Newbie here! I decided to join the forum as I am in search of a Chihuahua to add to my family.
Today I found someone who is selling a 5oz chihuahua puppy and I was thinking about taking a look at it. I am worried the puppy might be sickly or very, very young. However, I do know that there are some chihuahuas that grow to be 1lb as an adult. So I'm not sure if I am being overly worried or not. Also, how would I go about taking care of such a tiny puppy? Would it need canned puppy food until it is a year old? Would it need honey mixed into its water to keep its blood sugar up? And for how long?

Any help will be appreciated!

I would be VERY caucious about getting such a tiny puppy. Is it weaned? Is it eating puppy food? How big are its parents. I would go and see for myself how this tiny baby is coping with eating and its siblings. Be careful! Don't let your heart over rule your head! Keep us posted.

I wholeheartedly echo everything Sue has suggested.

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Yes.

My gut tells me that a five ounce puppy is probably very young- too young to be sold. Also, extra tinies come with a lot of additional needs and lifestyle alterations. Please consider this strongly before going for a tiny. It could require round the clock care for months, it could have health problems, it could be too young and end up with behavioral issues.


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I agree with everything here that's been said, however was it possible that the breeder was giving you the puppies birthweight?
That sounds most logical to me.

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That is an excellent point! Or perhaps what it weighs but it is not available for release for several weeks.

OR someone unscrupulous who advertising 5 oz. teacup pups and then you see the dog in person and it is perfectly normal sized!

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I agree, it depends on what age the pup is at that weight
If I remember correctly Prada was 5oz when was around a week old (when I saw the breeders advertisement). She is now almost 4lbs
With regards to taking care of little dogs, I can only say from experience that it really does make a difference. Our Chanel is very tiny (she is chubby and a ball of fur so she is now around 3lbs, but she is smaller than the smallest chihuahuas we have ever come across)
Comparing Chanel to my other 2, she has been a bit more hard work. She struggles to get up and down stairs (Unless they are very low). We have bought a lower couch so they don't hurt themselves when they jump off (and you have to keep an eye on that because they can be very fearless!)
But the BIGGEST scare was when I decided to give Chanel and my other 2 a piece of chicken breast as a treat when we were having a BBQ. Prada and Gucci ate it, but because Chanel is so small, the chicken got stuck in her throat (it was only around 2cm of meat no bones) and we nearly lost her, but thankfully a week at the hospital and she came back to us
I would definitely not recommend a very small dog as your first dog, but that may be just me

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If you want the best seat in the house, you've got to move the Chihuahuas!

All very good points. I have raised chihuahuas before with my family, but the smallest adult dog we had was 5lbs. So I'm a bit more weary about a puppy under 10oz. The person selling the puppy was trying to give it away today and exchange it at the mall. I have no idea how old the puppy is, but if a puppy is only 5oz, I expect it to be a newborn to 2 weeks old. However, I know there can be exceptionally small ones. The only information that was given was that the puppy had a blonde coat, blue eyes, and was being sold for "$200 obo".