Cavalier King Charles Spaniel lifespan

CavalierHealth.org is dedicated to providing the Internet user with access to factual information about the major, severe health disorders afflicting the cavalier King Charles spaniel (CKCS) and that are presumed to be inherited, including mitral valve disease (MVD), syringomyelia (SM), hip dysplasia (HD), luxating patellas (knees), retinal dysplasia, and other debilitating and/or painful disorders to which the cavalier breed is predisposed. All of these diseases are listed in the left column of each page. The content of the website consists of compilations of information from many veterinary specialists and other sources knowledgeable about the CKCS.

Many of these disorders are present in other breeds of dogs, some to a greater extent than in the CKCS and some to the same or a lesser extent. We do not contend that all of these diseases are unique to cavaliers. But this website is only about the cavalier King Charles spaniel. Therefore, we focus on the extent to which these genetic disorders affect the cavalier, their symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, and what breeders can and should do to try to lessen the existence of these diseases in future generations of cavaliers.*

Some severe hereditary disorders, such as mitral valve disease (MVD), are pervasive in cavaliers. By age five years, over half of all cavalier King Charles spaniels are expected to have mitral valve murmurs, and that percentage increases to the point that among those that survive to age ten years, nearly all of them are predicted to have MVD. The expected lifespan of a CKCS can be quite short - as young as seven years to an average of ten years* - the briefer lives due mainly to the terminal effect of early-onset mitral valve disease. Other disorders, such as hip dysplasia, should afflict one out of every four cavaliers. Still others, such as syringomyelia (SM), are progressing through the breed so rapidly that statistics have not been able to keep up with the pace. The current estimate of SM is over half of all cavaliers, and for its companion disorder, Chiari-like malformation, approaching 100% of all CKCSs.