You Say You Want a T Cup Chihuahua
Buyer Beware
Tiny Chihuahuas Can Die Very Easily
Chihuahua Puppies Are Not Toys
You May Want to Consider Getting a Larger Puppy
Everyone always wants to get the smallest chihuahua puppy possible. First of all, chihuahuas were not meant to weigh 2 pounds. They are healthier if they weigh between 5-6 pounds. If you have children under the age of 15, I will still sell you a chihuahua because I know you will get one no matter what. The only thing I will not do is sell you a chihuahua, especially a t cup without warning you about the dangers that are potentially ahead waiting for you and your future puppy. Granted it is possible for a family with small responsible children to have a puppy and raise it without harming it, but it is difficult. Even if your children are careful and do not crush or drop the puppy, they still may cause it harm. Chihuahuas, especially the smaller ones need constant care. This does not mean that they need to be played with all day long. This means that they need to be supervised. It is very important that their eating and drinking habbits are monitored. If they never get a chance to settle down, eat, sleep, and drink because they are being used as play toys for children, they can quickly start going down hill. They can go from a bouncing baby to a very sick baby within hours. Once they start going down hill with low blood sugar, you will have to tend to them every 2-3 hours until they are 4 months old, maybe longer. You may also have to take them to the emergency room and keep them there for days. It may end up costing you more money than the puppy costs in no time.
All puppies are suspectable to many problems just like all children are. They get sick all the time. With a larger puppy, you treat them for most problems, and go about your day. With a t cup chihuahua puppy, the illiness is usually not the only problem you have to contend with. When they get sick, they do not eat or drink all day. This triggers hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Now, you have to not only deal with the origional problem, you also have to deal with the low blood sugar. Low blood sugar is easy to treat if you have the time to tend to them all day long for months. If you do not have the patience or the time to deal with it, the puppy will most likely die. This means all day and all night monitoring. In other words, t cup chihuahuas can add a lot of stress to your life. It is no fun watching a 1.3 pound puppy go into hypoglyimic shock. They cry and seizure all day and all night. They totally depend on you to cater to their every need. You see why I say that t cups are not toys. T cups typically have a larger soft spot on the top of their heads. This soft spot does not close most of the time. When a t cup bumps into something, the dog or puppy can easily suffer brain dammage. This is just another issue that needs to be addressed when considering a t cup. They are simply a lot more fragile than a toy. All chihuahuas have a soft spot to some degree in most cases, but it is hard to find a t cup that does not.
Bringing home a puppy puts a lot of stress on the puppy. They are in total shock when they leave one place and go to the next. If they are shipped, this adds to the stress. My advise to someone wanting a dog that only weighs about 3 pounds is to let the breeder keep the puppy until they are at least 3 months. If the breeder is not willing to do this, I would not purchase a puppy from them. This shows that they do not care for the puppy and only want to push them out of their house. Breeders know that raising a t cup until it is 12 weeks rather than 8 weeks is a real burden. Many breeders would rather get rid of the puppy fast. This way, if any problems develope, it is somebody elses problem. I do not look at it that way. I am dedicated to what I do. I would never compromise the health of one of my puppies like that. If the custumer really wants them at 10 weeks, they can have them, but I want them to read this warning first. I will not ship them until they are 2 pounds though. I realise that the puppies can leave here and be fine, but I also realise that problems are likely to happen in at least one of my t cup puppies. I would not feel right if I did not warn the buyer about what they are getting into. It is also important that the buyer understands that it may be costly to keep a puppy alive once it starts to go down hill. I have a lot of experience with tiny chihuahuas and can do a lot of things medically necessary to bring the puppy back to health without spending a small fortune at the vets office.
I am not writing this and sending potential custumers to this page to scare anyone off. I am in the business to sell puppies, but I do not want to sell the wrong puppy to the wrong person. I put a lot of time, care, and most of all, love into raising my puppies. When I sell them, I like to know that they are going to remain just as healthy as they are when they leave here. The main reason I wrote this is because I sold a 8.5 week old puppy to a lady shortly before I wrote this. I normally do not ship 1 pound 3 ounce puppies at 8.5 weeks. I did it this time because the custumer was a very nice and responsible woman. There was another puppy going to the same airport, and the lady really wanted the puppy ASAP. I told her how stressful the flights are at 8.5 weeks old, but since I had another puppy that was going to the same airport, we both concluded that it might be less stressful for both puppies if they were shipped in the same crate. This particular puppy handled the flight very well. He was bouncing all around like he always had at my house when he was picked up at the airport. He was a healthy bouncing baby boy. Less than 48 hours later on a Sunday of course when the vets offices are all closed except the emergency vets, I got a phone call. It was the custumer. Her puppy was vomiting, crying, and laid out like it was going to die. She tried to give him sugar to snap him out of it, but it did not work. The only thing to do was to rush him to the emergency room. $700 later, he was diagnosed with hypoglycemia and he had a inflamed stomach probably due to the change in the water. With a bigger puppy, all you need to do is treat this with antibiotics. With this puppy, you have to have him in the hospital for days on IV fluids to ensure he does not drop his blood sugar level and die. The $700 she spent only got her through the first night at the emergency vets. I sent this family weekly pictures of this little guy since he was only a few weeks old. They could not wait to get him. He has such a great home. The puppy did make it, but what a nightmare. If you are sure you still want a tiny baby, I have them from time to time, but if you just want a tiny healthy little chihuahua, you may want to consider getting one that is a little more stable. They still grow up to be small enough to sneak into restaurants in a little fancy pet carrier. They are just as loving, and they are a lot less fragile. If you still want a t cup, just be prepared for what might be presented to you in the future. Most of all, remember that I will hold this puppy for you until he or she is at least 3 months old to get you and the puppy through the time when problems usually surface. They are still cute little things at 3 months old and have a long life full of joy ahead of them. Thank you for taking the time to read this. It is really important.
PLEASE NOTE: Regardless of anything I wrote or said in the past, today is August 12th 2007, and I have decided that I will NEVER, under any circumstance, sell a puppy that weighs under 2 pounds, no matter what the predicted weight again! A lady just bought a 10 week old puppy from me on August 7th that weighed about 1.5 pounds and has always been very healthy. She had him for three days, and now, he is dead. His little body could not take the stress of a new home. This lady did not leave him alone all day either. She provided a perfect home, had no children, and was retired. Stress leads to hypoglycemia, and hypoglycemia leads to death. This woman is very heart sick, and so am I. This will not happen again. If you cannot wait for your puppy to weigh 2 pounds to leave, you will have to go elsewhere for a puppy.
The pictures below are a graphic explaniation of what can happen if a breeder sells you a puppy that is super tiny.
This is Bouncer. He was legally old enough to go at the time this picture was taken, but not morally. It is a good
thing that I would not let him go. He was perfectly healthy when this picture was taken. Two days later,
I woke up to find him looking like this: (see below)
This is how he looked when I woke up. Granted, he has a lot of kyro syrup all over him from me trying to save his life,
but other than that, this is what I woke up to. Bouncer almost died that day, and almost died three times after that.
I saved him each time, but after the first time he crashed, I did not go to bed at night without getting up every 3 hours to feed
him for about 3 more months. A person working all day, would have came home to a dead puppy. If you want to deal with this, feel free to
purchase a 1 pound puppy. There are tons of breeders out there willing to sell you one. I will sell you one too, but only if you do not
work and are fully aware that this could very well happen to your puppy. Obviously, it happens here too, but the stress of going to another
home only adds to the possibility of this happening. I will not ship a puppy under no circumstances unless he/she weighs 2 pounds.
If someone is willing to ship you a 1 pound puppy, hopefully, you not only do not work, but you also have empty credit cards that
are ready to be charged up at the vet's office. Oh, and if your children really really really want a tiny puppy like this, (Mommy please)
think of how heart sick they are going to be when their little play toy dies. In other words, these are living creatures, not play toys
for your children. Bring your children home a 3 pound puppy to play with. They will have just as much fun, and the puppy will probably survive.
Bouncer update: Bouncer is predicted to weigh 3 pounds full grown and has really grown attached to me.
On October 17th, 2007, I woke up to find this in my nursery.
Socialite's little boy had showned no previous signs of hypoglycemia,
was still with his mother and siblings, and had no reason to be stressed out.
He was 11.5 weeks old.
Can you imagine how stressed he would be if he were at a different home?
If it were not for the fact that I acted quickly and had the equipment necessary
to help him recover, he would have died. This is what I get for sleeping all night without
checking on my puppies. This is also why I do not sell tiny things like this until they
weigh 2 pounds and why a lot of my puppies are posted on the older pups section. They
do not go anywhere until they are strong. If this happens to them while someone is at work all
day, by the time they get home and take them to the vet, it could be too late. If you put
a deposit on a puppy, please do not presure me to let them go early. I do not care if it is Christmas
Eve, and your puppy weighs 30 ounces. He/she has to weigh 32 ounces and has to be super healthy before
they leave me. That is a final unchangable fact.
The puppy did get better, and as of 10/20/07 is doing great.
There is no way he is going anywhere anytime soon. If someone came here
to visit, they would have no clue that this puppy was almost dead a few days
ago. He acts normally and looks fine, but I know better.
I would never
act like he never had past issues and just sell him to make a quick buck.
The new owners would have no recourse if the puppy died of hypoglycemia either.
That is not a genetic issue and any court of law would side with the breeder, especially
if the breeder lied, like they always do, and said the puppy was fine in the past.
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