Teacup Maltese Price

A teacup-sized Maltese puppy from Divine Maltese is $600, the same as every puppy we breed. Travel is quoted separately. Cody, Callie and Miki, the three teacup-sized puppies available now, are on the teacup Maltese for sale page. The rest of this page is about why that number is so far below what the word "teacup" usually costs, and what you are paying for when it is not.

What teacup Maltese usually sell for

Search the listings and you will find "teacup Maltese" advertised at several times the price of a Maltese without the word in front of it, and "micro teacup" higher again. The dog is the same breed. Often it is the same size. What has changed is the label, and the label is priced to the buyer's hope that smaller is rarer. It is not rarer. Every Maltese litter has a smallest puppy.

What the premium actually buys

In the best case, nothing: a normal small Maltese with an expensive name. In the worst case, a puppy bred small on purpose, from the runts of each generation, and sold at six or seven weeks so that it looks the part, with the low blood sugar, the fragile bones, the crowded teeth and the liver shunt risk thrown in free. The buyer pays twice: once for the word and again at the vet. The teacup Maltese page explains how a small puppy should be produced and how it should not.

Why ours is $600

Because we are a show kennel, not a teacup business. A litter here is bred to keep a show prospect from it; the smaller puppies are the brothers and sisters of the prospect, from the same tested parents and the same kitchen, and they are priced to find good homes rather than to make the most of a search term. The health testing, the twelve weeks with the litter, the AKC registration and the written contract are simply how a puppy is raised here, not extras, and a small puppy gets them all. We will tell you honestly what we expect the puppy to weigh grown; we will not charge you more for a lower number.

What is included in the $600

The puppy, its AKC papers on Limited Registration, a written health contract, vaccinations to date and worming, a veterinary examination and certificate of health, the shot record, a week of its food, and both parents' results for patellar luxation, cardiac examination, CAER eye examination and bile acids for liver shunt, shown on request. There is no other fee. Travel, if you need it, is quoted for your route: collection in person costs nothing, and a flight nanny in the aircraft cabin or ground transport over two to three days is paid by the buyer at cost.

What a teacup-sized Maltese costs to keep

Less food than any other dog, and otherwise the same as a Maltese of any size: grooming every four to six weeks if the coat is clipped, dental care, annual veterinary visits, parasite prevention, and the occasional unplanned bill. One honest difference: a very small dog is more expensive to insure and sometimes more expensive to anaesthetise, and the first-year vet visits should include a conversation about blood sugar. Over a fifteen year life the purchase price is the smallest number, whichever breeder you buy from, which is the real argument for buying the soundest small puppy you can find rather than the most expensively named.

The two available now

Cody, Callie and Miki, eight weeks old, white, teacup-sized, $600 each, going home at twelve weeks. Photographs, the health tests on their parents and how they travel are on the for sale page. Angie Stanberry answers on (856) 394-0451, at divinemaltaol.gmail.com@gmail.com, or through the contact form.