Anyone who has watched the BBC series ‘Beast’ will have seen an incredibly accurate insight into veterinary life. It is completely brilliant. One scene was this; An older lady comes in with her beloved Chihuahua and anxiously waits while it is examined by the vet. ‘Well, is there anything wrong with him?’ The vet takes a moment of perfect comedy timing to consider his answer and says, ‘Yes…He’s got the head of an elephant and the body of a rat.’ Very funny and also very accurate.
Some of my Chihuahua patients have been very sweet but many vets will tell you they can be savage little monkeys too. Bulbous eyes can be easily damaged and the domed shape of the head can lead to a persistent fontanella and hydrocephalus.
The world's tiniest dog, it's not difficult to work out that the Chihuahua hails from Mexico. They were reputed to be fierce little dogs living in holes in the ground, but the reality is more that they may have been used for the cooking pot by American Indians.
