From Hope to Heartache: Once Tale of How Breeding Can Go Wrong Barbara called the clinic with questions about her 9-month-old Chihuahua, Dinky, who was in labor. Since Dinky wasn’t making any progress at home, we recommended bringing her in. It didn’t take long to ascertain that Dinky was going to need a C-section to get the pups out. Barbara didn’t want Dinky to have surgery, but I explained to her that without the surgery Dinky could die. Dinky and her pups came through the procedure fine, but Barbara was a nervous wreck. Dinky wasn’t interested in the tiny pups at first so we taught Barbara how to care for them.
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A couple of days later, Barbara and Dinky were back at the clinic at 2 am. Neither one of them looked as if they had slept since we saw them last. Dinky had started nursing the pups, but she had developed eclampsia and started shaking and having seizures. She had to be hospitalized for IV calcium support. Barbara started crying as I explained the situation to her. “I
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wasn’t expecting any of this,” she sobbed. “I just wanted to have puppies so I could sell them to make back the money I spent on Dinky.” The technicians and I couldn’t help shaking our heads a little. Barbara had made every mistake in the book. To us, the outcome was completely, and sadly, predictable. Barbara’s first mistake was in thinking that breeding dogs is an easy way to make a profit. Unfortunately, pregnant bitches and their pups require care that costs money, and when complications occur, the expenses can be extreme. Dinky’s medical care cost about three times the money that Barbara could hope to get for the pups, and she still had to pay for the pups’ food, vaccinations, and de-worming. Barbara was also wrong in thinking that Dinky was a good candidate for breeding. Dinky was a nice dog, but she had some issues that she
would pass on to her babies. Her kneecaps were loose, which could over time cause serious lameness. Like many Chihuahuas, she had not lost all of her baby teeth, and the crowding in her mouth meant she was destined for a lifetime of dental disease. There is simply no need to make puppies that come with those inherited defects when healthier breeding stock can be found. If Barbara had done some research, she might have learned about kneecaps and baby teeth, as well as the fact that a lot of Chihuahuas need C-sections to give birth. Barbara’s third mistake was breeding Dinky much too young, on her very first heat. Dinky was not done with her own growth so the strain of pregnancy was a great burden on her health. Had Barbara waited for Dinky to reach her full growth, she might have been able to have the puppies without surgical assistance, and she might have been able to make enough milk for her babies without dangerously depleting her own calcium reserves. Lastly, Barbara knew nothing about the process of whelping, as it is called when a dog gives birth. She did not know how to tell when Dinky was getting ready to whelp, or how long labor should take. By the time she called, Dinky was already exhausted and the pups were in serious danger. If Barbara had known to call us right away when Dinky ran into trouble, she might not have been able to avoid surgery, but the risks would have