An Honest Question

[doortego]

Are all the risks said to be associated with smaller Yorkies common to all small breeds such as chihuahuas? I'm not trying to start anything. I'd really like to know.

[my2boyz]

I would tend to think that a small dog is a small dog and the risks would be the same no matter what breed you had.

[YorkieShadow]

Originally Posted by my2boyz

I would tend to think that a small dog is a small dog and the risks would be the same no matter what breed you had.

I agree all small animals no matter what they are need to be carefully watched.

[LunasMomma]

In a word, yes.

[YorkieMom55]

Chihuahua: Avg litter size: 2-5, Avg Birth Weight: 3-5oz, pups as small as 2 oz survive. Standard Deviations: open fontanels common & ok by the standard. malocclusions, retained baby teeth.
Reported disorders: 20
******
Yorkshire Terrier: Avg litter size: 1-4, Avg Birth Weight: 4-6oz, Standard Deviations: no fading-failure of black hair to turn steel-gray by 1yr. Malocclusions, retained baby teeth.
Reported disorders: 20 (share about 1/3 with chi)
*****
That's from Successful Dog Breeding by Chris Walkowicz & Bonnie Wilcox DVM
****
So, if those are the averages, where you might start to have real concern is with any pups born substantially below average. Most of the puppies that we have had were close to 5oz. We had one 6oz (Now 5lbs) & one 8oz (now 12lbs).

[doortego]

Thanks, that is very interesting. I just wondered if the danger in Yorkies was partly because there seem to be so many above standard sized Yorkies that a small mom might have pups too large to deliver. I don't know if that is the case with chihuahuas.

[YorkieMom55]

Originally Posted by doortego

Thanks, that is very interesting. I just wondered if the danger in Yorkies was partly because there seem to be so many above standard sized Yorkies that a small mom might have pups too large to deliver. I don't know if that is the case with chihuahuas.

I think it's the case with any female dog. If the pups skulls are larger than the pelvis opening that they have to come out through you're going to have a c-section. I've learned alot from my vet here and my mentor. I have a friend with a 11 lb chi. She was from a litter of 2 and was a large pup.
My Maggie had a litter of 2. One was 6oz and the other was 8oz. It was not an easy delivery for either, the bigger puppy was harder to deliver and she was stressed.
When we started to breed Sunnie, we had moved here & my vet talked to me about wanting to have as many viable eggs fertilized as possible. The greater number of puppies the more consistent the birth weight. When she went for her checkups he monitored her progress and when he only felt 2 babies he also monitored her diet to keep them from getting too big. We did an x-ray at 60 days to check position, head size compared to the width of Sunnie's pelvis and placement. We had good results and a good delivery.
My mentor had a litter of 6 a year ago. The smallest was 2.5oz and the largest was 8oz. That same female has had a litter of 7 the year before and they were all between 3.5 & 4.5 oz.
You raise some good concerns. When there's an average litter size of 1-4 you could run a pretty good chance of having a large pup once in awhile.

[doortego]

Wow, you have learned a lot. It sounds like your vet is really on top of things. That is wonderful. The only experience I had with pups was one litter of Lhasos 30 years ago and God was just gracious because I knew NOTHING. The hardest part was letting those babies go to their new homes. It really broke my heart.

I am now pretty much a "Spay & Neuter Your Pets" type person unless you have show quality animals. The first Yorkie I bought turned out to be over 10 pounds with floppy ears and a bad bite but he was cheap ($150) and I loved him to death.

The one I have now is precious but I paid WAY too much for her. In my ignorance, I paid more because she was so small. Took her at 13 oz when the vet said she was 9 wks old & wouldn't be over 2 lbs. full grown . Like I said, I knew absolutely nothing. We had a short bout with coccidia but other than that she has been fine. One vet told me he didn't believe she was even that old because her teeth were late coming in. Thankfully, she seems to be healthy @ 9 months and we have had her spayed & 6 baby teeth pulled with no ill effects. She weighs 4 lbs now which I believe is probably the same size as the other pups in the litter which were a LOT less money. I didn't even necessarily want her to be 2 lbs. I just wanted her to be small and her ears stand up which she is and they do.

I checked you personal profile and under occupation you said, BOA, can I ask what that is? PM me if you'd rather not open post. I just realized that probably I should have PM'd most of this post but oh well,

[YorkieMom55]

Oh, that's ok you can ask. A BOA is a Branch Office Administrator. I'm not full time anymore I am an on-call for an investment company. Like an in-house temp. It's just a couple of days a month.

I've learned as much as I can about whelping. I faint if I cut myself but I can do puppies. Go figure.