Cilgwri Litters

Cilgwri Bloodhounds

Last Litter

Our last litter was born on 18th November 2008. This was a mating between our Strudel and the most beautiful dog - Ch Chami Truffe de Medievale.

Unfortunately Strudel did not become pregnant at our last attempt (March 2010). We still have plans for her at her next season...so fingers crossed.

Cilgwri Litters

Although having been in the bloodhound breed for over 20 years we have only had 4 Bloodhound litters. This is actually not untypical of small scale breeders like ourselves and there are a number of really good reasons for this.

Remember Bloodhounds grow from adorable babies into adorable giants very quickly.

This is Polly at 9 weeks and Tucker at around 14 months and weighing 66 kilos!

·         Firstly bloodhounds can be difficult to mate and to get a litter from (this was our early problem)

·         Secondly we always want to keep at least one puppy from each litter so we need to have the space as they all live indoors with us.

·         And finally we aren't in the 'puppy farming business' so are very selective about who we mate and to whom. We have always bred for health and temperament and 'type' and will continue this policy into the future. (see health note below)

And equally important is that we are very picky about who has one of our lovely puppies so we don't just breed to 'flood' the market.

Click on the menu links above to review each of our litters.

Health and Epilepsy

When Phoebe had her litter in 2003 we had taken every care that we thought possible to breed a healthy litter, particularly to keep away from known epilepsy lines. Compo (Cilgwri Uncomplicated) started to have fits in early 2004 and these got progressively worse and worse until he went into multiple fitting in November 2004 which we could not bring him back from. In the same period his brother in Malta - Slobber - had developed Sandfly Fever (A very very nasty illness) he with the 110% support of his owners fought this illness gallantly although he also started to have fits and then sadly died.

10 Days after Compo's death his mother Phoebe also started to have fits and whilst this is largely under control with medication she still has occasional episodes some worse than others.

We then heard that Hector (Cilgwri Unbeatable) was also having fits. Luckily like his mother these seem to be under control with his drug regime.

Firstly we must say that a hound fitting with epilepsy is not a nice sight, it is soul destroying to watch your hound struggle and we would like to thank our puppy owners who have given so much to look after their hounds.

Secondly we want to say that if you want to buy a bloodhound try and investigate the epilepsy lines as far back as you can go - this is the main reason we took our Grace to Vienna for a mating going as far from known epilepsy lines as we could. But a word of caution..

We know about our epileptic litter as we keep in very close touch with all our puppy owners who have become close friends, so we know about any problems that they may have and can work with them on the right management approach. Not all breeders have such close relationships and don't always hear of (or frankly are interested in) problems.

Equally importantly all our puppies live in the homes with their owners so any unusual behaviour will be seen. Hounds that are kept outside or in a 'pack' situation may not be noticed having a fit (they can happen quickly and be over in less than 1 minute)

If in any doubt about Epilepsy please contact us and we will be more than happy to offer advise and support. Also see link to our notes on Epilepsy.