WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO CARE FOR YOUR  NEW YORKIE PUPPY

HYPOGLYCEMIA 

Hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, is a disorder that occurs mainly in small breed puppies between six and twelve weeks of age. It is often precipitated by stress and can occur without warning (if the puppy is susceptible). It might appear after the puppy misses a meal, chills, becomes exhausted from playing, or has a digestive upset. These upsets place an added strain on it’s energy reserves and bring on the symptoms.

Hypoglycemia is a real threat to these tiny puppies, watch for your puppy to become tired or droopy. The first signs are those of listlessness and depression. They are followed by muscular weakness, tremors, and later convulsions, coma and even death. The puppy may appear depressed or may be weak, wobbly and jerky, or the puppy may be found in a coma. If your puppy has any symptoms of hypoglycemia you must act fast. If the puppy is awake, give it Nutri-cal by mouth. You should see signs of improvement in thirty minutes. If no improvement, then call your veterinarian. If the puppy is unconscious it should be taken to the veterinarian at once.

Prevent Hypoglycemia from happening by allowing only twenty minutes of play at a time, followed by rest or sleep. Do not allow the puppy to overtire at first. Supervise closely with children to make sure puppy is getting enough rest. Keep puppy warm, don’t let it become chilled. Your Yorkie puppy is a house dog and should not be living outdoors. He has been living with the temperature in the room of 70 to 80 degrees.

Prevent attacks by feeding a high quality kibble diet. We use and recommend Life’s Abundance Small Breed Puppy. See that puppy eats at least every six hours and more often if he is very small. Keep dry food and water available at all times. If puppy does not eat, you can mix a little canned food to encourage it to eat. Royal Canin’s appetite stimulator is great if they are refusing to eat. You can give 1/2 teaspoon of Nutri-cal morning and night for the first couple of days to help prevent the low blood sugar that can come with the excitement and stress of going to a new home.

CARE

– IF YOUR PUPPY THROWS UP YELLOW with foam or just foam. It’s because your puppy’s stomach is empty and they haven’t eaten in too long. Feed them right away, nutrical will raise they’re blood sugar and help their appetite return. When they get to this point they usually have no appetite. 

– COLLAR WITH BELL. These tiny dogs get underfoot easily. Just getting a simple collar with a bell will help you to know where they are at all times. Another huge plus to using a collar with a bell, is knowing if they run off to go potty somewhere. It will help you get an audible cue they are getting up to do business. 

– YORKIES RETAIN BABY TEETH. They should fall out from anywhere to 6-12 months. Most Yorkies retain the top or bottom set of canines. Make sure to check for them to fall out. If they don’t the vet will need to pull them. I usually like to wait until 12 months old before resorting to pulling them. 

– A PUPPY’S TEETH WILL CHANGE quite a bit up until they are about a year old. Some puppy’s that have what I call shark teeth have the nicest bites after the puppy teeth fall out. An overbite or underbite as a puppy may worsen or correct. Its not uncommon for the upper or lower jaw to grow at a different rate. I purchased a puppy at 8 weeks old and checked the bite which was perfect. 4 weeks later her top jaw was an inch past her bottom jaw.  So she had a major overbite, I thought I would have to spay her because she had a bad bite, but another 4-5 weeks later, her bottom jaw caught up and her bit was perfect. I check all my puppy bites, and if you get your puppy, and 4 weeks later they’re bite is off, it’s entirely possible it didn’t get like that until after you got the puppy. If the puppy has an improper bite at the time I sell it, I inform my clients of it before they get their puppy, to determine if they would still like the puppy. All that being said, it’s no guarantee that any puppy’s bite will get better after it has gone out of alignment, it can just as easily stay out of alignment or get worse. 

– SMALL BREED MEANS DENTAL CARE. Yorkies are a small breed. They will have to get teeth cleanings once a year starting at 18 months old. You can get a tooth scraper or a toothbrush to help clean between dental cleanings or even send them out further. If you decide to get a tooth scraper and your dog has really bad tarter and you scrape tons of it off, chipping chunks off, you need to understand the bacteria sit under the gum line, when you pop all that junk off – you’re taking the lid off a pocket of serious bacteria. Every veterinarian will prescribe an antibiotic for your dog after major plaque/tarter is removed because of this. If your dog’s teeth get really bad, take them in – don’t do it yourself. Your dog will get a secondary infection somewhere in their body if you do it yourself and they don’t get an antibiotic. Teeth bills get to spend – take care of your dog’s teeth. Yorkies are prone to dental problems!! , unless you take care of their teeth. If you got a yorkie, congrats! Dental care is now an integral part of your pups life! Bad breathe is hard to ever get rid of once they get it! Even after professional teeth cleanings.

-FOOD SHOULD NEVER BE CHANGED RIGHT AFTER GOING HOME. Yorkies have the most sensitive stomachs of any breed. Even slowly changing their food right after you get them isn’t recommended. Stress of moving and then stress on the G.I. tract can cause a flare of coccidia, which every dog has in their gut and stress can let coccidia get out of control. The added stress of diet change will only increase the chances of coccidia or something else going on with your puppy because they’re immune system is taxed. Wait for your puppy to get settled before SLOWLY changing they’re food. By slow I mean they get 4 kibbles of the new stuff with a normal serving of what they are already on. Yes Life’s Abundance is expensive and only available to buy on the website or from me. But yorkies eat hardly anything because they are so small. $40 for 4 months of food is not expensive. Especially to get the highest quality of food available. Life’s Abundance has never had a recall and its made right here in America.

– PUPPY PROOFING YOUR HOME is very important. Little pups are giant explorers! Make sure that there are no electrical cords on the floor or any place that can be reached. These can usually be tied up and hidden behind appliances, so the puppy can’t reach them. Puppies have seizures after they chew through cords and get electrocuted. Be aware of small objects on the floor.  In addition, beware of toxic substances. The most commonly found items right at the level at which a young pup can reach are cigarettes (when ingested can cause fatal nicotine poisoning) and socks, a puppy can begin chewing on and then choke on ripped fabric. Xylitol is found in gum and is highly toxic to dogs, if your puppy gets into your purse and ingests even 1 stick of gum wit xylitol in it, it will kill them and they can start seizing. 

– Be careful where you place things; something as innocent as putting down a candy bar can result in a puppy getting chocolate in that one moment when an owner looks away.  A Yorkie can be easily injured when jumping off of furniture. It is suggested to have doggie steps or ramps from the bed & sofa to the floor if your little one has a habit of jumping up and then down. It is surprising how many puppies are injured (sometimes severely) when an owner accidentally steps or trips over them. Trauma, being dropped or stepped on, is one of the leading causes of death for puppies of any breed.

 – YORKIES HAVE FRAGILE TRACHEAS. If you want to use a leash, attach it to a harness, not a collar. If you lead your Yorkie around by the collar, they will develop collapsing trachea. You can use a collar for decorative purposes.