# Runts of the litter?



## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

I know that different breeds grow differently and I know that in the Great Dane breed (the breed that I am most knowledgeable about) can have a runt of the litter end up outgrowing the other littermates to become larger in the end. When I read about Chihuahuas usually the runt is what the unreputable breeders call the Teacups. My question is can the runt of a chihuahua litter outgrow its littermates or do they commonly stay the smallest? I know that some chi pups follow the growth charts to a tea and with this would mean the smallest stay small, but I have heard some of you say that yours did not follow the chart. I was wondering if they started out tiny and then just shot up?


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## Alisha (Mar 11, 2005)

Well I have 2 runts and they're pretty small. I imagine it could happen but probably not often.


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## Katie (Apr 9, 2005)

When I first got Tyson I took him to a friends house to show off the new love of my life :love5: And my friends mom fell in love with him and went to the same puppy store (this was 4 years ago when we had no idea that they're bad) and bought a chi. He was smaller than Tyson and she was told he wouldn't get bigger than 3.5-4lbs and he outgrew Tyson by at least a pound and Ty is between 6-6.5lbs. I don't know if he was a runt or not though so it's not exactly the same thing but getting a super tiny puppy doesn't necessarily mean anyhting, they can still grow up to be a giant chi :lol: But I think usually the runts stay somewhat smaller than the others and don't usually catch up.


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## ~*Jessie*~ (Aug 8, 2007)

You are right, Yoshismom... like other breeds, the smallest in the litter can end up the largest. Puppies grow at different times.


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## mad dog woman (Oct 29, 2006)

Thats a question I've often wondered about as I breed Great Danes and as you have quite rightly said it doesn't really matter how small they are at birth with the right care and feeding when they are adults you would never know they were the runt. Only the breeder knows because they cause that much more concern and are in our case anyway the ones that we watch the most closely x


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## Rah (May 3, 2007)

Baby was the runt of the litter, but she's 3.45kg now, (about 7lbs 5ish) 

She was TINY when she was little. Hold on, lemme get a pic...










See, about 2/3 of the size - but when I picked her up at 8 weeks she had already grown bigger than some of her siblings, and was around the medium in size of the litter, and today, I only have one brother to compare her to, but she's bigger than him.

Runts are unpredictable!


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## Tammie_B (Nov 19, 2005)

The runt of my litter is now not the smallest. He was born at 3.8oz.

Strange, isn't it?

Tammie


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## usi2004 (Jun 27, 2006)

Priya was the runt, she was the smallest and still is . All the other puppies then were 2x her size and now they weigh 6-8 lbs. She is about 3.5-4 lbs. Depending on if she's used the bathroom or eaten recently lol


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## sullysmum (Mar 6, 2004)

Fynn was a singleton 'runt', her siblings were mummified.She was only 1 1/2 ozs when born but is now about 3 1/2lbs ish.


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

I know that most Great Dane breeders especially in line breeding they can pretty much tell what the dog/bitch will be height and weight wise when grown and it has to do with the lines itself, and the dane will be what it will be no matter what you feed him whether he develops quickly due to being on a high protein food (can cause problems) or grown slowly either way it does not effect his adult size. Also you have to look at the parents and grandparents of the dog to get an idea of the size at adulthood. Also a dane usually reaches his full adult height by 2 yrs of age and fills out up to 3 yrs.

Now with Chihuahuas do you find these statements true as well? I have seen some Chi growth charts explained that you can have large x large chi and produce a tiny chi, or a medium x large chi and so on and still come out with one or more tiny chis? I have always considered the features along with the runt of the litter, like say the chi is much smaller than the rest of the siblings but it also has very petite features as well? Yoshi is no where near the breed standard and I just kinda ran across him. His parents were both at least 6 or 7 lbs and neither looked anything like him, although not the best bred they still looked more like the standard and did not have his deer like features. He and his brother had tiny features and their sister in the litter was twice the size of them. Yoshi 2 1/2 yrs old now and 3lbs 4oz.

I find the two contrasts fascinating. These are just questions to help me get to know this aspect of the breed. I would never consider breeding myself. But I am always up for learning something new


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## Isolde (May 9, 2006)

This is very interesting, I also wondered about this. 
this is my first chi so I can’t really share any experience  but I am wondering if there is a chart or something that can give us an idea of how big will a puppy be at adulthood.


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

Here is the weight chart that is stickied at the begining of this forum

http://www.ahkennel.net/weightchart.htm

Keep in my that not all Chis follow the chart.


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## foxywench (Feb 7, 2005)

its actually very common in chis for the runt to catch up and even overtake his or her littermates...in chis the difference in weights in comparitivyly tiny compared to larger breeds...

it is possible for 2 smaller parents to produce "larger" puppies

In a breed such as a dane the differences in weight can be so drastic that its more likley for the puppy to stay within range of its parents weight (its much easier for give and take where theres 10lbs difference lol)
but with chis, any weight is so tiny in difference, that its easy for a 3lb male and a 5lb female to produce a 7lb puppy without much of a stretch of the imagination, luckily its uncommon as long as the female is bigger than the male and the genetics work out...but it can happen and tends to happen alot to the unexperienced, 
This is why when breeding chis and any toy breed its extreemly important to go even futher back in the pedigree than with larger breeds, some parents tend to throw larger puppies but it could skip 3 or 4 gens so you have to realy get in there and look for the patterns that that line prodices...if you have a female from lines that tends to throw larger puppies, you want to find a male that not only compliments her, but on whoes line also tends to throw smaller puppies.

i cant tell you how many 4-6lb "teacups" ive met, bought from stores or byb's told these dogs are "teacups" when bought they often grow to the same size as the typical chihuahua...
those consisitently producing "teacups" (the comercial teacup breeders) tend to breed runts to runt to ensure a trend of smlaler puppies, this is why "teacups" have a tendendcy to be sickly compared just to the runt of a litter...
many "teacup" breeders also malnourish their females during pregnancy and the puppies after birth to keep them and the puppies smaller which is why their "teacups" stay smaller...

as an example, the smallest in vixies litter was VERY tiny at birth, hes now 5lbs, his "big brother" was almost double his size at birth, and topped out at 3lbs full grown. their "big sister" was the "middle" girl just a bit bigger than that male and shes 5.4lbs full grown, and what was the biggest in the entire litter, is now a full grown female of 4.3lbs...
they just all zigzagged and crossed which made life interesting...but all stayed consistently healthy so it was just the way they developed.


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## CM Katie (Sep 28, 2005)

Carl's birth sister was the runt and is still tiny. She's 3-4 lbs...Carl is 13 lbs :lol: Kind of a big difference!!


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## <3 Sarah <3 (Nov 1, 2005)

Katie 18 said:


> Carl's birth sister was the runt and is still tiny. She's 3-4 lbs...Carl is 13 lbs :lol: Kind of a big difference!!


thats the same with max :lol: his brother (from the same litter) who lives with the breeder in our street sleeps in a slipper cause he is so small :lol: & max is HUUUGE :lol:

its soo wierd how that can happen lol!


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## wild.irish.rose (Jul 7, 2011)

i believe that unless ur pups 6mths or older dont believe what u c.i have had teeny tinies born at my house that ended up being huge at 6 mths n ive had huge pups-biggest in a litter-turn out 2 b(4 lack of a better word-i kno 'toy' isnt a type of chi)a toy chi.even the color can change over time:hello1::hello1:


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Wow, that post is from 2007! Happy to note that yoshismom is still here.


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## cherper (May 8, 2009)

My boxer winston was the runt of his litter and he is a very large boxer!


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## KayC (May 3, 2005)

Yes so glad she is still here, makes me wonder what happen to all the others that posted back then.



Brodysmom said:


> Wow, that post is from 2007! Happy to note that yoshismom is still here.


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## cherper (May 8, 2009)

Zoey's Mom said:


> Yes so glad she is still here, makes me wonder what happen to all the others that posted back then.


I didnt even notice that lol


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