[Anna68]

I have a friend who breeds Yorkshire Terriers. I know that the female should weigh at least 5 to 7 lbs ideally. Are Chihuahua's the same? What is the average weight for adult Chi's? How much does a baby chi weigh at birth? I know my friends Yorkie's weigh 8 to 12 oz I believe. Thanks...

 

[OzzyAndLilysMom]

adult chis are supposed to weigh between 2 and 6 pound but can vary from 1 to 11 pound, to breed a bitch should be over 4 pound 5 -7 would be prefered - the bigger they are the less danger :wave:

 

[Anna68]

weight

Thanks Ozzysmom! So it's fairly similar to Yorkies. The lady I adopted Molly from suggested that I could breed her. I thought that she was way to small to breed. I just couldn't do that to her. I'm just worried because I had her sedated to get her teeth cleaned last month and she didn't handle the anesthetic very well. She was zoned for days! She had only been with us a few weeks and I thought it would be too stressful to have her go through an operation so soon. She's had a heat since and it wasn't fun. My 10 month old Yorkie kept trying to make babies with her even though he's neutered!! She was getting pretty frustrated with him as well...he was all talk and no action!! :lol:

 

[OzzyAndLilysMom]

lol..........no problem :wave:

 

[my3angels]

Anna -
I wanted to breed Ginger soooo bad but at 10 months old she is only 3lbs. My vet told me the safest weight was around 4-6lbs, the bigger the chi the better! Also a very important thing to remember is that you should always breed the female to a smaller male, that will also lessen any potential problems!

 

[chimama]

Yea I agree at least 4 lbs and be careful if you have a large male He could throw large pups. My first litter, I had a good size female but the puppies were too large and had to have a c-section. Scary!

 

[Mia]

4lbs as a minium is still very tiny so if your on the lower end of the acceptable scale, then id suggest a vet check, and making sure you pick a very small male who is proven in throwing small pups.
I beleive the type of body should also be taken into consideration, if your chi weighs 6lbs but is tall and slim with narrow hips, it may be quite risky.
I think you shud always get the breeding female checked out before hand by a vet that has some knowledge about chihuahuas, who can give you futher advice
mia
x

 

[Chisprecious]

Yes, I agree, the bigger the bitch, the better. The AKC Standards on the adult Chi weights are anywhere from 2-6 Lbs.
With picking a male for breeding, I would say the smaller the better & yes, have a reference of knowing they can produce small puppies & always remember to check their history also from there Dad's & Grandfathers to see how big they are & if they they also produced small pups if you can.
Usually the pups are born anywhere from 1 oz. to 5 oz.

 

[TeresaAnn20]

Usally a breeding size is over 4 and half lbs its not always true the bigger the female weights the less the danger some bigger females have smaller pelvis and have hard time birthing puppies. Also there is a danger of breached puppies in any size female. So no matter the size always keep a vet on call just in case. 4lbs and half and up is a perfered size for breeding.

 

[TeresaAnn20]

Also I'd like to add is its good to have a nice tight pedigree to know the background of both the female and male you breed. Just because a male is tiny does not mean he won't throw big puppies. Thats why you should have a good breeder with good pedigrees to know what sizes where in your males background. Also your females this lessens the chances of there being big puppies throw in your litter. My last litter that bell was produced from had only a 3 generation pedigree on both sides the sire and dam of bell were both from a 3rd generation of breeders. Bells dam betsy was 4 and half lbs her dam was 4lbs her sire was 2lbs and then her dams dam was 4lbs and her sires sire was 3lbs about the same on bells sire side I could go on and on but it would get kind of confusing. If i had a scanner I'd scan it to show you an example but im sure you get what im talking about. So only because I had a 3rd generation I didn't really have much of a clue the best is to have a 5 generation. So it bells litter there was 2 big puppies thrown one was bell and one was one of the puppies that didn't make it. It was to big to pass through and had to have a c-section to remove the pup and he didn't survive.

 

[TomCan Chihuahuas]

Anyone who breeds a chi over 6 pounds is putting future breeders at risk of a c-section. Keep your breeders within 1 pound of each other. Pet out anything over 6 pounds. My chis typically weigh 1 1/2-2 ounces at birth.