Welcome to the Chihuahua health and care page. You are sure to find interesting and informative guidance here. Remember, we are not veterinarians or biologists. The information you will find here is based on many years experience and a lifetimes desire to learn. This information has been gathered from vets, biologists, nutrition specialists, dog psychologists, breeders, shelter staff, and of course, the Internet. This is meant as a guide only and should never be a replacement for your veterinarian. Enjoy your reading. As always feel free to contact us. If you are looking to add a Chihuahua to your family, are researching the breed or are looking for information on the breed standard or if you are??????, we are here for you. If we don't have the specific information you are looking for we can surely point you in the direction of someone that does.
BREED RESEARCH GETTING STARTED
If you are here chances are you have already decided to purchase a Chihuahua. You are making a great choice. If you haven't made up your mind yet the information I have here might really help. First of all I recommend you research the breed to make sure it really is what you want. There are many factors involved in choosing the right dog. Oh, my gosh how cute I have to have one is not a good enough reason.
Chihuahuas are perfect for apartment life as they do not require a lot of space,their energy level, though high, only comes in short bursts. They are small enough to paper or litter box train. However they don't like to be alone. Chihuahua's love other Chihuahua's. Studies have been done that indicate Chihuahua's are the only breed of dog that can identify their own kind.They would rather be with their own kind than any other companion animal. This being the case it is highly recommended by many breeders,vets etc that if your Chihuahua is going to be left alone for more than 3 hours at a time you have a companion for your pup. There are breeders that won't consider selling Chihuahua's to people that will be leaving their chi babies alone for more than 4 hours a day on a regular basis as this can cause psychological damage to the chi. To be honest with you breeders with such policies are the ones you should be considering buying from as they are showing their dedication to the breed. Breeders that are eager to sell their pups are screaming I'M A PUPPY MILL. Buyer beware.
CHIHUAHUA ATTRIBUTES
The minds of most dog breeds are equal to that of a four year old child. Chihuahua's are no exception. Chihuahua's have the tenacity of terriers, and like terriers they stay young in their hearts and minds for a very long time. You can expect most Chihuahua's to act like puppies for up to 8 years, some for even longer. Chihuahua's have the longest average lifespan of all purebred dogs, between 14 and 19 years. Most dog breeds live for an average of 10 to 12 years. Some of the larger breeds only live 4 to 6 years. Chihuahua's love to snuggle, especially with their humans, their capacity to love is unparalleled in the small breeds.
Chihuahuas are playful, energetic and very intelligent. Some people think Chihuahua's can't be trained. That is simply not true. My babies are very well behaved, obedient, and they are not yappy. It is my experience that a yappy Chihuahua is an over indulged Chihuahua. Some people are afraid to *correct* their dogs inappropriate behaviors due to the size of the dog. Others are simply never told no because they are so cute, others are under stimulated or lack socialization. Chihuahua's respond very well to clicker training and praise or reward training for good behavior.
DO'S AND DON'T'S WITH CHIHUAHUA'S
Do give your dog lots of love and positive feedback for appropriate behaviors. Don't yell at your chi. You are the center of your chi's world. Yelling will create a feeling of distrust, Think about how you would feel if you got yelled at by a giant every time you made a mistake. Use a deep voice when correcting your chi not a loud voice. Don't hit your chi. Depending on your chi's personality this may have the affect you desire or it could make them neurotic. It can also break their delicate little bones, cause internal injury's resulting in death. Many Chihuahua's have what is called an open fontanel on the tops of their skulls. If you hit your chi on the head you could kill them very quickly. If you think it's alright to hit a dog I recommend you don't get a Chihuahua.
I have mentioned before that Chihuahua's don't deal well with the weather. The chi can no more handle extreme heat than cold. If you require an air conditioner to keep cool in the summer I recommend you dress your chi. Your chi may feel very cold when you are just right. If you have your chi out in the summer sun with you please provide your chi with a source of shade. Chi's love to bask in the sun which is well known to cause sunstroke even death in chi's. Chihuahua's love to burrow or tunnel please provide your chi baby's with blankets or snuggle bags to fulfill this important part of the chi's mental well being.
FEEDING YOUR CHIHUAHUA
There are many dog food options available today. The dog food isle gets longer and longer. So how do you know what to buy? Start by researching the dietary needs of the dogs then the contents of the food.You will probably be surprised to learn that some canned dog foods have as much as 90% moisture. That leaves only 10 % for nutrition. If moisture or water is listed as one of the first 3 ingredients you may want to keep looking especially if you plan to use canned food as the primary source of food. This is something I personally don't recommend. I advise you to talk to your vet about this.
We can't all afford the most high priced, popular brand name dog foods and we don't have too. Some of the best foods out there don't have a hefty price tag. One of the best in my opinion is Kirkland brand from Cosco. If you compare labels you will find that the Kirkland is superior the most popular high priced brands. Nutro Nuggets in the teal bag, from Fred Meyer, is also a very good food. Be careful though as it is the only one that does not have corn for a main ingredient. Corn is not good for dogs. It is a valueless filler.
If canned, pouched etc. food is only to be a supplement then the nutritive value is not as important and valuable to your dogs health as the dry kibble it will be served with. A mid quality wet food will suffice. There are exceptions to every rule so please check with your vet about this and all food related matters.
Dry Kibble is very important to the health of your dogs teeth and gums. Dry kibble helps to remove the same nasty plaque and tarter that builds up in our mouths. I need not say more on that! When researching dry Kibble the same rule apply's as apply's to wet food. First research the dietary needs of the dog then research the food. Again I recommend Kirkland or Nutra Nuggets as high nutrient low cost foods. There are some very expensive brands out there that are wonderful such as BLUE, Life's Abundance. Taste of the Wild and nutro max. These are a few of the high quality expensive dog food brands that are well worth the price.
I can not stress enough the importance of research and talking to your vet. Remember what is gold to one dog could be poison to another. There are exceptions to every rule.
We feed our dogs: Taste of the Wild High Prairie Formula and Taste of the Wetlands formula, kibble .
We feed home made canned with 0 fillers and Taste of the Wild canned to our dogs for breakfast as well as to our pregnant girls and pups.
The main ingredients in each of these foods are; meat, meat and more meat. There are things in these foods that dogs don't eat in nature. Unfortunately this is the case with all dog foods unless you go with a freeze dried raw diet. Due to the high protein content of this food if you switch to it to quickly your dog can suffer from gas, bloating, diarrhea,vomiting and hair loss. If you switch slowly you will have a dog with small dark healthy poo, no gas or bloating and the shiniest thickest coat possible. I do not recommend mixing this food with the usual diet as it will likely be picked out exclusively leaving your dog with the undesirable side affects.
So called holistic foods are giving *store brands* a bad rap. This is uncalled for. If you check the labels you will find pretty much the same ingredients in store brands, pet store speciality brands and holistic foods.
Corn is a filler and so are beets. Beets are used in many holistic foods. READ THE LABELS!
I would like to add that you should never feed a toy dog of any breed table scraps, candy, deserts or give it milk, pop or alcohol. A mature toy dog may be able to handle such things in small amounts but a pup can not. Table scraps, deserts, candy etc. can give a toy pup mild to severe diarrhea. Severe diarrhea can cause hypoglycemia, internal damage do to straining to potty from intestinal spasms caused by the diarrhea. Candy is mostly sugar and can have adverse affects on a healthy pup as it is a major dose of sugar in a tiny body. Candy can put a toy puppy into shock. Pop, especially cola is highly acidic. It can clean a toilet, imagine what it can do to a tiny body. Milk from a cow is so unlike canine milk that it can cause severe diarrhea. Some people claim it can cause bacteria to build up in the pups intestines exasperating the diarrhea causing even more complications. As for the alcohol, people that give their dogs alcohol should not have dogs. A drunk dog is not a funny dog. It is a dog in panic, terror as it looses control of it's facilities. If you think it's o.k. to give any dog alcohol don't buy a dog from me.
HYPOGLYCEMIA
Hypoglycemia is a word we breeders don't like to hear. It is a word all toy dog owners dread. Hypoglycemia is common to toy breeds. The smaller the dogs the higher the chances of it developing hypoglycemia. (low blood sugar) It is most common in very tiny puppies. There is a lot of good information on the Internet that can help you understand the causes of Hypoglycemia.
Something as simple as switching a pups food or moving to a new home can cause this condition. What ever the cause the symptoms can be deadly. symptoms usually start with low energy, refusal to eat, depression, followed by listlessness, unconsciousness, seizures and if left unchecked coma and sometimes death.
Hypoglycemia can appear to come on slowly usually a sign of an underlying medical problem or it can come on very suddenly. One minute you pup is playing joyfully with it's toy and the next it is on the ground unconscious. Call your vet.
Hypoglycemia can be treated. Nutri-Cal is a supplement that I include in my puppy packages just in case. It is a high sugar, vitamin rich energy supplement. That can stop a hypoglycemic episode in it's tracks. If your toy dog has such an episode call your vet immediately. If you don't have Nutri-Cal corn syrup, sugar or golden syrup will do the job. Honey usually does not work as the chemical composition of honey differs greatly from that of sugar and sugar syrups.
Chronic hypoglycemia in puppies is usually outgrown by the age of 12 weeks but can last for 16 weeks. Sometimes it is never outgrown. This is very rare though.
Chronic hypoglycemia is treated with Nutri-Cal or a similar product and a prescription diet until the pup returns to normal. This is time consuming and requires feedings small meals every two to three hours around the clock. You will get very little rest. If your pup refuses to eat you will have to force feed him until he is ready to eat on his own again. If you think your pup is returning to normal try spreading his * treatments* ( special diet and Nutri-Cal ) out a half hour for one feeding. If the symptoms don't return do the same for the next feeding and the next. Gradually expanding the time between *treatments* until he is indeed back to normal. If you push back the feeding by a half an hour and the symptoms return even slightly wait a few days to a week and try again. It is better to be safe than sorry.
LIVER SHUNT
A blood test alone is not enough to determine if a liver shunt is present in your toy dog. Explorative surgery is the only way to tell for sure.
If your pup has a medical condition that has caused the hypoglycemia such as a liver shunt surgery will be required. This is costly and if the tiny pup lives through the surgery you will have a wonderful companion for many years. Toy dogs frequently do not survive surgeries. You need to weigh the pro's and con's. Discuss them with your vet. Some vets have a high success rate some do not. Some vets recommend euthanasia as the surgery its self is risky. The smaller the dog the higher the risk.
I can not stress enough the importance of listening to your pups breeder when it comes to the care of your new puppy. Listening to your breeder can be the difference between a healthy new pup or a sick one.
GIARDIA a NEW PLAGUE in the dog world June 2009 update
Giardia is the number one cause of diarrhea in humans. It has reached pandemic status in the dog world and yet it is overlooked by many veterinarians. If your dog has gray or light tan stools with an odd odor it may have picked up Giardia. Stool samples only show the Giardia when is is sloughing off the organism. If you see a jell in your dogs gray or light tan poo take the stool to your vet. This condition is not usually fatal. It, like so many other conditions can devastate a toy dog. Contaminated water is the number one source of Giardia in outside dogs. (Drinking from puddles etc.) Inside dogs usually get it because it was brought in by their unsuspecting humans. It is usually brought in on the bottoms of footwear. It can however come from unwashed hands.
Giardia, worms, Parvo, Coccidiosis, are only a few of the many reasons we need to maintain proper vet care for our dogs. Every time we take our dogs for a walk or sit them in a shopping cart at a pet store we are putting them at risk. Dogs will and do sniff, lick and eat anything and everything. Since we do not know what contaminant may have been there ahead of us we need to be diligent in our care of our tiny treasures. I recommend keeping your toy dog in a carry case of some sort when at the vets to limit their exposure there as well. Vets are diligent in sanitizing the work areas , examining tables etc. However the floors, chairs and seats in the waiting room are not sanitized every time a sick or contaminated dog, cat or human goes through them. Am I being paranoid? Perhaps, but I would rather err on the side of caution than risk losing one of my babies, wouldn't you?
DOG TOYS TREATS AND SAFETY
There are many wonderful toys on the market that are dog specific. A good rule of thumb is that if you wouldn't give the toy to a 1 year old human child you shouldn't give it to your puppy.
All puppy's chew for pleasure and to ease the pain or discomfort of teething, Just like a human baby. Some chew out of boredom which can be rather destructive.
I Personally do not recommend rawhide chew treats or snacks for any dog let alone a small dog. Rawhide is indigestible and can clog stomachs and intestines leading to health problems that can result in surgery to have the rawhide removed. This is more common in small dogs than med. to larger dogs. I think it is best to err on the side of caution than to risk surgery.
I no longer recommend nylabones for toy dogs.
August 26, 2009 update: It has come to my attention that there is a lawsuit against the company that makes nyla bones concerning one of their nylabone brand products. They have changed their formula and now have rawhide in many of their products that previously did not contain rawhide. The labels say digestible rawhide. Raw hide is not digestible. Until this is settled I recommend staying away from these products. I can not stress enough that we must read the labels.
I love puppy breath and am indifferent to healthy clean adult breath. Morning breath in dogs and dogs with tooth or gum problems can be horrible. There are many breath treats on the market. Some work some do not. Research and trial and error are the best defense against bad doggy breath. What works for some dogs will not work for all dogs. Again ask your vet what he or she would recommend.
SPAYING AND NEUTERING
I recommend spaying and neutering to anyone not planning on breeding their dogs. If what you want is a pet quality lap dog go with a spay neuter contract. You will get a wonderful baby to treasure and you will save money as well. Most breeders ( including myself) offer spay neuter discounts and contracts on their dogs.
TEA-CUP DEER HEAD HAIRLESS CHIHUAHUA'S
So you want a tea-cup chihuahua??? Well guess what, there is no such thing. A so called tea-cup chihuahua is usually a runt puppy. As a general rule these dogs do not live very long. Most of these dogs have a lot of health problems including hypoglycemia, liver shunts and seizure disorders. Breeders claiming to sell tea-cup chihuahuas are misleading the public in order to make money off of high risk puppy's. Sometimes a *tea-cup* is a pup that stopped growing at an early age. This can be a cause for alarm as well. Again I have to say buyer beware. We now have unethical breeders selling Chihuahua's that are in the breed standard for size as *tea-cups*. These breeders charge more for their dogs and they are no different than what I or other ethical breeders sell their pups for. The breed standard includes Chi's from 3.0 lb to 6.0 lb.
The deer head is also a misleading title. A deer head chihuahua is a chi that is so far out of the breed standard in body type, head shape and size that it is barely recognizable as a chihuahua. This is a title used to sell *very poor quality* chihuahuas. Reputable breeders that love the breed will include the so called deer heads in the pet quality only or spay neuter category in their sites. Yep, you guessed it, buyer beware!! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH OWNING A POOR QUALITY CHIHUAHUA. THEY ARE JUST AS LOVING AS ANY OTHER CHIHUAHUA. HOWEVER IT IS UNETHICAL TO PURPOSEFULLLY BREED SUCH DOGS.
Hairless Chihuahua?? Sorry there is no such thing. There are hairless breeds from Mexico but the chihuahua is not one of them. If you have a Chihuahua that is lacking hair it has a condition called Alopacia.
DESIGNER DOGS
I really should have titled this topic the designer dog scam. The term designer dog is one used to identify purposefully bred mix breeds also known as mutts. Different dogs are being mixed as the designer trend grow and changes. Some so called designer dogs have 3 or 4 breeds in them. This goes beyond mix breed this is Heinz 57. If you want a designer dog I recommend you go to your local shelter. You'll find a wonderful assortment of *designer dogs* there and they will cost you a whole lot less. A lab mix called a labradoodle can cost up to $1,000. At the shelter a lab mix will cost less than $100.00. You can't get A.K.C. papers on a $1,000.00 lab mix so why not pay under $100.00? Shelter dogs make wonderful pets and they need you, please think about this if you are considering a designer dog.
Designer Dog Update: Many so called designer dogs are now in shelters or staying in Rescue 's and Foster homes. Please do an extensive search if you are serious about a designer dog and get a rescued dog. Please save a life.
PAGE TOPICS
CHIHUAHUA
ATTRIBUTES
DO'S AND DON'TS
FEEDING
HYPOGLYCEMIA
TOYS TREATS SAFETY
TEA-CUPS
DEAR HEADS
DESIGNER DOGS
Chihuahua health and care
This page was last updated: October 26, 2010
FIRST TIME CHIHUAHUA BUYERS PLEASE READ THIS PAGE IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT COULD SAVE YOUR PUPS LIFE
Some pups are born with liver shunts such pups rarely live for long. They develop hypoglycemia and die usually before they are a week old. The pup simply wastes away and dies.
More common is the shunt that develops because a pup is so small it's liver can't keep up with the pups growth. Because the liver is unable to properly do it's job the body develops a shunt or by pass that litteraly by passes the liver with no functioning liver the pup is slowly poisoned by it's own body.
Veterinarian Don'ts with tiny Chihuahuas
If you are blessed to have a healthy tiny chi, here are some obstacles you may need to over come with your vet.
Many tiny chi's never lose their baby teeth. Vets often want to pull the teeth. Don't let them. You will end up with a chi walking around with its tongue hanging out for a lack of teeth. That's if your chi survives the surgery. Some tiny chi's do have adult tooth buds, but they will rarely develop into teeth, leaving your baby with no way to hold it's tongue in.Shattered jaws are a common threat to all toy dogs getting teeth pulled. That in itself is something to think about.
Not all vets know that surgery on chi's under 3 pounds *usually* end in the death of the chi. This includes things such as teeth cleaning and spaying or neutering.
COCCIDIOSIS
Coccidiosis can mimic hypoglycemia in it's beginning. Dogs with this condition will develop bloody diarrhea along with mucousy diarrhea. In severe cases the pup will begin to vomit. This condition carries with it a strong odor. This parasitic disease is usually deadly if left untreated in puppys. Many vets do not check for this when your dog is sick. It can mimic parvo and there is no immunization for this condition. One of the best places to learn about Coccidiosis is beaglesunlimited.com
August 26,2009 update: Some vets are misdiagnosing liver shunts and hypoglycemia when the problem is coccidiosis. If your vet suspects liver shunt or hypoglycemia please ask them to check for Coccidiosis.
