Carpe Diem!

Do you want a tiny or healthy dog?

You might all have heard about teacups and thought, well if this isn’t the cutest thing!  … Well, no, what goes on behind the curtains most certainly is not cute. What goes on inside of their tiny bodies is not cute. These dogs sure do have a dark story.

You see, there is no such thing as a “reputable teacup breeder”. Why you might ask, well, teacup is not a recognised size of dog or a breed of its own. You might go on a teacup breeders website and see “FCI teacup puppies for sale!” … it’s a lie. FCI, or any other kennel clubs, do most certainly not promote or register this size of dog. This isn’t even a breed. Got my point now?

Well, now let’s move to the breeding of them. Their problem starts before they are born. Before a litter is planned, the breeder finds two, cute undersized dogs (preferably under four pounds). Too often, the parents are closely related. That only increases the risk of series of genetic issues. Then, the mating begins… Most females are bred on the ninth to fifteen day of their heat cycles. Eggs can be fertilized for up to 72 hours any of these breeding. Because of that… you puppies can be conceived a week after the first ones. When the puppies that were first conceived are fully matured and ready to be born, the younger ones  obviously come too, week premature (that’s a lot for a dog). Often the older puppies are put down or worse, killed, so the premature ones are the only one who get to live. But it’s not even guaranteed if the puppies or female will live… The female’s body is so small it causes many complications, especially if the female is carrying more than two puppies. Often the puppies survives… but the mother doesn’t. 

Now, the puppies are born. There, their tough life begins.  Many teacup puppies are starved so they don’t grow. That does explain how tiny and fragile they look. Breeders might also use other ways to stop the growing, in example, by using no fat, protein, rices… only food with no nutrition. Puppies are also often sold at three or four weeks, but the breeders claim their older. That can cause a lot of emotional problems.

Now, move on to the health problems.

The most common one is hypoglycemla, which means they have too low blood sugar level. It can cause several seizures and death very quickly. Because of this problems, teacups need to be fed few times a day. This can also cause digestive problems. 

Then. the other really common problem, hydrocephalus. That means they have water on their brain. It causes too much pressure on the brain. Symptoms are painful, but they include; Vomiting, seizures, intense headache, and trouble walking. It also causes mental disability and tunnel vision… and it may cause death.  Other common health problems are live shunts, serious heart problems and respiratory problems.  Teacups cannot regulate their body temperament, so they get easily cold and teacups dying due to cold is not unheard of.

Then of course, their tiny body is very fragile. Their bone structure is very poorly built.

They do get hurt easily, and if you accidentally step on your teacup… it might get severely hurt, or even worse. They can break bones if the jump off the couch, or if they try to jump on the couch. If you have kids, they might want to pick them up and who knows how that will end. Larger dogs can also play rough and harm them. Everything can hurt them and they need to be monitored. 

Then of course, it’s a fraud. There is no such thing as a registered teacup, or AKC teacup or whatever. In fact, there are no such thing as a teacup- they’re not a breed on their own, and people are fighting against them.