I would like to make a little analogy to answer the frequent question… “Does a Chihuahua cost a lot of money to care for?” or simply “Why is the selling price of chihuahuas (or purebred dogs) higher?”
Chihuahuas are a very difficult breed to raise, since they are small, pregnancies are more risky and require more attention from the breeder. Before giving birth, it is necessary to ensure by doing an ultrasound or an x-ray that the puppies are small enough to pass through the birth canal. Otherwise, you must plan a cesarean section with the veterinarian, which involves testing the dog's progesterone levels several times before the expected due date and monitoring the dog's labor very closely. Females only have a few puppies usually 1 to 5, but they require more care than a litter of 10 Labradors since the puppies are more fragile at birth. Once the puppies are born, you often have to not leave the house, monitor the puppies very closely, be on the lookout for any signs of the special care that each puppy will require and often feed the more fragile puppies every 2 hours a day. and night. You have to make sure that everything goes well, for example; Do Puppies Drink Enough From Mom? Is the mother giving enough milk? Does she take care of the puppies' hygiene? Does the mother appear to be in good health? Does she have signs of nipples? Does the puppy do its business well with the mother's help? How many hours does he sleep per day? Is the puppy's breathing normal? It takes a lot of experience, love, patience, passion and knowledge to raise quality chihuahuas. What I mean by quality chihuahua is a purebred chihuahua registered with the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) and conforming to breed standards, from parents with good behavior and in good health by being tested for ensure that they do not suffer from hereditary communicable diseases health certification from the Orthopedic Foundation for animals (OFA) is important. Chihuahuas offered in classified ads, Facebook ads, pet stores are very often produced by pseudo breeders, long-distance breeders and puppy mills. Unfortunately these puppies are very often produced without taking into account the standards of the breed, the registration of the dogs with the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC), the health of the parents, the behavior of the parents, the socialization of the puppies. The majority are therefore non-conforming to the breed, mostly crossbreeds and will be much larger than the promised weight, not to mention unfortunately the many genetic and behavioral problems from which they often suffer, which often leads to the puppy being abandoned in shelters.
Does a Chihuahua require more care than a dog of another breed? Each breed has its specificities in terms of health. An adult Chihuahua will not require more care than a larger dog. He is no more sick than a larger dog. Of course, you have to be more careful with this one, he can't do all the actions that big dogs do for example, you have to be more careful for hypoglycemia during the first year of his life since he has fewer food reserves than a large dog, he cannot jump from very high as he could injure himself, he is more sensitive to cold so he cannot take long walks in winter, since he is smaller he It is normal for one's life to be adapted to one's size. In the same way, a Dane cannot cuddle up to your neck, he cannot hide under the coffee table, he cannot do agility shows, etc. A Chihuahua can do everything that a sized dog can. higher can do, he can run, climb the stairs, get out of bed, take long walks, play with children, show skills, etc...he is not and should not be treated as a saddlebag dog as they say.
In terms of budget, does a Chihuahua cost that much? The purchase price of a purebred dog is in fact more expensive than a dog from “pseudo breeders”. For a quality Chihuahua, you have to think about investing between 3000 and 5000$ but is it really that expensive? After all, the purchase price is just one variable in a long equation. For example, all veterinary care (vaccinations, deworming, antibiotics, anesthesia, heartworm treatment, medication, etc.) are proportional to weight. For example, a dewormer for a chihuahua will cost a few dollars per tablet, a dewormer for a 50 to 100lb dog will cost a lot more per tablet or will require a lot more hassle. It is usually necessary to give 3 dewormers, 1 every 2 weeks to resolve a worm problem....the price difference is striking. Let's also simply take your dog's diet as an example...the amount of food ingested by a 2 to 6lb Chihuahua will be considerably different than the amount ingested by a larger dog. It can therefore be concluded that Chihuahuas have an infinitely lower annual maintenance cost than larger dog breeds.
Sometimes the price difference between a chihuahua in classified ads and one purchased from a quality breeder can be scary, but is it really that big of a difference in the end? By adopting from a quality breeder, therefore from a conscientious breeder, you will adopt a better quality Chihuahua, a healthy dog, your estimate of the adult weight of the puppy will be honest and you will enormously reduce the risks of future illnesses due to bad matings in your puppy, diseases that could shorten your puppy's life (such as heart murmur disease common in Chihuahuas) and often diseases that cost much more to treat than the difference in price between adoption from a quality breeder and a pseudo breeder. Example; If you adopt a Chihuahua suffering from hereditary dislocation of the patella (this defect was transmitted to him at birth by his parents), depending on the degree of dislocation the surgery can easily cost between 1000 and 4000$. Furthermore, considering that this disease requires very expensive constant care, you will surely regret not having invested a little more for a Chihuahua from a quality breeder. (Don't forget that a quality breeder will be able to provide you with numerous references attesting to the quality of their dogs and the satisfaction of the families who have adopted their puppy from the breeder). By buying from a quality breeder, you will therefore at the same time reduce unforeseen expenses due to illnesses in your dog or due to the few extra pounds hidden by the pseudo breeders which will increase daily expenses for you.
So at the end of our equation…which dog is the most expensive?
Author: Machu Pitou Chihuahua Breeding.
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