Really stupid question...

[cassiesmom]

I iz NOT small! I iz petite.

Oh, Joey Pup ... your aunties Terry and Pam couldn't steal you if you weren't small! Mmwah!

[Pam]

I iz NOT small! I iz petite.

Oh, Joey Pup ... your aunties Terry and Pam couldn't steal you if you weren't small! Mmwah!

You have a point there!

Katie, maybe it is just a matter of genetics. Were Joey's mom and dad exceptionally small like he is? I don't have any suggestions regarding increasing his size but it sounds like Mister's human might be on to something. Joey, it might be time to start working out. Then there will be even more of you for your mommy to love.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

Thank you all for not making me feel so stupid.

I was told that I could up his food intake, but honestly, he would not eat it. He is not a piggy, and I dont want him to get overweight, because of his angular limb deformity. I actually feed him 2x MORE than recommended for his age/size. But if I fed them what they suggested, he would be starving!

I will try maybe some agility! I think we would BOTH have lots of fun with that!

His mom was HUGE, his dad was smaller (4 pounds?) BUT Joey was the runt. and was bottle fed. They did not think he would make it. One of the brothers died, and he has one living brother, who was also HUGE.

The vet said that he is done growing, and that scares me.

SURE- he is cute being tiny, but I would rather him be a bigger and more safe doggy.

I will look into buying a cheap agility kit off Ebay, and see if he enjoys it! He has plenty of energy!

THANKS AGAIN!

LOL CASSIESMOM! I bet he does think that way!

[k9krazee]

I guess the only thing you can really do is up his exercise and build muscle. Does he like to play ball? Swim (lol)? Chase a cat toy? Run up and down the stairs?

You can't physically change the structure of his body, obviously, but you can make him more "durable" by adding muscle. I would definitely not recommend upping his food intake in order to make him fatter. As he gets older he will fill out and gain more substance. Our little one, Kyra, weighed 7 pounds for the LONGEST time, and we thought that'd be her adult weight but actually gained a few more pounds and is 10 pounds at 4 years (still skinny!). She was the runt and a bottle baby as well (never did get to be the same size as her siblings, they're all about 15 pounds), but she's SO active and always playing ball, gaining muscle.

I don't understand the worry with Dora being bigger than him. Kyra at 8 weeks was only about 2-3 pounds and she played fine with 20lb Micki and Mini, 45lb Jack and 90lb Shadow. I think in your house the cats would pose as a larger threat :P I do understand that he's rather fragile at 2 pounds, but I think that's expected when getting a Chihuahua. I've read the normal range is between 2 and 4 pounds.

Here's an unusual duo at a California shelter, I just read about them and thought I'd share because it sort of pertains to this topic. It's awfully cute.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/s...6.209d763.html

Or even check out PT's Bear and Betina!
http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=140301

Anywho, I guess what I was trying to say is that if you're worried about him you can definitely add more muscle through exercise....like mr.chiwawa said.

[Husky_mom]

not like this is true or anything.. but I once was told (like 20 years ago).. that feeding meat instead of kibble would make your dog bigger besides healthier... well.. my first dog I fed meat... and now I believe had to do with genes but back then I was only 10 ().. so I believed it when I saw my dog grew bigger than most her breed about 2in taller (not that much but still)... then I realized it was just genetics...

although food might have a play here... as you can see why some people tend to be bigger, slimmer, smaller, etc.. and most is because the food they get...(not getting into healthy issues)...

as well as the runt might be smaller.. I´ve seen/had runts that grew just the same or even bigger than the bigger sibling...so it´s a complicated thing...

some guys are just small because they are that way and some are small because of the nourishment they took while growing... bottlefed or not they could just gain up later in life, I mean they were not bottle fed for a year, in which most growing occurs.. so if he was bottlefed for lets say 30 days then well fed for the rest of the year (which I´m sure he was/is) I think he´s just small because that´s how he is...

the building muscle is a great idea for making him as mentioned more "durable"... but I see no problem with Dora... she might be slightly bigger than him, but I see no prob at all... just like Ashlee said... look at Kyra and Jack/Shadow... or Chopper and Champ/Duke....

[Jessika]

You mean you want him to have more muscle tone/mass, to make him grow?

There really is no way to do that. Increasing his food uptake would only lead to obesity.

If he is healthy and isn't underweight, and if he is no longer a puppy, then unfortunately there really is no way to make him "bigger" unless you make him obese.

MAYBE exercising him will give him more muscle mass, but other than that... I really don't think there's much else you can do if he is no longer growing.

Even among purebred, papered dogs with champion bloodlines you will have some dogs from the same litters smaller and bigger; its just the wonderful luck o' genetics