Is the "Runt" puppy a bad investment?

[GOldendestinyx]

im defining the word Runt as smallest of the litter, all the vets papers say she is a healthy little girl but she is significantly smaller (1/2) the size of the other pups, should i be worried about this at all? She is 6 weeks old and weighs less than 1kg meaning she has been wormed but hasn't had flea stuff on as she is too small. All help is appreciated.

She is a Cavalier King Charles for more context. TIA.

 

[CorvusCorax]

What else about her makes you her pick, or is she all that is on offer? I personally would not.
I have had only one dog with health problems and nature showed us when he was a puppy that all was not correct with him, whilst I learned a lot, it is never something I want to repeat.
Do not feel beholden to any litter or any breeder, it is within your gift to walk away, when you buy a pup you ideally want a companion animal to live in your home and be at your side for ten years or more.

I hope she is not available now, as six weeks old is far too young IMO.

 

[GOldendestinyx]

She is ready at 8 weeks old, I have been looking for a black and tan and found this breeder i really liked therefore when the only black and tan was a girl i really wanted her but of course her being a runt made things more difficult.

 

[CMcC]

My experience is from kittens not puppies but might be helpful. I bred one litter of Maine Coon kittens, 8 in the litter. One was significantly smaller than the others, about 1/2 the size. I decided not to sell her as I was concerned about her size. At six months she was diagnosed with various heart conditions and given a month to live. She actually lived for a further two years and was the most fantastic little creature, regularly came home with rabbits twice her size in her mouth!
I wouldn't have felt comfortable selling her and if I had bought a puppy/kitten from a breeder that was so significantly smaller than litter mates and subsequently had health conditions I would have been a bit pi**ed off.

 

[CorvusCorax]

OK. Personally, on the information given, I would hold off. Best of luck, whatever you decide.

 

[Leo Walker]

Dont do it! They come with a lot of potential health conditions and this isnt just a small sized litter, its one puppy which almost certainly has issues. Walk away. Its not worth the heartbreak.

 

[blackcob]

If she is literally half the size of the other pups I'd want to know why - I'd be catastrophising over stuff like heart conditions, liver shunt, missed cleft palate etc.

Cavvies are a popular enough breed that another one will come along in time, I wouldn't risk the potential heartbreak.

 

[ponyparty]

Hmm I wouldn't ever base choosing a puppy purely on the colour of it. I also wouldn't be keen on buying the smallest, but not for the same reasons you may think - just because it's the smallest, doesn't mean it will get health problems further down the line.

When I went to choose my puppy, my trainer had us take videos of me interacting with each of them, and based on the puppies' behaviour, she told me to go for the one with the brown collar (Mr Brown), or if not then Mr Red. Mr Brown was about half the size of the others, and I wanted to show my dog so was worried he wouldn't grow up to the breed standard size. I went for Mr Red, who was slightly more difficult in nature but we coped fine... A friend of mine has Mr Brown and he is in great health three years later, though he's still about half the size of my dog. We affectionately refer to him as the Shrimp. Absolutely no health problems and a lovely natured dog, and sounds like he was MUCH easier to cope with during adolescent phase than my naughty Mr Red! Saying that - Manchester Terriers are a very healthy breed and have barely any hereditary health issues. My breeder was fantastic, very thorough in all aspects, so I had no doubts about the health of the litter.

My gran picked the runt of a litter of Westies, years ago when I was a kid, and it was nothing but trouble. Awful temperament (to be fair, my gran's training was pretty poor) and developed loads of health problems fairly young. But they are a breed prone to skin issues and other health problems, and no doubt my gran didn't check out the breeder properly, in fact I was quizzing her about it recently and it sounded like a puppy farm.

I think if you've done your homework properly and the breed is fairly clear of health problems (although sadly I think cavvies do have a fair few issues? I may be mistaken, I don't know the breed very well), and the breeder is reputable, it's not an altogether bad idea. I still probably wouldn't do it myself especially if based purely on colour though.

 

[Clodagh]

Some runts are fine and grow up to be spot on. Some are a walking vets bill until their early demise. If you are sold on this pup, and the breeder is offering her cheaply I assume, then I would get a full vet check done for heart conditions and so on. If she passes I would take a punt, but she would need to be at a reduced price.

 

[{97702}]

I know quite a lot about cavaliers - no, no, no!

Leave this one & move on, plenty more litters out there (although granted not always ethically bred with proper health testing!)

Please please take your time, find a responsible breeder who does have health tested parents (which I do realise might be the case here) and buy a confident outgoing little puppy of average size

Personally I quite understand choosing for colour, I like Black and Tans and tricolours but am not that struck on blenheims and rubies (although my mum has bred/owned all four colours) - but patience is your best way of getting an adorable little dog who will live a long and healthy life

 

[MissTyc]

As above, it's luck of the draw -- without knowing why it's a runt or if previous "runts" from this bitch have had any issues, I wouldn't risk it. Esp not for a high value pup. Get the best you can.

(says the person who took the terrier runt off the farm litter because it was 2kg compared to 4.5kg of the siblings. Now a healthy SMALL 9kg (mum 14kg!) adult lol).

 

[tda]

We had a runt from one of our parson terrier litters, he was very small and I did feed him a bit. His mother obviously thought he was no good as she constantly tried to get rid of him, out in the garden under the bushes, under the cushions on the sofa!
He was still small when we sold him, but have since seen pics and he's normal size ��

 

[SadKen]

My younger GSD is the runt, although he was only slightly smaller than his littermates. He was by far the bravest out of the bunch, always exploring and very bossy - extremely active even as a puppy.

He was the last one left, although I would have picked him anyway. He is robustly healthy at 6.5 years old, and a good size. He is very slim compared to other GSDs - we can't feed him any gluten - but I doubt this relates to him being the runt, it's more that he has super energy levels and burns everything off.

Would I have a runt again? Yes. Would I have a runt that's half the size of the rest of the litter? No. As a breeder, would I sell that puppy? I don't think so. I'd walk from this one - Cavs are small in any case, and being even smaller than small isn't going to do much for survivability.

 

[Lintel]

Similar to SadKen.
We bought the runt last year as we wanted a boy and he was the last boy. He was much smaller only had one descended testicle and a high heart rate, was pushed out of the way by the others and a bit skinny but as soon as he came home and was well fed he blossomed. He now has his two plums, no high heart rate and is perfectly healthy... and on the large side opposed to small, people cannot believe he was the runt! This him now at 8 months old. Any excuse to show him off!

 

[WandaMare]

Lintel he is one gorgeous looking pup

 

[Moobli]

Personally in a breed with various serious health issues I would walk away. Having said that, runts can and do grow to be normal size with no health issues and are sometimes actually more robust, confident and pushy because they have always had to fight for everything while part of the litter.