Cavapoo vs Maltipoo: Which Suits Your Singapore Home?

The quick answer

Both are small, low-shedding poodle crosses that suit HDB flats, and at Furgive You both are currently S$4,988 — so price will not decide this for you.

Choose a Cavapoo if you want a slightly larger, calmer, more easy-going dog that is happiest with company around and settles well with children. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel side brings the softness.

Choose a Maltipoo if you want a smaller, brighter, more spirited dog for a compact flat, and you do not mind a bit more vocal opinion about everything happening in the corridor. The Maltese side brings the personality.

Size and build

A Cavapoo typically matures at 5 to 9 kg and stands around 28 to 36 cm. It is a small dog, but a solid one — sturdy enough for boisterous children and long walks along East Coast Park.

A Maltipoo is noticeably smaller, usually 3 to 6 kg and 20 to 30 cm. That makes it easier in a compact flat and easier to carry, but also more fragile around very young children who have not yet learned to be gentle.

Both fit HDB's approved small-dog criteria comfortably, so either works from a housing-rules perspective.

Temperament and daily life

Cavapoos are gentle and even-tempered. They tend to be less reactive to noise, settle more readily, and are generally the easier choice for families with young children or for first-time owners who want a forgiving dog.

Maltipoos are livelier and more alert. They are quick learners and very affectionate, but they are also more likely to bark at the lift, the neighbour or the delivery rider — worth thinking about in an HDB corridor where the front door is close to shared space.

Both breeds form strong attachments and neither copes well with long stretches alone, but Maltipoos tend to be the more anxious of the two. If your household is empty ten hours a day, the Cavapoo is the kinder choice — and honestly, neither is ideal in that scenario without a plan for company.

Exercise needs are modest for both. A Cavapoo is content with 45 to 60 minutes across the day; a Maltipoo does well on 30 to 45 minutes plus indoor play.

Coat, grooming and allergies

Both are low-shedding rather than hypoallergenic, and both require professional grooming every four to six weeks at S$60 to S$100 a session in Singapore. Neither is a low-maintenance coat.

The Cavapoo coat is usually wavy and slightly denser, and it mats fastest behind the ears and in the armpits. The Maltipoo coat runs finer and often curlier, which mats faster overall but is quicker to work through because there is less of it.

F1b versions of either cross — bred back to a Poodle — produce curlier, more reliably low-shedding coats and are the better bet for allergy-conscious households, though no dog is genuinely allergen-free.

In both cases, daily line-brushing and drying the coat completely to the skin after any bath or wet walk are what keep grooming bills reasonable in Singapore's humidity.

Which one should you get?

Go Cavapoo if you have children under ten, if this is your first dog, if someone is usually home, or if you want a dog that will happily do a long East Coast Park walk with you at the weekend.

Go Maltipoo if you are in a compact flat, want a smaller dog to carry and travel with, enjoy an engaged and quick-witted companion, and you are prepared to do early training on barking.

Where they genuinely tie: budget, HDB suitability, grooming commitment and affection. You will not be disappointed by either.

The honest advice is to meet both before deciding — five minutes in the same room with each usually settles it faster than any comparison article. Come by our East Coast Road showroom, or see current Cavapoo and Maltipoo puppies and book a 45-minute play date on WhatsApp.