Can anyone help me?

Question

I have 2 Shi-Tzu's, my questions are:
Are they prone to vision problems? My male has what i would call normal eyes where my little female has very large eyes. One of her eyes is crossed. While she looks so cute i'm afraid this may cause her problems later in her life. She is only 15 months old.

My second question is, are there different blood lines of this breed? My 2 babies have some very different features. As he is about 22 lbs and a very muscular body. He also has a very long beautiful tail. My little girl is very petite, about 10 lbs and a much shorter and not as full tail.

I am a new owner and love my babies very much and welcome any comments and suggestions given. Thank you

Answer 1

Any of the breeds that have the same shaped skull as the Shih Tzu ( Boston terriers, pugs, etc.) can have medical problems with their eyes. They have an increased risk of corneal ulceration and corneal pigmentation due to the increased exposure of their eyes. Some of them have problems where their lids do not completely cover the eyes, and they dry out, especially when they sleep.

As for the crossing of the eyes, all this means is that she has muscles on one side that are either too weak, or incorrectly formed from birth. Long term, does not mean that she will have more problems, as far as I am aware.

There are some pretty big variances within the breed itself, and I'm not really sure about the breed standard. Some of the variance comes from dogs that do not meet the breed standard, being bred anyway.

Answer 2

Yes, Shih Tzus are prone to eye problems. You should have a qualified vet check her out or take her to a canine opthamologist. And, yes, most definitely there are different blood lines within the breed. When you purchase a dog from a very reputable breeder, you're getting a dog that has better lines...meaning that their appearance is more to breed standard. Unfortunately, there are many breeders out there that don't know what they're doing and mix lines in such a way that they often produce pups with congenital abnormalities that don't conform to breed standard. You ought to join the group below to learn more about your small breed dogs.

Answer 3

I have SIX Shih Tzu's. I knew nada about them except they brought peace into my life. I do not know if they are prone to vision problems. There are different sizes of Shih Tzu's. The Standard, like your bigger one, and the Imperial, your smaller on. Twenty two pounds is a liitle heavy but he is male and I guess you are giving them good dog food. A Shih Tzu needs good, nutrisiuos food. Do not let them have any human food or they will either get sick or want your food all the time. They are low energy dogs and be careful to remember they are dogs and not humans.
I know I think mine are human.
Do not breed the big male with the smaller female because her body cannot take the pregnancy.
Crossed eyes will not give them problems in life.
Good Luck

Answer 4

My neighbor has shitzus and hers have always been pretty healthy with no real medical problems. Her dogs have not had any vision problems until they got older (10 years old) and they have had both the inset eyes and the ones that bug out. As far as the large and small breeds there is
She has the toy shitzus, and then there is the larger size shitzus. She will not have any other kind of dog as they are very loyal to her, and they each have their own personalities. Good luck with your babies, I am sure you will enjoy them very much.

Answer 5

Where did you get them????????? The male is really large. There are different bloodlines in this breed as there are in every breed. I would have her eyes looked at to see if the vet feels there could be problems later in life.

Answer 6

Go to AKC.org and they can give you links to your breed's individual websites. At those sites you can find out all the known common health problems.

Answer 7

Sorry, but i found out that kidney, hip and eye problems were common.