Ready to learn all you need to know about Newborn Yorkies? We’ll start with the basic information about their size, appearance and behavior; then we’ll move to how much they cost, and finally we’ll discuss how to take care of these tiny little newborns so that they can thrive under your care.
How Big is a Newborn Yorkie?
A newborn Yorkshire Terrier weighing in at just a few ounces, will be able to fit easily in the palm of your hand.
How Much Do Newborn Yorkies Weigh?
Newborn Yorkies are tiny and fragile – and each weighs only a few ounces – much less than a pound.
A standard newborn Yorkshire Terrier puppy should weigh anywhere from 4 oz – 6.5 oz. The weight of a newborn will depend largely on the size of the parents. A traditional Yorkshire Terrier will grow to be 4-7lbs. A puppy whose parents were smaller or larger than this standard will be smaller or larger as well. For instance, a Yorkie that will grow to be just 2 lbs as an adult will be just 2.5 oz at birth.
What does a Newborn Yorkshire Terrier Look Like?
A newborn baby Yorkie looks like a mini Yorkshire Terrier – but with shorter hair, closed eyes and ears, and little muscle strength.
A newborn’s fur color will be dependent on its parents coloring. A traditional Yorkshire Terrier puppy will be black and tan, while a parti or merle will have its unique coloring from birth.
While a traditional Yorkie puppy will be black and tan, the black color often fades to a silvery grey as the puppy ages. The Yorkshire Terrier’s coat will continue to change until it reaches the age of 2.
When a newly born Yorkshire Terrier first emerges from the small sac in which it was born, it will be wet. The puppy should quickly be dried, revealing its short coat of fur.
A newborn Yorkshire terrier is oval shaped. Their tiny legs are unable to support their weight and – we joke around our house that because of their size and tiny legs that push out to the side – they look almost frog-like for the first few days.
How Long Does It Take for a Newborn Yorkie’s Eyes to Open?
A newborn puppy is born with it’s eyes shut. The puppy’s eyes will open when he is about 4 weeks old. When the eyes first open, they will appear slightly cloudy. This is perfectly normal. The puppy cannot see through them clearly yet. They will clear up as the puppy gets a bit older and its vision will improve simultaneously.
How Long Does It Take for a Yorkie’s Ears to Open?
When the Yorkie is first born, you cannot see any opening for the ears. The little folds of the ear appear to be almost glued together. The newborn puppy cannot hear. It is not until the puppy reaches about 2 weeks of age that its ears open. When the ears have opened, you can then visually see an opening to the ear canal. The puppy’s ability to hear will continue to develop over the next few weeks.
How Much Does a Newborn Yorkie Cost?
While a newborn puppy is much to young to be brought into your home, placing a deposit on a newborn puppy is an excellent idea, especially since most quality puppies will be spoken for well before they are old enough to go to their new homes.
You should expect to pay between $1,500-$3,000 for a Yorkshire Terrier. If you see any Yorkie available for less than $1,000 you should be wary of a scam, ill-treatment, or inferior bloodlines.
Most reputable breeders will require a deposit. A deposit is the money that you pay upfront for the puppy before you take it home. Generally, the deposit is non-refundable. This helps the breeder and the puppy to know that you are serious about adoption. It is not fair to the puppy to have a family back-out of adoption around the time it is old enough to be taken home. Each puppy deserves a loving home – ready and waiting for him.
How Do You Take Care for a Newborn Yorkie?
The main needs of a Yorkshire Terrier puppy at this point are a safe environment, warmth, and nutrition.
Safe Environment: Whelping Box
Directly after birth, the whelping box should be cleaned. Mother and puppies should be placed into a clean bed that has walls and is about 1 1/2 times bigger than the mother. This allows mom to have the freedom to move around and stretch with less of a danger of lying on one of her puppies.
Ideally, walls should have pigrails or some kind of raised bumper around the edges. The puppies, but not the mother, should be able to fit under the pigrails. This will help to keep the mother from lying on one of her puppies and suffocating them.
The whelping box and bedding should be kept clean at all times to keep mom and babies healthy.
Bedding
Bedding should be soft and comfortable for the new family of Yorkies – but the bedding itself should not be lumpy and there should be no way that one of the puppies can crawl under the bedding and get trapped. Remember the puppies just pull themselves along and so they will not be doing any climbing. They will not be able to climb into bed. Rather, if the bedding is loose, they will scoot themselves under it is and may become trapped.
Warm Environment
Puppies need to be kept in a warm environment. The best way to do this is with an adjustable heating pad. If the puppies become cold, they become susceptible to getting sick more easily.
Place the heating pad under the bedding so that it is not in direct contact with them. Make sure that the heating pad is big enough for the whole litter to fit on – but that it is not so big that it covers the entire area. The puppies should have the option to move themselves off the heating pad if they become to warm.
A good rule of thumb to help you know if your whelping box is too hot or too cold is to observe the litter’s behavior. If they are all piled into a heap, they are too cold. If they are all spread out far away from each other, they are too hot. If they are lying fairly close to each other, but not in a heap, they are probably just about right.
Tail Docking and Dew Claws Removed
If you are going to have tails docked and dew claws removed, this must happen between days 3-5. Absolutely no later.
Behavior
So just what does a newborn Yorkie spend their time doing? Let’s take a look.
How Much Sleep Does a Newborn Yorkie Need?
A newborn puppy is going to sleep the majority of the time – probably for about 90% of the day.
The newborn needs a lot of rest, because while he may seem quiet on the outside, his body is doing a lot of growing and getting ready for rapid growth and development of the next few weeks.
How Often Does a Newborn Yorkshire Terrier Need to Eat?
For the first little while, the puppies will need to nurse from their mom about every 2 hours. Mom will probably want to stay with her puppies and tend to their needs as they wake up.
How Do I Know if a Newborn is Getting Enough to Eat?
Daily weight checks are key to your peace of mind and also key to finding out if their is a problem with a puppy early on.
Check and record each puppy’s weight daily. Puppies should gain a little bit of weight each day. If you have a puppy that is not gaining weight, you should contact a veterinarian.
Appearance Change
There won’t be any drastic appearance changes over the first few weeks, but there is one appearance change that totally scared me my first litter.
What are the Pimple Like Bumps on My Newborn Yorkie’s Face?
These pimple like bumps on the newborn puppy’s face are not anything to be worried about. They are normal. They are a group of nerves out of which a whisker called vibrissae will grow.
Vibrissae is thicker than regular fur. Vibrissae are not designed to keep the dog warm, rather the vibrissae are extremely sensitive and provide the dog with information about his surroundings even in the dark.
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