Do you own a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?

I don't have one but my next door neighbor had three and my employer also three. They are wonderful sweet dogs.

But they also have health problems related to heart problems. My neighbors dogs all had heart problems and died prematurely. They decided they would not have another of the breed too much heart break.

The same with my employer. One was put to sleep shortly after I started working for them, the other two are constantly at the vet. The bills are very high for their healthcare. They have also said no more of the breed.

Cavvies are the sweetest natured dogs on the planet.  Smoochy and loving, silly and adorable.  BUT...the shedding is insane, and the heart problems are a real concern.  Our beautiful Lancelot passed away at 7, and last year we lost Benson at 11, both to heart related issues.   I'd get another one in a heartbeat, because they're just so sweet. 

Yup, I agree with the previous posters. They are LOVABLE, but have health issues and shed like I've never seen in a dog. Ours passed at 8 years due to heart failure. He was a super dog but had some quirks. He had a love hate relationship with my little mixed breed dog. You would think they hate each other but then come into the room to find them sleeping on the same dog bed. Oh, and he was the only dog I ever had who ate his own deposits. You will be smitten if you do get one.

This is Darcy, our sweet girl. This is an old picture of her when she was young. Now she is old,grey around the mouth and much wider!!

These dogs are wonderfully sweet and great with kids. Darcy never once snapped at either one of our kids or any of their friends. She's definitely a low energy dog and now that she is a grandma she pretty much just sleeps in her box, goes outside and eats. Once every morning after she goes out she will climb up into our bed and come over and lay across my stomach for a cuddle and to say good morning. It's so adorable. Honestly though, I agree with the other's about the heart problems. Our Darcy has third stage congestive heart failure and she is currently on very expensive medications that we give her twice a day. She coughs and coughs and she just doesn't have the energy to do much more than lie around. She is about 13 years old so she has lived a longer life than most Cavaliers do. We are very fortunate to have her with us still but we know our time left with her is short now. We have made the decision that once she and our other old dog both go to doggie heaven that we won't be getting another Cavalier. She was a very sweet dog and great to have around kids but because she was so low energy she didn't play much she just cuddled. We will probably get a Lhasa Apso or a Shih-Tzu because they are more playful and have more energy and are much smarter dogs.

One more thing that you should know about Cavaliers is that besides heart and knee problems they also have a pre-disposition to have very poor teeth. Please, please buy health insurance for your dog and make sure you get it's teeth cleaned at least twice a year. That's one regret I have - that I didn't get her teeth cleaned regularly. We did it a couple of times but it's an expensive thing to get done so we couldn't get it done regularly. If I could do it again I'd definitely get health insurance.

Also, make sure you do your research and find a reputable breeder who has the mother and father on the premises for you to see. Good breeding will help your dog live longer. Darcy came from a good bloodline so that's why we figure that she's lasted longer than most Cavaliers.

All that being said, they are great dogs. We don't regret for one minute having our Darcy as a part of our family.

Laura that's alot like Bailey but he had little more white too!

The best grand doggie ever! She is 11 years old and has not had any heart issues yet. She is not able to jump anymore (more of a knee problem) but is as sweet as ever! Great with kids!

I wouldn't let the heart issues stop you. It wouldn't stop me, after having had a CKS. We rescued Iggy from our local shelter, not even knowing anything about the breed. At the time he was 8-10 years old and we were warned that we could expect about 4 more years with him. And that's exactly what we got. It was heart problems but cancer that took him. Still, I wouldn't have traded those 4 years for 20 with another dog. He was THE. BEST. DOG.

I wouldn't say that he loved kids or cats or other dogs. He just didn't care one way or another about them. He loved any person that loved him. If a cat or dog reacted negatively to him, he moved away from them.

The shedding didn't bother us, but we had 3 cats so were already used to fur. I really don't remember it being an issue, though. We brushed him often and had him groomed regularly.

No no don't let it second guess you most of them don't get them till they're older as most dogs I think that's how it is with most breeds. I've had little shiih tzu's before I got big dogs and it was cancer with them. So it just depends and with each dog is as they get older. Here's the one of Bailey. We are a big dog family with my siblings and their dogs so lots of different breeds but it makes it fun. Don't let the other stuff scare you.
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Look at my profile picture 

<------ how can you say no to that