The Teacup Chihuahua

One of the most common Chihuahua myths is the existence of the "teacup" Chihuahua.

There are only two types of Chihuahuas, a long coated Chihuahua and a smooth coated Chihuahua, that's it. When you are searching for a puppy via a pets for sale website or the Kennel Club website, you will be given the two breed options,  smooth coat Chihuahuas or long coat Chihuahuas.

There is no separate box to select for the 'Teacup Chihuahua'. It is not a separate breed or variety of the breed. Like there is no "apple head" or "deer head" option to select. Teacup is a marketing word used to pull customers into buying the runt of the litter, they make it appear that a teacup Chihuahua is more valuable than its litter mates.

Any Chihuahua puppy will fit into a teacup, of course they will, they are the smallest breed in the dog world after all. Its very easy for a seller to put a four or five week old puppy into a chunky or large teacup and claim it to be the smallest on record or a teacup Chihuahua. The camera does a great job showing the viewer this adorable puppy, then add in a bit of photoshop and use the sales term which has stormed the Chihuahua world,  TEACUP, along with a hefty price tag and your sold.

But the buyer who failed to do their research and acted on impulse, or got suckered in by a cute photo of a puppy in a teacup sees this and without even realising has just brought into a life of heartbreak and vet fees.

Puppies can be born smaller than average for any number of reasons, it doesn't always mean you will have a bad experience with such a small puppy and there's nothing to say the puppy wont be perfectly healthy and live a normal life. But when you have breeders or first time breeders breeding a runt to another runt to make teacup and micro Chihuahua puppies we have to question what good this is bringing to the breed. I feel sorry for any vet that has to operate on such teeny tiny chihuahuas, not only are they at risk being under anaesthesia but they have such small body parts and weighing just a few kilograms.

There's also no guarantee your new teacup puppy will even stay small enough to even fit in a teacup months down the line, puppies grow and unethical breeders and puppy farms will happily sell a standard Chihuahua well before the government recommended time of 8 weeks just to get a quick sale.

Remember the Chihuahua is the smallest dog in the world, surely that is small enough without trying to damage the health of the breed by encouraging the idea than they should be even smaller than they already are?