some sort of problem, one was purchased from a reputable breeder.

Magenta

BanzaiBk wrote: »

This is a very naive question but is there any way of insuring that your ckc will be safe? I've read articles on the 'net just there about how the disorder is so prevalent, even among club reg'd breeders.
I have 2 close friends with cavs and both have some sort of problem, one was purchased from a reputable breeder.

Cavalier health problems are across the board I'm afraid. If you watch the BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, there was one lady who was on the UK Cavalier club committee. After she lost 2 dogs to syringomyelia she began campaigning for breeders to not breed from dogs who had it, but she was kicked off the committee for being disruptive. One woman had a dog who was diagnosed with syringomyelia and the woman studded him for 32 litters, the reason being is that his appearance was close to the breed standard and so therefore he was a "good example of the breed".
These widespread health problems aren't going to disappear on any significant basis until the breed standards are changed to reflect the need for a dog to be healthy on the inside as well as its appearance on the outside.

OP a friend of mine has a dog who was passing out for no apparent reason while on walks. The vet did an X ray and it turned out he has an oversized heart, which was pushing down on his wind pipe and preventing him getting enough oxygen. You are right to be getting a second opinion, Cavaliers are such a popular breed and so many of them have the same health problems- something like half of them develop a heart murmur before the age of 5.