[meowee]

Hi Gang . . .

If you've got a chihuahua (or two, or three, or ????) . . . then I have a few questions for you . . .

(1) What does your CHI weigh?
(2) Is your CHI overweight?
(3) What do you feed your CHI?

Why do I ask, you wonder? My close friend has four -- a mini at 3.5 pounds; -- two 12 pounders; and one at a bit over 10. All of them would have to be described as "pudgy". The littlest one is the only one that would seem even close to CKC standards. So we were just wondering what others may think.

Look forward to hearing from you. Have a great moving and shaking kind of evening, everybody.

[GatorgalstuckinGA]

quick question? Why are you wondering. Are you trying to figure out if the dog's you have are pudgy? sorry the question is a bit vague. or are you trying to determine if they are within breed standards. First off if you are trying to determine if they are withing breed standards, always use AKC standards...since (and sorry if this comes out harsh) but in the breeding world CKC doesn't mean much. Sorry but true...almost anyone can register a pet using CKC standards. ACK has much higher standards. according to akc's standards, a show type chihuahua shouldn't exceed 6 pounds...see the following link http://www.akc.org/breeds/chihuahua/ But if you are just wondering if the pet is truely "fat" then the best way is to measure Body condition score. see following website for that.... http://www.cvm.tamu.edu/clinicalnutrition/bcsdog.htm
hope that helped...trust me..i know way too many chihuahua's that are obese...btw...for your info..i am a veterinarian. As for food...any obese pet i highly recommend putting on a weight control diet...sometimes i recommend a severe wt control called r/d. but also watch the table scraps and all the extra "dog treats" you would be amazed at how much calories one little treat has..most average between 200-400 calories...that's quit a lot for a tiny dog like a chihuahua.

[meowee]

Thank you . . . sorry if my post was vague . . . thought that it was fairly clear that I "was just wondering what others thought". I never realized there could be such a wide range in chihuahua size and wondered if hers were just the exception. There is no doubt that they're all overweight and that is what made me ask about feeding.

Also didn't realize that the Canadian Kennel Club was held in such low esteem . . . the standards I've read on their site seem to be just about the same as those you quoted for AKC . . . however, I'm not familar with the show circuit, and was just using the CKC standard that says a weight range of 2 to 6 lbs is acceptable, as a general rule of thumb to general chihuahua size.

[GatorgalstuckinGA]

ooopss sorry..i was thinking the CKC was something here in the states...in the states we also have something called the CKC...but stands for the companion kennel club...oops sometimes i forget those who post here aren't all from the USA...lol. sorry. As for the Canadian kennel club..i would assume it has similar standards to the akc just like the akc is simialar to the ukc. And those are good standards...as for the the companion kennel club (not the canadian kennel club), they have poor standards. Sorry didn't mean to put any of you canadians down. I wasn't thinking....sorry. No offense my dear friend. As for chi...there are some dogs that are "larger" then breed standards....i've seen a few chi that were close to 12 lbs but not really "obose"..sort of made me wonder if they were truly a chi LOL. There are going to be some mild differences in height etc...but really i always tell ppl to not worry about weight so much as body condition score...hmmm wish i could say the same thing for us...wonders what body condition score i would be...uggh don't even want to think about it LOL.

[meowee]

You know . . . it seems to happen with almost all breeds that become really popular . . . a little 'overbreeding' seems to worm it's way into the mix. Maybe that is what is happening with chihuahuas?