Maltese in India: Price, Coat Care, Health & Full Breed Guide
Quick verdict: Yes for adult homes that will keep the coat short. The Maltese is affectionate, gentle, genuinely people-oriented and among the better toy breeds for Indian heat, because the coat is a single layer of hair with no insulating undercoat. The real work is cosmetic and dental: a pure white coat shows every tear stain and street mark, and the tiny jaw needs brushing for life.
Also called Maltese Lion Dog, Bichon Maltais · Checked against AKC and KCI breed standards
The Maltese is a small white toy breed that copes with Indian warmth better than most, owing to a single coat with no undercoat. Adults reach 7 to 9 inches and under 3.2 kg, living 12 to 15 years. The coat grows continuously like hair and mats within days, so most Indian owners keep a short puppy clip costing Rs 800 to 1,800 every six to eight weeks. Tear staining on the white face needs daily wiping. Main health concerns are dental disease, patellar luxation, portosystemic liver shunt, collapsing trachea and hypoglycaemia in young puppies.
Updated October 2026
Maltese at a Glance
- Height
- 7 to 9 in / 18 to 23 cm
- Weight
- Under 3.2 kg, usually 2 to 3 kg
- Lifespan
- 12 to 15 years
- Coat
- Long, silky, single, grows continuously
- Shedding
- Very low
- Group
- Toy (AKC)
- Accepted colour
- Pure white, with light tan on the ears permitted
- Energy
- Low to moderate, 30 min
- Good with kids
- Older children only
- First-time owner
- Yes, with grooming commitment
- Temperament
- Gentle, affectionate, people-focused
- Teacup warning
- Below 1.4 kg is a welfare problem
Height and weight follow the AKC breed standard. Figures are the standard range, not a guarantee for any individual dog.
Is the Maltese Suited to Indian Conditions?
How the Maltese actually performs in Indian conditions, scored out of five.
Planning meals? See the Maltese diet chart and feeding guide for portions by age and weight.
Similar Breeds Indian Owners Compare With the Maltese
What Can a Maltese Eat? People Also Ask
The food questions Maltese owners search most:
About the Maltese
The Maltese is one of the oldest companion breeds in Europe, kept by Greek and Roman aristocracy and depicted in art for well over two thousand years. It has never had a job beyond being company, and the temperament reflects that single purpose: gentle, affectionate, trusting, keen to be near people and distressed by being left out of things.
For Indian apartments the size and disposition fit beautifully. A Maltese needs around half an hour of activity, is quieter than a Pomeranian, and is content to spend the day in the same room as its family. They are also among the longer-lived dogs, often reaching fourteen or fifteen.
The coat is the thing to understand before buying. It is a single layer of fine, silky hair with no undercoat at all, which gives the breed two advantages over the little spitz types: almost no shedding, and noticeably better tolerance of Indian heat. The trade-off is that hair which never sheds keeps growing and will mat into the skin within a week of neglect.
The other Indian consideration is simply that the dog is white. Tear staining shows as rust-coloured tracks beneath the eyes, dust and street grime show everywhere else, and a long coat sweeping Indian pavements collects all of it. None of this harms the dog, but it means daily face wiping and, for most sensible owners, a short practical clip rather than the show coat in the photographs.
Best and Hardest Indian Cities for a Maltese
✅ Easier climates
- Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, workable in a short clip
- Pune and Delhi, comfortable through most of the year
- Any flat, since footprint is a non-issue for a 3 kg dog
- Homes where someone is around during the day
⚠️ Harder climates
- Monsoon-heavy coastal cities if the coat is kept long
- North Indian winters, where a tiny dog with no undercoat needs a jacket
- Households with toddlers, on fragility grounds
- Homes unwilling to budget for clipping every six to eight weeks
Maltese Price in India and Monthly Cost
Maltese prices shift with city, lineage and whether the parents were health screened, so read these as a market range. A figure well below it usually points to an unregistered litter.
Common Maltese Health Problems in India
| Condition | What owners should know |
|---|---|
| Dental disease | A crowded toy-breed jaw with retained baby teeth and rapid tartar build-up. Brushing several times a week from puppyhood is what prevents the extractions that are otherwise common by middle age. |
| Portosystemic liver shunt | A congenital vessel bypassing the liver, over-represented in the Maltese. Stunted growth, confusion after meals or unexplained seizures in a young dog calls for liver testing. |
| Patellar luxation | Frequent in the breed, showing as a sudden skip in the gait or a hind leg carried for a few steps. |
| Collapsing trachea | Weak windpipe cartilage producing a dry honking cough. That is why a harness instead of a collar matters. |
| Hypoglycaemia in puppies | Small puppies drop blood sugar fast. Frequent small meals in the early months are essential and sudden weakness is urgent. |
| Tear staining and eye irritation | Mostly cosmetic, but hair falling into the eyes causes genuine corneal irritation, so the face hair must be trimmed or tied back. |
| White shaker dog syndrome | A tremor condition seen in small white breeds, usually appearing in young adults and generally responsive to treatment. |
- • Weakness, wobbling or trembling in a puppy that has not eaten
- • Heavy panting with bright red gums after heat exposure
- • High fever, lethargy or pale gums after a tick bite
- • Staggering, collapse or weakness during or after exercise
- CUPA Bangalore 080-22947301
- PFA Delhi 011-45615915
- Blue Cross Chennai 044-22350586
- Bombay SPCA Mumbai 022-24137518
Maltese Grooming in Indian Conditions
Choose the clip before the puppy comes home. A show-length coat needs twenty minutes of daily brushing with a pin brush and steel comb, section by section to the skin, plus a topknot. A short puppy clip at roughly Rs 800 to 1,800 every six to eight weeks reduces that to a couple of minutes a day and is the right answer for Indian streets, heat and monsoon.
Face care is daily and specific to this breed. Wipe beneath the eyes every morning to limit tear staining, and keep the hair above the eyes trimmed or tied so it is not resting on the cornea. Clean the muzzle after meals, since food marks a white coat immediately.
Bathe every two to three weeks, which this coat tolerates well because it is hair rather than fur, using a gentle whitening or mild shampoo and drying thoroughly. Finish with weekly ear checks, nail trims, trimming the hair between the paw pads, and teeth brushed several times a week.
How Much Exercise Does a Maltese Need?
Half an hour a day across two short walks, with indoor play counting towards it. The Maltese is lively in bursts and then happy to settle, so the requirement is modest and easily met from a flat.
Use a harness, never a collar, given the tracheal risk. Keep the dog leashed outdoors at all times, because a 3 kg white dog on an Indian street is vulnerable to traffic, street dogs and in some areas birds of prey. Discourage jumping off furniture, which causes fractures and knee injuries in toy breeds, and provide pet steps for the sofa.
In summer, walk early and late and remember the pavement is hot very close to a dog this low. In winter a jacket is practical rather than decorative, since there is no undercoat and very little body mass to hold heat. Keep the dog lean. Obesity in a toy breed loads the knees and the windpipe together.
Training a Maltese: Common Indian Problems
Maltese are intelligent and eager to please, which makes them more cooperative than most toy breeds, but they are also sensitive and respond poorly to sharpness. Short, warm, reward-based sessions get good results. House-training is slow, as in most toy breeds, and Indian monsoon slows it further, so plan for an indoor pad area and patience.
The characteristic problem in this breed is over-indulgence rather than stubbornness. A Maltese that is carried everywhere, never asked to settle alone and never corrected for barking becomes demanding and anxious, and that is where the yappy reputation comes from. Treat the dog as a dog.
Two habits are worth establishing in the first week. Teach the puppy to enjoy the brush, the comb and the face wipe, because you are committing to daily handling for the next fourteen years and a dog that resists makes it miserable for both of you. And build short, calm absences gradually, so the dog learns that being left is unremarkable before it ever faces a full working day. Socialise on the ground with lifts, traffic, visitors and calm larger dogs.
Feeding a Maltese in India
Portions are tiny, so weigh them. Wipe the muzzle after wet food to stop staining on the white coat, and feed young puppies little and often.
Read the full Maltese food guide →
Maltese Colours and the Fake Colour Warning
The standard permits one colour: pure white. Light tan or lemon shading on the ears is tolerated but not desired, and anything beyond that is off-standard. Puppies are born white and stay white, with no colour change to wait for.
Because there is only one correct colour, there is no such thing as a rare-coloured Maltese. Black, brown, parti-colour or apricot dogs sold under the name are crosses, most often with a Shih Tzu, a Poodle or a Havanese, whatever the seller calls them.
Two other market claims deserve care. Teacup or micro Maltese, bred below roughly 1.4 kg, are not a variety but undersized dogs with more fragile bones, worse dental crowding, higher hypoglycaemia risk and a greater chance of liver shunt. And Maltipoos and Malshis are crosses rather than Maltese, frequently sold here as hypoallergenic, which no dog is and which a crossbred coat cannot reliably deliver.
Buying a Maltese Safely in India: Red Flags
- Coloured puppies sold as rare Maltese. The only correct colour is white, so anything else is a cross.
- "Teacup" or "micro" Maltese at a premium, which are frailer rather than more desirable.
- Puppies offered before 10 weeks, since toy breeds need the extra time with the dam.
- No discussion of liver shunt, which is over-represented in this breed.
- A seller who never raises the daily coat and face care involved.
- A Maltipoo or Malshi cross presented as a purebred Maltese.
- Mothers with matted, stained coats, which shows you how the litter has been maintained.
Before buying a Maltese, ask your local SPCA, CUPA, Friendicoes or a city rescue network whether one needs a home.
Maltese Papers, Breed Clubs and Rescue
The Kennel Club of India is the national registry and follows FCI standards. Ask to see the registration certificate itself, and check that the parents listed match the dogs you met. The AKC breed standard is the most accessible English description of a correct Maltese.
Maltese Starter Kit
What a first-time Maltese owner in India actually needs, and why each one earns its place.
Maltese FAQs: What Indian Owners Ask
3 Myths About Malteses in India
❌ Myth: "A white long-haired dog like this cannot cope with Indian heat"
✅ Reality: The Maltese is one of the better long-coated toys for Indian conditions, because there is no undercoat at all. Heat trouble in small dogs is driven by dense double coats and shortened muzzles, and the Maltese has neither. A short clip plus a fan handles most Indian cities comfortably.
❌ Myth: "Tear stains mean the dog is unwell or crying"
✅ Reality: The stains are porphyrins in normal tears oxidising on white hair, and they are a cosmetic matter. What does warrant attention is heavy tearing with squinting or pawing, which usually means hair is touching the cornea or there is a blocked tear duct. The fix is a trim and a vet check, not worry about sadness.
❌ Myth: "Maltese are naturally yappy, demanding little dogs"
✅ Reality: Maltese are among the gentler and more cooperative toy breeds when trained and allowed to be dogs. The yappy, clingy, demanding version is manufactured by being carried everywhere, never asked to settle alone and never corrected. Treat the dog as you would a Labrador and the behaviour is entirely different.
Editorial Note
"The Maltese is a quietly sensible pick for an Indian flat, better suited to the heat than its glamorous photos suggest, and let down mainly by owners who commit to a floor-length coat they will not maintain. Clip it, wipe its face, brush its teeth, and it is lovely company for fourteen years."
, dogeats.in Editorial Team · Editorially Rigorous
Sources & References
- American Kennel Club, Maltese breed standard, size and colour
- Kennel Club of India (KCI), Indian registration and breed standards
- VCA Animal Hospitals, Portosystemic liver shunt in dogs
- Merck Veterinary Manual, Periodontal disease in small animals
- PetMD Veterinary Review, Maltese health and care overview
dogeats.in is an independent Indian publication. We cite the AKC and KCI as sources for breed standard data; we are not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by either organisation.