21 April 2011

"Teacup dogs"

Found while writing that post about white tigers, but I didn't want to blog too many depressing things in one day.  I had not heard of these dogs before (though our household does have one tiny "runt" cat.
The word "Teacup" has been used to merely describe the size of a puppy, meaning it is very small and will probably be under the standard size which is 4 to 7 pounds for the Toy Group, Yorkshire Terrier breed. We cannot imagine anyone wanting anything smaller than that! Their bones are VERY fragile and can be broken by jumping off of a couch, falling off of a bed, being stepped on or worse.

Many breeders, while tacking a whooping price on a puppy, "claim" to breed so called "teacups" as if they were a breed all their own. Don't be fooled! They are NOT a breed of their own. If a breeder says they specialize in "teacups" RUN, RUN, RUN for the hills! Most "TEACUP" puppies are in reality, a premature puppy.

Most females are bred on the ninth through the fifteenth day of their heat cycles. Eggs can be fertilized for up to 72 hours after any of these breedings. Therefore, it is possible to have puppies conceived up to a week or so younger than the puppies first conceived in a litter. However, when the first puppies conceived are mature and ready to be born, labor starts and all the puppies will be born, no matter when they were fertilized.

Some of the problems that may be encountered are both genetic and congenital in these tiny babies and the list is a long one...

There is no such thing as a "tea cup" Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese, Poodle, or any other breed for that matter. They simply do not exist. "Tea-cup" is just a marketing ploy given by unethical and unscrupulous breeders to drive up the price of their puppies!

So called "Teacups" fetch anything from $1000 to $10,000! This is ridiculous and shameful! There are a lot of chronically, unhealthy puppies because unscrupulous breeders and puppy mills are inbreeding... They take the little teeny, tiny Yorkies and they breed 2 1/2 pounders with 3 pounders ... well, they’re playing with genetics. You should NEVER breed a female of any breed less than 5 pounds.

PLEASE educate yourselves before buying a tiny puppy whether it is a Yorkie or any other breed. You could be in for months or years of heartbreak not to mention staggering veterinarian bills!
More information at Bark Rescue.

p.s. - if you Google teacup puppies for sale, you get over a half-million hits...

4 comments:

  1. I used to groom dogs and I would encounter these dogs all the time. They are tiny, yes, but they are the dog equivalent to tiny Tim. They are fragile, small and unhealthy. This purse, lap dog trend needs to stop; it harms innocent animals, pollutes breed genetics and tricks people into thinking these are a true, healthy breed.

    By the way, I also came across a lot of people being duped into thinking their mixed breed was a pure bred. Mixes are normally healthier but if you MUST own a pure bred, please, please do a lot of research on the breed before hand. Someone brought a golden-doodle in once and claimed it was a pure bred. You could tell by the coat, facial structure, gate and paw structure that it wasn't one. Trust your groomer if they tell you that you've been had and if you can physically tell the difference, it's not a pure bred.

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  2. This is an important post. I hope it goes far and wide.

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  3. "They take the little teeny, tiny Yorkies and they breed 2 1/2 pounders with 3 pounders ... well, they’re playing with genetics."

    ....all animal breeding is 'playing around with genetics'.

    The article is really poorly written, but informative.

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  4. For those who like to keep dogs in their purses "May your dog develop a severe case of diarrhea, like you have of the brain."

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