FOR PUPPY

For those who are new to having a Chihuahua puppy, I came up with a list of some recommendations of what to get when you are bringing a puppy home.

1. Raw Dog Food - I currently source my raw dog food from Rahraw.com, Happee dwag, Mad Butcher and Know Better Dog food. Know Better Dog Food is a pre-mix you can mix with your own meat at home. I usually buy ground beef/chicken from Costco, pumpkin puree from Sprouts to make the food. I also grind costco chicken wings with vitamix blender and add it to them. They love it!

   Recommended Raw Dog Food Company: Viva Raw, Darwin’s, Maev, We Feed Raw, Small Batch (You can purchase this one at Pet Food Express)

2. Dry food - it is always good have dry food ready for traveling or just for convenience. Sometimes when I am under a lot of stress, I forgot to thaw my dog food oor forgot to restock! Freeze dried or air dried food such as Rawbble, Kiwi Kitchen, Sundays etc are all excellent choices. (I currently use Rawbble Freeze dry). As I mentioned on my other page, many commercial kibbles contain 50 to 70 % carbohydrates from corns, rice and potatoes. However, some brands that I found try their best to keep it low carb as possible. For kibbles, I am using Rawbble Chicken dry kibbles from BIXBI. (Open farm Rawmix or Orijen are also a good choice). Please ask for a coupon code since I am partnering up with Bixbi currently.

3. Litter & Litter Box or Puppy Pads & Holder - I started to incorporate litter box training into my kennel recently and I really like it. I start training puppies around 4 weeks old after they are on solid food. It is way more cost effective and also low maintenance compared to puppy pads and holder combo. I use Pine Pellets from Tractor Supply and a rabbit dropping pan, or a plant saucer, or shallow cat litter pan, or dog litter pan.

4. Playpen - Playpen from Wayfair, baby playpen, Iris Pet Playpen, FXW Dog Pen Iris Puppy Playpen etc.

   Chihuahua puppies are VERY SMALL! You will be surprised by how small they are. So be careful! You need a small playpen to keep the puppy in. Also in order to continue potty training, you need a pen so that puppy will know where to go. Puppy will have a lot of accidents if they are given too big of spaces. I also recommend putting them in the crate (the smallest one is sufficient) at night. This will help them to be potty trained faster. They will hold pee inside the crate, so you can take them outside for 1st thing in the morning. If you are not home, keep the puppy inside of the playpen or crate for their safety. You can also train them to eat inside of the crate. Playpen from Wayfair is very easy to clean and my favorite so far.

5. Crate - 18 inch crate, crate bumper bed, crate food bowl, as I mentioned above, I highly recommend getting a crate, the smallest size are fine for Chihuahuas. I highly recommend Mutts and Mittens’s bumper bed! Chihuahuas love to rest his head on bumper to sleep.

6. Dog Bed - anything that is comfortable!

7. Bully Stick / Pig ear/dental stick - healthy option for them to chew -I like the one from Petfood Express.

8. Puppy pad - for potty training - I use both fabric reusable pads as well as disposable one. For fabric one, I like the one that I linked - you can try various sizes, but I like bigger size since I have a lot of Chihuahuas. For disposable, I like one from Costco or from Target.

9. Dog Diaper - For girls (buy SSS size) and for boys (buy extra small size) or Clothes Diapers (buy XS or XSS) with a pad (buy petite) option

   Chihuahuas have a tendency to pee everywhere when they visit someone else’s house! But if you have a diaper on them, you can take them to your friends or family’s house without worrying about their potty issues. I highly recommend bringing your chihuahuas to meet many people so that they can be socialized and not be afraid of strangers or people other than family while they are young. I have tried so many different diapers over the years and I have a few recommendations. I also use clothes diapers with a pad - this is a very secure and also a more economical options.

10. Nail Clipper - I trim the fur on their paws and clip their nails. Since chihuahuas tend to stay indoors, their nails grow too long if not trimmed. You can take them to a trimmer (about 15 dollars) or you can do it yourself at home. If you train them to do their nail from a young, often it is easier to get them to cooperate (though a lot of them still wiggle or try to get away to get their nails trimmed) I have a recommended nail clipper on the link.

11. Shampoo and Conditioner - you can use anything you like, but I use Chris Christensen Spectrum One Shampoo and you can dilute this up to 8x so this last a long time for a pet home. I also use Artero Leave in Protein Vital Conditioner or Chris Christenten Spectrum One Conditioner. These are the brands that professional groomer uses, so you don’t have to, but they smell so good and hair feels nicer compared to cheaper ones.

12. Dog hair Clipper - Often longcoat Chihuahuas have lots of hair on the back of their paws, and they can lose the ability to grip the floor with their pads if the hair overgrows. You want to shave them if you are not taking them to the groomer to do it. Wahl Professional Animal Clipper is easy to use.

FOR KITTEN

For those who are new to having a kitten, I came up with a list of recommended items for your new exotic shorthair/longhair kittens!

1. Food - I use Raw, Nulo kitten wet food, Royal Canin Kitten, as well as dry kibble such as Nulo Kitten.

2. Litter Box - I recommend open top stainless litterpans.

3. Cat Litter - low dust litter such as tofu litter (e.g. Pidan), world’s best, or pine litter from Tractor Supply. Kittens are trained with pine litter.

4. Food and Water bowls - since Exotic kittens have flat faces, it is difficult to eat from regular-shaped bowls comfortably. I tried several bowls that I can recommend. Necoichi extra wide raised food bowl, Necoichi Raised Water bowl, CatGuru Whisker Stress-Free Cat food bowls, etc. If you have discovered a really good one, please let me know!

5. Wand Toys - this is a must-have! Our kittens and adults love this toy and I use this daily to play with them. Tips came off from the sticks but it is totally fixable by gluing or tieing the string again to the tip and they are going strong for daily use!

6. Scratch Post - a must-have! they need to take care of their nails!

7. Cat tree - anything your cats like!

8. Grooming tools - I use Furminator to brush them from time to time, especially when they are shedding. Other cheaper brands’ sicker brushes didn’t work as well as Furminator but it is up to you.

9. Nail Clipper - even though cats take care of nails with scratch posts, I like cutting their nails since they can get caught in my nice clothes, and also I feel that kittens do not take care of their nails as much as adults. When I cut their nails, I like to put on a headlamp on so that I can see the nails clearly!

10. tear stain - I use contract lense solution to clean their tear stains.

11. Shampoo and Conditioner - you can use anything you like, but I use Chris Christensen Spectrum One Shampoo and you can dilute this up to 8x so this last a long time for a pet home. I also use Artero Leave in Protein Vital Conditioner or Chris Christenten Spectrum One Conditioner. These are the brands that professional groomer uses, so you don’t have to, but they smell so good and hair feels nicer compared to cheaper ones.

12. Cat’s Bed - well, I feel like often my cats just like to sleep on my bed or just the floor or on their cat tree….but I am using this cat house/bed right now for kittens and they are using them so far. My adult cats weren’t really using them that much though. So, I don’t know if they will use it as they grow up…kind of personal choices. So, I don't have any recommended beds at this point! So stay Tuned!