Soul searching

Yesterday Primrose's three Cavalier pups were eight weeks old. The vet was booked to come out to us and examine each pup, then microchip them and start their primary course of vaccinations. All went well and I pointed out to the vet that both the girls have a small umbilical hernia. 

Around two weeks ago I noticed that both the girls had a small umbilical hernia.  I was keeping the tri coloured girl, Rose and the Blenheim girl, Bella is going to join Hayley's family in Cornwall. When Hayley visited Bella just over a week ago I told her Bella had a small umbilical hernia and pointed it out to her, as it is small and reducible, which means you can push it back in and it then becomes unnoticeable for a while, until it pops out again. 

The hole on each pups hernia is that small I cannot feel it, but it is their still because I can reduce the small bump and it then pops back out after a little while. It is not something that I am worried about for the health of each pup and it can be repaired, if needed when the pup is spayed, as Bella will be spayed in the future it is not an issue for Hayley.

Now for the soul searching, because it is believed around 90% of umbilical hernias are hereditary. Often us breeders try to apply some good old cognitive dissonance to umbilical hernias, calling it delayed closure or the bitch must of chewed at the umbilical a bit roughly. I think there might be something in an umbilical hernia in a pup being caused by infection, that has got into the umbilical after the pup was born, but for the best part I feel they are hereditary.

This article I found https://www.vetinfo.com/umbilical-hernia-dogs.html describes what an umbilical hernia is and the treatment and this article I found is also interesting
 http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-magazines/dogsinreview/dogs-in-review-umbilical-hernias.aspx and brooches on the split thinking about umbilical hernias.

So I have to reason to whether I keep Rose or not. Knowing her family history makes it pretty sure to me that Rose and Bella have hereditary umbilical hernias. This is Primrose's third litter. Her first two litters were crosses with our Poodle, Reggie and none of those had umbilical hernias that I can recall, but then we take a look at the litter Primrose came from one of four Cavalier girls and she had a sibling in that litter that had an umbilical hernia and also an Inguinal hernia, which is a hernia in the groin area and we had it repaired before she left me. We have had the occasional small umbilical hernia when crossbreeding, but we tend to have a higher occurrence when we purebreed dogs. 

Although my head could so easy reason breeding from Rose, my heart is telling me that I know it would not be right. So rock, paper scissors, the heart has it. It has taken me two weeks to mull this over and further speaking with my vet yesterday I am going to let Rose go to a pet home. So Rose is available to a pet home only.

Rose

Rose

Rose

Rose has become available and being sold only as a pet dog. She has a small umbilical hernia that causes her no health problems and can easily be corrected when she is spayed with a couple stitches (Please read above for more details). My vet can be spoken to if needed.
Rose is a very nicely marked tri coloured Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and is Kennel Club registered. 
Rose has had loads of interaction with our children and other dogs since birth. She is a quintessential Cavalier, cute, loving, very playful and with a dash of mischief  to top her off. Her Mother is Primrose and her Father is Toby. Both parents can be seen when visiting us and we also have Primrose's Mum, Ysobel here as well.
If interested please email me first at [email protected] to arrange a time to speak on the phone. 

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Below are more photos of Rose with mother, Primrose and Rose's litter siblings Bertie and Bella now eight weeks old.

Bella

Bertie