Old Cypress Cavaliers

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Current Health Certifications

E-mail: oldcypress@atmc.net

Because we believe in quality ALL of our breeding dogs are YEARLY certified for hearts, eyes, and patella.  We believe that these very important issues can all be missed in a general exam. Many breeders take their dogs to the vet, but it is just not the same as the certification. As a breeder you have a responsibility to make sure you are breeding the healthiest dog that you can.

We had a breeding female that we had bought and taken to our vet for 1 year and before breeding her we had her heart certified. She failed! I stood in the exam room dumbfounded and asked how could my vet have missed this….. Well my cardiologist laughed and said she isn’t a specialist, I listen to hearts all day everyday and that is all I do...I can pick out a slight murmur that can go unnoticed for years with a general exam. A busy exam room can make the it impossible to hear a murmur where as the specifications of a certification are spelled out.

I immediately took all of my breeding stock in and had the hearts, eyes, and knees done. I was amazed to find that some of my breeding stock had patella and two had heart murmurs. NOW remember I took my dogs to the vet every six months for check-ups and they were fine.

At this point I found pet homes for the dogs with health issues and started over completely with health tested parents and bloodlines so that there was a foundation to build upon. I have since been testing yearly and have had no issues with the new bloodlines.

I tell this short story in order to educate you as I myself was a breeder who went on the recommendation of other breeders and didn’t buy into the whole certification money gimmick. Well I did my adopters and my breeding program an injustice and hope that this story will help to educate others about my mistake. I sincerely hope that all breeders will start to do the basic health testing needed for their breed.

There are also those who stay why stop there...well because I have to stop somewhere. I test those three because they are the biggies with cavaliers. As time goes by I will probably add new test to my breeding stock and this year I plan to start doing hips.  I however believe I am testing the most important as if your dog can’t hear that will be very obvious soon and although sad not life threatening.

This is what I feel to be ethical and right for me as a breeder. You have to look to yourself as an adopter and decide what is right for you and find a breeder who matches your needs.