Moonshadow Cavaliers

07/31/2025

So, I'm going to start calling Maggie, Maggie the Menace. I swear that pup will be the death of me. Yesterday, all the dogs were on our closed in front porch chasing a bug. I was bathing/drying Dustin. My chair sits right by the window looking out on the porch. A while later, I noticed one of the dogs in the corner where they had been chasing the bug. I figured it got tired out and had decided to take a nap there. When I finished with Dustin, I started putting the puppies back in their play pen. I was looking for two of them and glanced over in the corner. Now I thought maybe it was the two puppies I was looking for. They always decide to crash in various places. I went over and discovered it wasn't the two puppies. It was Maggie. We have a dip in the pavement right there so we can wash the porch and it drains under the wall. It's about 3-4 inches wide. Maggie had decided that she needed to check out what was on the other side. So she stuck her head in it. She was really stuck. I couldn't get her out. So, I ran out back and got Cliff. He went over on the other side and between the two of us, we finally got her rescued. Thank God she decided to lay quietly and not fight while she waited for help. Dennis the Menace has been reincarnated as a tri cavalier puppy.

07/26/2025

Well, at last my little Dixie is pregnant. Our next litter is due in early Sept. It will be a Dixie/Logan litter.

07/26/2025

And off she goes to Alaska to live with Dustin and Emma's sister! Woohoo.
Rayne and Willie's girl is sold!!!

07/26/2025

The results are in!!!!! Willie is the father of Rayne's litter. (Emma is the Blen in the pic babysitting the pups).
Willie is the blen in the single picture with Michelle. Rayne's picture is next to his.
Moonshadow's Always On My Mind x Moonshadow's I Wish It Would Rayne

07/24/2025

I can't believe that this beautiful little Rayne girl hasn't been snatched up. Someone needs to get her before we are all out of tri girls. :)

07/19/2025

With heavy hearts we are sharing this letter we received from one of our clients. We have long advocated homemade food with human grade ingredients. Most people think that it is too expensive. In reality, it is less than most of the "high" quality dog foods out there. Please read and do your research.

Dear Cliff and Vicki,

We wanted to follow up directly, since you were cc’d on our earlier email to the ACKCSC Health Committee, with a more personal note about Olly—and why we believe his passing may carry important implications for the broader Cavalier community.

Olly (born February 16, 2020) passed away last week while under compassionate ICU care at Washington State University. He was just 5½ years old, and his death was due to sudden and severe liver failure. After extensive follow-up and consultation with experts, including Dr. Sharon Center at Cornell, we now believe he was affected by copper-associated hepatopathy (CuAH)—a condition that’s becoming increasingly common, but remains widely underdiagnosed.

We’ve enrolled Olly in Dr. Center’s national CuAH study, which now includes more than 800 dogs. Dr. Center recently published a pivotal study in JAVMA demonstrating how many dogs—often without prior symptoms—have dangerous hepatic copper accumulation, likely driven by the rising copper levels in commercial dog food.

🔬 Recent Research:

“Hepatic copper concentrations in dogs with and without chronic hepatitis” (JAVMA, Feb 2021)

https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/258/4/javma.258.4.357.xml

We’re now painfully aware that the Kirkland Signature Small Breed Salmon & Lentil food we fed Olly—despite appearing to be a premium product—may have been high in copper, especially over long-term exposure. Olly’s symptoms and rapid decline closely mirror dozens of other CuAH cases.

We’ve also since learned that Cavalier King Charles Spaniels may be genetically predisposed to copper toxicity. The following resource lays out the breed-specific concern clearly:

🐾 CavalierHealth.org: Copper-Associated Hepatopathy in Cavaliers

https://www.cavalierhealth.org/liver.htm

While we know you have long advocated for human-grade food only (which we respect), we hope our experience serves as a useful data point in conversations with future Cavalier families. We thought we were feeding a high-quality food, and only after Olly’s decline did we learn how quietly dangerous these copper levels can be—even for families doing their best.

We’re working closely with Dr. Center to complete Olly’s necropsy and copper quantification, and we’ve committed to helping amplify her work and advocate for more transparent labeling and regulation in the American pet food industry. If helpful, we’d be happy to be part of any awareness-building efforts in the Cavalier community.

With heavy hearts,

The predominance of disorders of the canine liver appear to vary depending upon the breed. The most common liver disorder in dogs is chronic hepatitis. Overall, the cavalier King Charles spaniel does not stand out as having a higher incidence of any form of hepatitis, hepatic cancer, of other severe...

07/16/2025

I knew I picked the right person for Willie. Michelle and Willie are a fabulous team. Sunday they brought home 2 more points towards his championship. WTG Team Willie

Moonshadow's Always On My Mind

Bridgeviews Red Baron Riding the Wave x Moonshaodow's Amazing Grace

07/04/2025

Rayne's puppies have worn themselves out wandering around the bigger pen. Two top left are the boys, the girls are the one on the bottom left and the two on the right.

07/04/2025

Tripp is a pretty boy.
Rayne does a good job.

07/02/2025

There is a whole lot of good information in this article. I just thought I would share it.

Dogs don't experience heart attacks the way humans do, but this doesn't mean they don't die of heart disease. Heart failure is increasingly common in America's dogs, with many showing symptoms by age seven or eight.

06/30/2025

Hello world. We have beautiful eyes open. Time to get some stuff in the crate to interest them.

Rayne's puppies