Cross Breeds

ways to prevent hypoglycemia in chihuahua puppies?

I'll be getting a chihuahua puppy soon and I've heard a lot about hypoglycemia in the breed. Does feeding it a quality dog food every few hours (or free-feeding) generally prevent this or would I really have to give him a little something with sugar in it a few times a day? Also, how about during bedtime? how many hours can the breed comfortably go without food during the night?

Public Comments

1. it means feeding them every 2-4 hrs per day/night. if you dont want to do that then dont buy the dog. puppies have to be fed very often.
2. my chihuahua pup was fine when i got him 3 months ago.. wen he was almost 2 months old at that time.. i just fed him regularly, and left out food for him at night.. he was fine
3. I don't know anything about chihuahuas, but my sister had hypoglycemia, and the trick was to stay AWAY from sugar, not eat it. She had to eat protein with every meal, the more the better. That was supposed to help balance the way the carbohydrates were digested. TX Mom
4. Free feed puppies between 2-6 months old. Don't give them sugar. High blood sugar is just as bad as low. Proper nutrition is better than trying to "over correct" a problem that hasn't, and probably won't, occur.
5. lots of little meals, especially for puppies, and food down at night. all puppies do best this way anyway. i agree, stay away from sugar, itll make things worse with blood sugar spikes and crashes, not to mention adding empty calories. feed a high quality food; there are many out there now (not iams science diet type food, but brands like wysong, natural balance, wellness, taste of the wild, etc. its great youre doing your homework about the breed. another thought is possibly going through breed rescue. it can be harder finding a puppy, but you may still be able to find a young dog (under a year), and avoid the challenges of a very tiny puppy. youll also be supporting rescue of the breed, instead of possibly encouraging bad breeders.
6. Just make sure your puppy has food available to it at all times while it is young and growing. When it gets older you can feed it several small meals during the day. Yes, a good quality food will help because it will be getting good protein and better nutrition and less likely to be hypoglycemic. I would look into a higher quality no grain food with lots of protein like Innova Evo or other higher protein foods because they will keep your puppy's belly full for longer instead of the cheaper lower quality foods which are filled with mostly poor quality grains like corn and other fillers. Good Luck, its great to see other dog owners researching before they get their puppy!
7. No sugar! That could make things worse. A high quality food with not grains and feed every 3-4 hours is the best thing. Look for foods without corn, wheat or soy and no rice. Dogs no not need carbohydrates. If you visit my website you can find an article about diet: www.wholedogtraining.com in the articles section.
8. The smaller the breed the more problems. Go to www.gopetsamerica.com they have lots of good answers for toy breeds.. best of luck
9. the reason y certain small breeds get hypoglycemia is due to stress caused from change of environment, over-activity, diahrrae, vomiting, dehydration, not eating the puppy food. before you get your puppy you should go to your local pet store and get what is called Nutra-Cal. its a paste supplement. if your puppy is not eating you should mix this in its food. or if it is eating you can put some on ur finger & the pup will lick it off. just for a couple of or a week or so, just let ur puppy become familar with its new surroundings. don't over play with it, or give it too many treats. just stick with the puppy food @ first and if after a few days all is going well, start introducing some treats, no rawhide tho, as ur little one can choke (it has happened to my chi & he had to b rushed to the vet, very scarey). as for the food you should wet it with warm water, let it sit for a minute so it gets soft, drain it from the water, mix it nutra-cal & feed. if ur puppy happens to get diahrae you can cook up some plain chicken & rice & feed that to ur pup. the chicken for flavor & the rice for binding the pups stool. with the chis being so small they cant hold their pee & poop very long. during the day u should take the puppy out every hour or so, after a nap, eating, & play time. if u crate the pup shouldnt b in there no more than 2 hours or so. u dont want to give it a bladder infection. and u should take the pup outside @ least once in the middle of the nite, especially if its whining. as for food, if you want to leave food out 24hrs that fine, just understand that dog will have to go potty more often. i dont recommend giving honey or syrup as this can cause exfixiation (suffoicating). rubbing it on the gums would b fine as long as its a small amount. just make sure the pup is eating normally. if it wont take the puppy food, cook chicken & feed it that.
10. hi there..........first off a chihuahua puppy shouldn't leave it's mum until it is 12 weeks old, it needs that time to progress enough to be able to cope with life on it's own. As for "hypo" a quick remedy in an emergency is hypo-stop, which is a quick fix of glucose, which can be bought from any chemist,,,,,,,,,,i breed, show and judge chihuahuas so i do know a lot about them. Good luck with your new puppy i'm sure you will have many happy years with it, chihuahuas are so much fun to be around.
11. a dog with low blood sugar may appear disoriented or weak, may stagger, and perhaps appear blind. its muscles may twitch. later stages lead to convulsions, coma, and death. give food, or honey or syrup mixed with warm water. if the dog cannot eat, rub syrup it gums. follow with a high-protein meal. take the dog to a veterinarian. WHEN IN DOUBT ANY OF YOUR DOG'S SYMPTOMS, CALL YOUR VET.
12. Just feed your puppy a high quality puppy food 3 or 4 times a day and the puppy should be fine. It is best to not give the puppy too much sugar. I wouldn't worry about the hypoglycemia. Let me tell you the experience i had with a Maltese breeder that insisted that small toy dogs needed to be fed Caro syrup as a supplement to prevent hypoglycemia. Get this the Maltese breeder had purchased a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and fed the Caro syrup to him as well. I have the Cavalier now. He is 3 years old and his teeth are half way rotten. Its hard to explain how they look but it appears that his baby teeth had rotted out and the his adult teeth enamel is thinned out half way up his teeth. I've never seen anything like it. I truly believe his teeth are like that because he was fed too much sugar at such a young age. Plus feeding too much sugar can cause diabetes. I know she fed him the Caro syrup because i got a contract and a puppy pack explaining how to care for such a small dog. And i couldn't believe what i was reading.