Tea Cup Yorkie & Micro Yorkie

DanGlee

Hi,

Dunno if this is a stupid question, but the missus wants a miniture yorkshire terrier, but I keep telling her to get a tea cup, I'm pretty sure they are different. I think some people interchange mini and tea cup for the same thing, but some googling (vaguely) tells me they are different!

Can any body confirm this please if you know.

Thanks.
DG.

peasant

teacup Yorkie:





mini Yorkie




Get a dog instead !

The Sweeper

DanGlee, beware the mini manufactured breed. They're prone to a LOT of health problems, open to severe injury due to tiny size and fragility - I've heard of a number of bad outcomes with these dogs, including the little guys starving to death because their stomachs literally aren't big enough to get enough calories from standard dog food (our local vet put one tiny dog on a catfood regime beause the calories are higher).

Do your research, and if your missus wants a small dog look into other avenues - including adopting the runt of the litter!

peasant

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

DanGlee, beware the mini manufactured breed. They're prone to a LOT of health problems,

indeedy, see here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=56442331&postcount=86

DanGlee

Thanks, I'll pass that info on, unfortunately she's really got it in her head that she wants one and thats all... I never thought about their tiny stomachs and not getting enough calories, especially if your walking them around and they burning them all off quickly.

Personally I want a boxer (a mans dog ) but that will have to come at a later date!

I just don't understand why there is a difference between teacup and miniature, they are both tiny.

I did just stumble across a site which mentioned its kinda down to the breeder to know and if the expected full growth weight is around 3.5lb its a teacup and if its upto and over 5lb its a miniature! (then hight and length can also come into it) So really you don't know what your going to end up with when you buy a pup as the seller / breeder might not be experienced enough and just tag a few more on the price and see it as a teacup...

Nightmare...

The Sweeper

If she wants a little cutey dog, I'm serious about getting her to go to either a reputable breeder of small dogs, or even to the pound, and ask about adopting the smallest puppy in the litter.

In order to achieve extremes in dogs - like tiny-ness or great size - breeders can, both wittingly and unwittingly, sacrifice health and vigour in the animal through inbreeding. A dog isn't a fashion accessory - it may seem cute to have a teacup yorkie in your handbag, but even if it has a short lifespan you could have it for a few years, and you just wait until you accidentally step on it in the kitchen one day and snap its ribcage.

My old neighbour has a pomeranian chiuaua cross, called Zoe, and she is just the most adorable dog. Tiny, fluffy, and the most incredibly calm little creature! Not nervy like most small dogs - even though, if she's out on the lead, my neighbour has to pick her up because kids come running in stampedes because she's so cute. She was a rescue pup, so they are out there!

bigpinkelephant

There's no such thing as a tea-cup or micro Yorkie, both are just nice words for "runt".

A Yorkie = a Yorkie = a Yorkie.

ecaf

From the point of view of someone with a small yorkie (well my mothers).
Firstly - the breeder says it is NOT a miniature yorkie, there is no such thing apperantly. (But they are way smaller than the normal size yorkies I've seen).
The one we got was also the runt of the litter, now 7 and smaller than a 6 month old kitten.
We got an 'uncle' of his of a family who's aunt had died, and after that dog died we got the pup from the same breeder.

Now having had him 7 years and seeing him going through regular sicknesses, every now and then they just seem to get sick and we end up having to starve him 24 hours and then start back with rice and cottage cheese. Until he's well enough to go back to normal food again.
He has very little fat reserves on him and a fine coat, this means he has to wear a coat for half the year.
He is a nervy little thing and always jumping out of the way, he thinks keys being dropped over the other side of the room will land on him. Also sits there shivering half the time.
Real lap dog, would love 24/7 attention.
Just very weak / feeble looking with tiny little bones.
Looks like a rat when you wash him
And just in general I wish he was more like a normal dog, and sometimes feel sorry for him. I don't live at home any more but it bothers me when I'm there and see what a little 'baby' he really is.

My mum has said that the next dog would be a small terrier of some sort but definitely not something as needy as this. She really loves the dog, and so do I, but they are such hard work compared to a more hardy breed that could look after itself a bit better.

Oh and by the way, when your walking them they sometimes prefer to be carried, for various reasons, too cold, too wet, too dark (they don't have great sight in twilight times), or just couldn't be bothered walking any further!
Don't get me wrong I do like this dog, and they have a great personality at times, actually very strong little personality, lets you know what he wants.
But there are lots of other 'cute' dogs around. Someone else mentioned pomeranian / chiuaua. I would be more inclined to go for something like that, or a jack russell.

Sorry for the long post, I really wish people would stop buying tea cup / miniature things just because they are cute. Other people have pointed out the bad points of bad breeding for cuteness sales. And although we only got this breed because of another dog we had for a few months of the same breeder, having gone through all this with him, and in later years he will suffer the poor heart problems and breathing issues the last dog did. I now see them in a different light and it can be heartbreaking to think about.

kerrysgold

There is no such thing as a mini/micro/teacup Yorkie. there is one breed and one breed only, the Yorkshire Terrier. They are a tiny breed anyway so don't know why these idiot breeders are trying to make them even smaller! oh yes, to catch on to the current (disgusting) trend and make plenty of money from selling sickly dogs.

SophieSakura

As far as I know, a miniature Yorkie, is just a Yorkie the size they're meant to be (for showing). There's no such thing as a Teacup, that's just a made up name and I wouldn't really trust breeders who call them that, or it could just be the runt, which would probably be unhealthy.

The bigger Yorkies you see are just pet quality ones or whatever, nothing wrong with them, just bigger.

I like how tiny they are, just be aware that Yorkies can be a bit snappy sometimes (but they're not all like that), they need loads of grooming or to be clipped every couple of months, they can get really bad teeth, and heart problems and stuff

Chris_Heilong

OP, what the others are saying is that the teacup puppies are actually the sickest of the litter, In the past breeders knew this and came up with a marketing strategy....to call them teacup and say this is a special characteristic, most Yorkshire terriers are really small anyway and you can never really tell what size they will end up being when fully grown. Also think about the future, If you get your boxer and all he has to play with is a fragile little teacup dog then that teacup may end up broken on the floor.

Wisco

Just want to add my word of warning- googling 'miniature yorkshire', etc will often lead you to sites where VERY unreputable people are selling less than healthy and well bred dogs.
A friend recently got a Yorkie from one of these sites and has spent upwards of a few hundred euro so far at a referral vets trying to get a respiratory problem fixed, and given my experience, I think she's going to be spending heaps of money on this dog throughout its life to keep it moderately healthy.
So buyer be very ware.

January

And just be very careful of letting kids near them, my friend had a chihuahua and the 5 year old was holding him and let him fall, broke his neck...

musicnotes

I hate to add to the stress of the whole thing , but please do not look for a 'teacup' or 'miniature'. Firstly,there is no such thing as a 'teacup' yorkie.The words 'teacup' or 'miniature' are used by irresponsible breeders trying to suck in naive customers who think these dogs are cute. I do agree , its easy to think these dogs are cute but the truth is that it is so cruel to purposely breed dogs like this .. organs are left underdeveloped and the dog will have an unhappy,unhealthy life ,as another person has already said these yorkie dogs are already small enough and wouldnt your girlfriend /wife prefer a healthy happy dog?? I am sorry ,as I have said, to make this even more difficult for you but please dont buy a 'teacup' yorkie as you will be playing directly into the money grabbing hands of an irresponsible breeder. Good luck with getting your new yorkie puppy though, they are such cuties !!

trio

Since this thread is two years old - I'd say it's no longer a pressing query for the OP.