Yogurt
This really works. We were advised by a vet to use this and it really works on ALL small animals. Get plain yogurt that has acidolphilus in it. This helps digestion and also builds up your puppies immunity by putting good antibodies in the digestional track. Make sure to feed this to your pup if they are on antibiotics. Antibiotics kill all the bad bacteria but also kills all of the good. Yogurt will put back some of the good stuff. Yogurt can actually prevent a lot of diseases, including Coccidia. Make sure to also feed your pup yogurt if they are in a stressful situation. I recommend feeding a new puppy yogurt for the first couple days while he is adjusting to his new environment. You can also feed this to a puppy throughout an illness and it will help alot. It saved on of our cats lives. Make sure you get plain yogurt without any sweeteners because they can be bad for your puppy.

Hypoglycemia
This is a condition where the sugar level suddenly drops in a small animals system. The first signs are usually staggering and falling over, sort of like they are drunk. Or sometimes they lie on there side paddling with their feet as though they are swimming. If these symptoms occure, you must act very quickly in order to save your animals life. You have to get the sugar level up right away. Alot of times it will be to late to take your pet to the doctors. Honey is very good to use. If this isn't avaiable though, anything sweet will do. At this point you will find that the puppys teeth are clenched together and will not lap it up on its own. You must insert a finger in the corner of the puppies moth and pry it open. THen you can get the sweet stuff into the mouth by using the end of your finger, or an eye dropper. Once the puppy gets a good taste of the sugar he will start to lap it up on his own. After you have your puppies sugar level up, taake him to the vet to have him checked out.

Coccidia
This actually a "opportuniest protozoa" that lives in the bowels of all dogs. But, when the immunity is weakened the protozoa will start multiplying. A lot of times this will be caused by stress.The first signs are loose, stinky stool that sometimes can have streaks of blood in it, lack of eating properly, and sometimes bouts of hypoglycemia. So long as enough good bacteria is in the gut, coccidia can not grow. Call your vet and take a stool sample so they can test for Coccidia. If your pup does have it, your vet will probably put him on antibiotics. If Coccidia goes untreated it will eventually go up into the lungs and cause pneumonia and eventually death. Coccidia can be transfered to humans in hands are not washed after handling the pup. As soon as your puppy shows signs of this disease, go to your vet right away.

Brucellosis
This is an infectious bacterial disease that can cause Sterility of spontaneous abortion in infected dogs (an STD if you will). You should have your males and females checked for this before breeding.

Hydrocephalus
This condition is very common in the extremely smaller Toy breeds. It is a build up of cerebrospinal fluid within the brain. this is NOT to be confused with the "Molera" which is a hole in the frontal part of the skull which is very common in Chihuahuas. This is caracterized with with an extremely large or multiple holes in the skull, is pulsating or bulging, eyes are wide-set and focused outwards with excessice white showing. If this is the case please take them to your vet right away and have him/her examine it closely. This condition is usually visible by 4 months of age.

Luxating Patellas
This is basically a dislocated knee joint (a knee cap that will not stay in place). This can happen in and toy breed with weak ligaments, tendons, or muscles, or if the groove for the kneecap is too shallow. If your puppy has luxated patella he could possible need surgery. If not he will have to take anit-inflammatory medications for a very long time. Our dog Tinker got this condition when he older, so it was to late for them to do surgery. The doctors were afraid that if he went under he might not ever wake up. So he is on medication for it and probably will be forever. He doesn't seem to be in any pain although sometimes his back legs will give out underneath him. But he just gets right back up. Make sure to have your puppy examined for this prier to breeding. You will not want to pass this down.

Hair Thinning
WHen Chihuahuas are between 8 to 12 weeks old, the Chihuahuas will begin losing their old coat and getting in a new one. You will notice that you puppys coat looks splotchy. Don't panic! This is completely normal and will clear itself up in 2 to 4 weeks. This will sometimes happen again when the Chiahuahuas is about one and a half old. Females also "blow" their coats when they are experiencing heat cycles and when they are recoving from nursing babies. You should only be alarmed if the sheeding is accompanied with some sort of rash or raised skins that looks like pimples. This is usually a sign og demodectic mange mites or some sort of alergy.