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my yorkie

20 11:34:57

Question
hello my name is jennifer and i am gonna be a mommy in two weeks armani is 2 months and 3 weeks and and hasnt come home yet because my breeder wants to stay with him until he reaches 1 1/2 pounds. He at the moment only weighs 1 pound 5 oz how big will he be as an adult? Another thing since he is so small my breeder said he hasnt had any shots but will be getting his 1st one this thursday and she will be keeping him for a coupe days to make sure he will be fine if everything goes well how many other shots should he be getting after this? she also said she has gotten his liver tested how do i make sure? i am going nutz because i dont know what to expect from my baby when he comes home i would be so heart broken if anything happened to him please give me some advice anything will help right how do u think i can prepare myself

Answer
Jennifer,

Congratulations on becoming a new mommy!  First let me say that I am very impressed with your breeder.  She appears to be a very responsible and caring breeder which is always a good way to start out.  The reasons she is taking extra precautions with your baby is because of his size.  The smaller the Yorkie the more frail they are and the more potential there is for problems.  There is no way to tell how big he will be full grown but you can hazard a guess by his current size.  I believe he will be very small, 2.5 to 3 pounds full grown.  This is considered to be the perfect size stud for breeding because he will produce very small puppies.  Any male that is this size is in high demand because they are very hard to come by.

What you will need to watch very carefully when he comes home is how much he is eating and that his stools are solid (not watery).  A dog that is this small can dye of dehydration in less than 48 hours if it goes untreated.  He may not be able to eat puppy food yet because his digestive tract will probably be very sensitive still.  When I had puppies this small I usually started out feeding them Gerber baby cereal mixed with warm water.  The consistency usually started out soupy and then gradually over time I would increase the consistency making it thicker and thicker until they were capable of eating dog food.

Since there is so much you need to know and it would take me forever to type it all I am going to suggest that you talk to your breeder and ask her to guide you through the process.  She appears to know what she is doing and to be a very caring person so I think you can trust her to help you out.  As far as the shots are concerned, when you take your baby to the vet for a checkup (which I would suggest you do as soon as you get him) tell the vet which shots he has already had and he will set up a schedule for you to give him his remaining shots when they are needed.

If she has gotten his liver tested then she should be able to get you a copy of the test results.  However, I am not really sure why she would need to have his liver tested?  As far as I am aware there really is no reason to do that unless there was reason to suspect that there was a problem.  You should ask your breeder why she had the liver tested and I would also discuss the test results with your vet when you take him for his checkup.

Basically the only thing you can do to prepare is purchase a box of Gerber baby cereal (rice is best) and have it on hand in the event that your baby refuses to eat when you first get him.  Most puppies will experience separation anxiety when you first bring them home and part of that is refusing to eat.  The warmth and smell of the Gerber baby cereal (it smells like milk) will make it more attractive to him than dog food.  Hopefully he will be just fine and you won't have to use it but in the event that he does at least you will already have it on hand.

If for some reason you are not able to use the breeder as a source of information and help please feel free to contact me again.

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