Pit Bull or Cavalier: The Heart Question That Decides Everything

Myxomatous mitral valve disease heads the Cavalier's health list, with heart murmurs listed separately underneath it, and the breed's own notes say prone to heart disease and needs regular vet check-ups. That placement is accurate and it should shape the whole purchase.

The mitral valve sits between the left atrium and the left ventricle. In this condition the valve leaflets thicken and degenerate, so the valve no longer closes cleanly and blood leaks backwards with each beat. That leak is what a vet hears as a murmur. Over years the heart enlarges to compensate, and in a proportion of dogs it eventually progresses to congestive heart failure.

What makes the Cavalier different from other breeds with heart disease is prevalence and timing. It affects a very large share of the breed and it starts early — murmurs are commonly detected in middle age rather than old age, and in some lines considerably younger.

The practical response has three parts.

First, buy carefully. Breed health schemes in several countries recommend that Cavaliers are not bred before around two and a half years old, and only when they are murmur-free at that age and their own parents were murmur-free at around five. A breeder following that protocol can show you dated cardiologist certificates for the parents and often the grandparents. A breeder who says their dogs have never had a problem, without documents, is telling you they do not test.

Second, screen annually. An early murmur is not an emergency and is not a reason to panic, but it changes monitoring, and treatment started at the right point improves outcomes.

Third, watch for change. Coughing, breathlessness, reduced exercise tolerance and an increased resting breathing rate are the signs that matter. Counting a sleeping dog's breaths per minute is a genuinely useful home measure and vets often teach it to Cavalier owners.

The Pit Bull's cardiac entry is heart murmurs, a much lighter burden — worth a check at an early vaccination appointment and rarely more.

Five of the Cavalier's ratings are 5/5 and one is 1/5, and the contrast is why the low one gets missed.

The breed was developed for one purpose across several centuries: sitting with people. It has no working role, no independent function, and no history of being left in a kennel. Its own notes call it the perfect lap dog, and that is not a figure of speech — a Cavalier's preferred activity is physical contact with its person.

Left alone regularly for a full working day, a large proportion develop genuine separation distress. The signs are vocalising for the whole absence, house-soiling in an otherwise reliable adult, refusal to eat while alone, destruction at exit points, and pacing. It is distress rather than boredom, which means more exercise does not fix it — graduated desensitisation to absence does, and it works far better started in puppyhood than after a crisis.

That single rating disqualifies the breed for a lot of households that would otherwise be ideal for it. If your house is empty from eight until six with no midday break, the Cavalier is a poor choice despite being easier than the Pit Bull in almost every other respect.

The Pit Bull's 3/5 is one of the better figures among working breeds. It settles hard after exercise, is content to be off duty, and generally handles a normal working day given a decent walk either side.

Worth stating plainly: this is the one axis where the athletic, harder-to-place breed is the more practical choice for a busy household.

Beyond the heart, the Cavalier's list runs intervertebral disc disease, syringomyelia, ear infections, patellar luxation, hip dysplasia, eye problems, allergies and cancer.

Syringomyelia is the second neurological entry and it shares a mechanism with other small short-skulled breeds: the space at the back of the skull can be too small for its contents, disrupting cerebrospinal fluid flow and allowing fluid-filled cavities to form in the spinal cord. The classic sign is phantom scratching — a paw lifted toward the neck or shoulder while walking, never quite making contact — along with yelping for no visible reason and sensitivity around the head and neck. It is diagnosed by MRI and managed medically. Some breeders MRI-screen their stock; asking is worthwhile.

A harness rather than a collar is sensible for a Cavalier as a matter of course, for both the neck sensitivity and the discs.

Intervertebral disc disease is the spinal entry — a bulging or ruptured disc pressing on the cord, showing as reluctance to jump, a hunched posture, yelping on being lifted, or in serious cases hind-limb weakness. Ramps or steps onto furniture and careful lifting reduce the load.

Ear infections are the routine maintenance job. Long feathered ears seal the canal and hold moisture, so weekly checks and drying after wet walks are part of ownership. That is most of why the breed rates 3/5 for grooming despite a coat that is otherwise easy — a brush a few times a week through the feathering on the ears, legs and chest is the rest.

The Pit Bull's list is orthopaedic and dermatological: hip and elbow dysplasia, skin allergies, heart murmurs, bloat, obesity, cruciate ligament disease, arthritis and cancer. Its grooming is 1/5 — a curry mitt once a week and nothing else.

It is hard to overstate how uncomplicated a Cavalier is in public. Five out of five with children, five with other dogs, four with strangers, two out of five for barking, and 4/5 trainability in a soft, willing, food-motivated package.

There is no guarding instinct, no reactivity, no meaningful prey drive and no territorial behaviour. A Cavalier is easy at the vet, easy in a cafe, easy in a multi-dog household, easy with visiting toddlers and easy on a train. Its 5/5 for first-time owners is entirely earned on temperament.

Its 3/5 exercise rating means about forty-five minutes of walking a day plus play, and it will happily do more — Cavaliers enjoy a proper walk despite the lap dog reputation — but the requirement is modest and achievable.

The Pit Bull is warm with people too, at 4/5 with children and 3/5 with strangers, and equally trainable at 4/5. Its 2/5 with other dogs is the permanent management task: no dog parks, no on-lead greetings with unknown dogs, careful neutral-ground introductions with a handler at each end, and awareness that tolerance can decline at social maturity between eighteen months and three years.

On top of that sits an administrative layer the Cavalier never encounters. Breed restrictions in tenancy agreements, housing rules and insurance policies commonly cover bully-type dogs, frequently on the basis of appearance rather than pedigree. Check yours in writing before committing.

So the comparison is unusually clean: the Cavalier is easier everywhere except the two places that matter most in its case — being left, and its heart.

The Cavalier runs $100–200 a month at cost level 4/5, with a first year of $1,500–3,000. The Pit Bull is $80–150 at 2/5, with $1,200–2,200.

For a 15 pound dog, a 4/5 cost rating is unusual and it is entirely medical. Cardiac monitoring, and eventually cardiac medication, is a realistic expectation rather than a risk. Dogs in the later stages of mitral valve disease may be on several drugs, with periodic echocardiograms and blood tests, and that is a recurring monthly cost for years. Add ear treatment, and the possibility of MRI investigation if neurological signs appear.

Insurance matters more here than in most breeds, and timing matters most of all. A murmur detected once is a pre-existing condition, and cover taken out afterwards will exclude it. Insuring a Cavalier puppy before its first check is one of the few genuinely consequential financial decisions in dog ownership.

The Pit Bull's insurance problem is different: availability rather than exclusion, since bully-type breeds are frequently declined or surcharged outright.

Lifespan slightly favours the Cavalier at 12 to 15 years against 12 to 14, and where an individual lands depends heavily on the heart.

The honest summary is that the Cavalier is a delightful dog with a serious, well-documented, largely predictable health problem, and that a buyer's leverage over that problem is almost entirely exercised before the puppy comes home. Choose the breeder on cardiac certificates rather than on photographs, insure immediately, learn to count sleeping breaths, and the breed can be an excellent companion for twelve to fifteen years.

And if nobody will be home during the day, choose the other dog.