Cavalier King Charles spaniel
The cavalier is a recreation rather than a survival.
The toy spaniels painted beside Charles II had, by the 1900s, been bred into the flat-faced King Charles spaniel; in the 1920s an American offered prizes for dogs resembling the older paintings, and the cavalier was rebuilt from what remained.
It is a small spaniel with a moderate muzzle, large round dark eyes and a silky coat in four traditional colours. The temperament is the whole point of the breed: cavaliers are gentle, uncomplicated and want to be with people, which makes them excellent companions and poor candidates for a household that is out all day.
- Origin
- England
- Size
- 5.5–8 kg, 30–33 cm at the shoulder
- Lifespan
- 9–14 years
- Coat
- Silky and moderately long, with feathering
- Temperament
- Gentle, affectionate, adaptable, eager to please
- Exercise
- About an hour daily
Related: American water spaniel · Boykin spaniel · Clumber spaniel · Cocker spaniel · English cocker spaniel
3 cavalier king charles spaniel photos, newest first
Living with a cavalier king charles spaniel
Brush a few times a week, paying attention to the ear feathering and behind the elbows where mats form.
Health is the thing to research hardest, because two conditions are unusually common. Mitral valve disease affects a large majority of cavaliers by the age of ten and is the leading cause of death in the breed; heart-screened parents genuinely shift the odds. Syringomyelia, where the skull is too small for the brain, is also frequent and can be painful — MRI screening exists.
Ask any breeder directly about both. A cavalier from screened lines is a different proposition from one that is not.
General guidance, not veterinary advice. Individual dogs vary, and anything about a specific animal is a question for a vet who has seen it.
Worth reading alongside this
More dogs by breed
Every dog breed somebody has posted a photo of.
- Labrador retriever18
- Afghan hound3
- Airedale terrier3
- Akita3
- Alaskan Klee Kai3
- Alaskan malamute3
- American bulldog3
- American eskimo dog3
- American hairless terrier3
- American pit bull terrier3
- Aussiedoodle3
- Australian cattle dog3
- Australian shepherd3
- Basenji3
- Basset hound3
- Beagle3
- Belgian Malinois3
- Bergamasco sheepdog3
- Bernedoodle3
- Bernese mountain dog3
- Bichon frise3
- Biewer terrier3
- Black and tan coonhound3
- Bloodhound3