Yorkshire Terrier Health by Age: Puppy, Adult and Senior Care

Yorkshire Terriers live thirteen to sixteen years, and seventeen is not rare. The things that go wrong tend to arrive on a schedule: the liver and the blood sugar in puppies, the knees and the teeth in young adults, the windpipe in middle age, the heart and the kidneys in seniors. Know the schedule and most of it is manageable, or caught early. Our usual honest line: we are not vets. This is what to watch and when to ask.

Puppy: the first year

Insurance before the first vet visit. Anything noted after that becomes pre-existing, and Yorkies are a breed that meets the vet.

Sugar. Four meals a day until four months, three until six, never skipped. Glucose or honey in the cupboard. Warmth. A puppy who goes quiet, wobbly and glassy-eyed gets sugar on the gums and a call to the vet.

The first vet check. Ask the vet to feel the kneecaps, look at the bite, check that the soft spot on the skull has closed, and say out loud whether the puppy is growing normally. A puppy who is the smallest of the litter, dull or dazed after meals, drooling or slow to recover from anything needs a bile acid test for a liver shunt. Earlier is better; the surgery works best in young dogs.

The young limp. A back-leg limp between four and twelve months that lasts more than a few days is an X-ray for Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease or a fracture, not a wait.

Teeth. Finger-brushing from ten weeks. The mouth checked weekly from five months for baby canines sitting beside the adult ones; anything still there at seven months is removed.

Neutering. In a toy breed the joint arguments for delay matter less than in a big dog, but there are still reasons to talk it through: retained baby teeth are removed under the same anaesthetic, so six to eight months is convenient; tiny dogs need a careful anaesthetic with a glucose check and warming; and a fearful adolescent doesn't get braver for being neutered early. Neutering doesn't fix barking or marking on its own.

Adult: one to eight

The teeth and knee years. A yearly check with a body-condition score, the kneecaps felt, a proper look in the mouth and the eyes, and a dental cleaning with X-rays when the vet says, usually every one to two years. Weigh monthly at home; a hundred grams matters.

• The first honk. A dry, goose-like cough with excitement or pulling, usually from four or five onwards. Harness only, lean weight, cool rooms, and a vet plan before it gets worse.
• The skip. Holding a back leg up for a few strides. Patellar luxation, graded by the vet; surgery if high-grade or painful.
• The fatty meal. Vomiting, hunched, painful belly after ham or leftovers. Pancreatitis, vet the same day.
• Straining or blood in the urine. Bladder stones, common in the breed. Urine test and X-ray.
• Weeping, squinting, a dull eye. Dry eye or an ulcer. Same-day vet for a squint.
• A swelling under one eye. A tooth-root abscess. Dental with X-rays.

Walks on their own feet every day, thirty to forty-five minutes, for the knees, the weight and the mind.

Senior: eight and up

What is not 'just age':

• A cough at night or after excitement, tiring on walks, breathing faster at rest. Mitral valve disease, a leaking heart valve most Yorkies develop to some degree. A murmur at a check-up finds it years before symptoms, and modern medication adds good time. Count the breaths per minute while they sleep; over thirty is a call to the vet.
• Drinking and peeing more, weight loss, a poor coat, vomiting. Kidneys. A cheap blood and urine test catches it early enough for diet to make a real difference. Also diabetes and Cushing's, which the same tests find.
• Bad breath, dropping food, pawing the mouth, grumpiness when the face is touched. Teeth. A senior dental under a careful anaesthetic is usually safer than leaving an infected mouth.
• A pot belly, thirst, thin skin, hair loss. Cushing's disease. Treatable.
• Cloudy eyes. Cataracts, which can be removed, or the normal haze of age, which can't and doesn't need to be. Ask.
• Night pacing, staring at walls, forgetting the routine, new anxiety, accidents. Cognitive decline. Diets, supplements and routines help, and earlier is better.
• Stiffness, reluctance to jump. Arthritis in the knees and hips. Very treatable.
• The honk getting worse. The trachea weakens with age. Ask whether the plan needs updating.

Two vet visits a year with bloods and a blood-pressure check from eight, a warm bed off the floor, steps everywhere, shorter walks more often, a jumper indoors in winter, and food little and often again, softer if the mouth is sore. Old Yorkies get cold and run out of sugar more easily; the puppy rules come back. An old Yorkie with a managed heart and a comfortable mouth is a small, bossy, wonderful thing, and they go on for years.

The whole life, one rule

Regular meals, harness not collar, steps not jumps, brushed teeth, lean weight, and looked at closely once a week. That rule protects a Yorkie at one, at eight and at fifteen. For the day-to-day version, from the fit check to the senior comfort list, the handbook below puts it in order.