Feeding To Help A Puppy Fill Out

[Guest Amberm5151]

We have a 20 moth old that I can't seem to geg to fill out. She eats 4 cups a day of diamomd naturals lamb. The vet says she will fill out in time there afe no help issues with her. Shes about 42 lbs and was a runt of the litter. We tried increasimg one more cup a day and she gets upset tummy from it. That was too much food for her. She is eating as much as our new grey who is 4 and is 80 lbs just off the track. Any sugguestions on what I can do to help or if this is normal.

[Feisty49]

I'm thinking that since (1) your vet says she's healthy and will fill out (and honestly, if you don't trust or believe your vet, why do you go to her/him?) and (2) she gets upset if she eats more food that you don't need to fill her out more and certainly not feed her more food.

[Guest Amberm5151]

She is just skin a bones I trust the vet but I was hoping to get to helpful input from others who have raied grey puppies this is new to us we have only ever had ex racers she was never one. So please if your going to be rude keep your comments to yourself and dont bother posting them!

[Guest sweetpea]

I don't have any experience with non-raced dogs, but I had read here that they just don't fill out as much as former racers.

 

Please don't be sensitive, I didn't read Feisty's comment as rude, just practical.

We don't know your history or situation at all, and sometimes the simplest solution is the one that gets overlooked.

 

Good luck!

 

Buzzy

[Brindles]

How much is she eating?

 

Can you post a picture of her?

 

Puppies have to grow at their own pace, and it's especially true with large breed dogs. Packing on the pounds in their youth can often do more damage than good.

[Scooby172]

My first grey puppy, Bella (got her at 12 weeks) took forever to fill out. People used to tell me she was way too thin (even grey people) I fed her 3 to 4 cups a day. By the time she was about three or so she got to her adult weight where she stayed which was 58 pounds. I had her spayed at 6 months which was probably too early. My current greyhound puppy, "Jack" is about 35 pounds, he is around 7 months old and looks long, tall and very lean. Jack eats three cups a day of Blue Buffalo grain free, if I up it he gets diarrhea. I supplement his kibble with a variety of things, cottage cheese, yogurt, chicken, pumpkin, rice, pasta, whatever I have. Jack will eventually fill out but it takes time and I am waiting until 9 months at least until I get him neutered. Good luck with your pup, she will fill out in time. Do you know at what age she was spayed?

Linda, Jack and Keeva

[RedHead]

If you really think she is too thin I would personally supplement the diet with some healthy, fresh protein/fat sources. Things like beef, heart, ground meats, eggs, cottage cheese etc. I have some recipes for putting weight on thin dogs, but I would be hesitant to give anything too high in fat to a young dog who is just growing. Some dogs really do take a while to fill in. I had a malamute who looked like a scrawny coyote until she was about 2 or 3 years. I am assuming this pup has been checked for worms or parasites as well??

[Guest greybookends]

I am assuming here that you got her as a puppy. If she was spayed at an early age, she will always be more slender than the ex racers. My Ginny was spayed at 6 months. Early spaying does effect the growth of the bones and Ginny is very lanky. She is actually taller then all but Bill, but she weighs the least of all my greys and she is 6 now. She is not fat by any stretch of the word but she also does not look overly thin. She is very healthy but she really did not start to fully fill out until after her 2nd birthday.

[cleptogrey]

if her coat is shiny,

she's active,

good stool,

then......................

 

DON'T worry! she's a baby!!!! large dogs take a while to fill out, some longer than others. felix was thin at that age, lots of ribs showing but he was healthy. he came to our house at 7 weeks. if you want add some white rice to her food, but don't over feed, she'll have the runs.

 

how tall is she??? (measure her at the shoulders) , she will most likely continue to grow until she's a little over 2- till 2.5 yrs. if she was spay at an early age, then she may just have a thinner looking frame. felix grew until he was close to 3, his littermate- the runt of the litter- slowed down by 2 and then found pleasure in eating! she's been on a diet. 4 cups is not that much for a growing pup, but i wouldn't go beyond that. felix is #77 and has been on 4 cups for ever! now, i just reduced it to 3.5 cups every other day. i thougt he was tooooo filled out.

 

post some pics please! felix at a year....nice hole on his side...no one knew why or what, but every time he went on flagyl he got a moth eaten coat. i think he normal puppy gangley- he was a good 6" shorter than he is now(29") and his rump is no longer higher than his shoulders.

http://xa.yimg.com/k...178256/name/n_a

Edited July 15, 2012 by cleptogrey

[Brandiandwe]

Paige never raced and she can't put on weight. She's now 2.5 years old, eats as much as our 30kg girl, but never seems to go above 25-26 kg. All of her ribs show. I checked and hermum never put on weight either. She's just small. Any weight Paige puts on tends to be muscle. It's just the way some of them are. Sadly, Brandi gets fatter if I up her food or she just eats the food Paige leaves so I have one skinny dog and one fat one. So now, they both have their weight left alone.

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

some dogs do take longer to fill in than others but also a lot of the weight they put on is muscle and to get muscle the dog needs to be out doing things like sprinting and running a lot.

We have raised chili since she was 3 months old and she looked a bit odd for a while until she filled out but now you could not tell the difference between her and a racer.

we kept her on puppy food until she was 2 years old and also made sure we fed higher calorie food when she was going through her awkward stages to help her keep weight on. feeding more doesn't always fix everything but making sure you are feeding a higher calorie food is better than over feeding. Diamond makes a "extreme athlete" dog food and is is very high calorie you should look into it and see how it works for her.

 

Here is a photo is Chili on July 2nd

[cleptogrey]

mmmm.... i was told not to feed a high calorie food and keep the protien moderate to promote slooooow growing and development. the bone plates(the joints of the bones) should take a long time to fill out and mature. i also fed felix adult food only- 24% protien, around 13-15% fat. he did pretty well on, holistic select until they changed ownership and their food sources became inconsistant. he's currently doing well on giant/large breed nutro- only 24% protien. but if stools are good and coat good...WHY CHANGE???? my salukis took 4 years to fill out, talk about slow maturing dogs.

 

btw, chill is BEAUTIFUL!!!

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

mmmm.... i was told not to feed a high calorie food and keep the protien moderate to promote slooooow growing and development. the bone plates(the joints of the bones) should take a long time to fill out and mature. i also fed felix adult food only- 24% protien, around 13-15% fat. he did pretty well on, holistic select until they changed ownership and their food sources became inconsistant. he's currently doing well on giant/large breed nutro- only 24% protien. but if stools are good and coat good...WHY CHANGE???? my salukis took 4 years to fill out, talk about slow maturing dogs.

 

btw, chill is BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

Thank you, we have worked very hard to get and keep chili in the shape she is in.

 

once the dog is about 20 months they should be at adult size, the bones are starting to harden and fuse and they should be at just about full size so all you really need to worry about is throwing some weight and muscle on the dog. When it comes to protein i never feed anything over 28% for dogs under 24 months and nothing over 33% for working/active adults and i keep the fat content to a average rate also.

for example I am currently feeding a mix of Kirkland authority (26% protein, 16% fat and 393 Kcal/cup), Acana ranchlands (31% protein, 17% fat and 460 kcal/ cup and Raw (beef, beef organs and sometimes chicken for a change).

 

Everyone does things differently, this is what has worked very well for us and friends of ours it never hurts to try something different and see how it goes if it works great if not try something else.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Lovey_Hounds

[a_daerr]

I brought Truman home at 4-months-old, and I DEFINITELY understand what you're going through. He's just about 11-months-old and it seems like he just keeps getting taller and longer. He looks really skinny through the middle. I'm always a little embarrassed because people constantly ask me why he's so thin. My vet told me that they will continue growing even past a year old, so he will eventually fill out in time. Also, I expect him to fill out more after he's neutered. Unlike yours, Truman is always hungry. I give two cups of Iams (green bag) in the morning and evening. He'll gobble his food up, then wait behind my other dog to steal crumbs from the floor. We've learned not to leave anything sit out, because he's a big counter surfer. I started supplementing his food with half a can of wet food (Iams Lamb and Rice) with each meal. I'm reluctant to feed him anything real high calorie because it seems like the richer foods give him diarrhea. We tried lots of more expensive brands (Diamond, TOTW, Science Diet) with little improvement. I'm hoping the canned food makes a difference. Good luck!

[JAJ2010]

I think we 100% need cute pictures to judge for ourselves

 

I think most growing critters go through a gangly awkward skinny phase. Dogs, horses, humans... Not sure about the whole less protein theory. I don't feed kibble, but I know the raw feeders feed puppies just like we feed the adults.

[Guest SpicyMom]

You have gotten a lot of great advice - there's no one way, it's whatever way works for your pup. I guess really the first question is - is she still hungry after her 2 cups and how active is she? I've had 2 from pups and at that age (20 months), they were eating like linebackers - about 6 cups of food a day. That was only 1/2 kibble and 1/2 canned or home cooked - also with broth or water. They were very active and both kept growing until 24 months (I waited to spay one until she was full grown, the other was spayed at about 12 months). They now eat only at most 4 cups a day as adults but they are 75lbs and 65 lbs.. You can try adding an egg or cottage cheese to their kibble for some extra protein and calories. Another suggestion would be to give her a tablespoon of peanut butter 1-2x day. I had to do that after my big girl lost a lot of weight when I had to board them for a few weeks before we moved. Took about 1 month to start putting weight back on but it worked and didn't give her any upset tummy.

[Guest Amberm5151]

She was spayed at 6 months we got her at 3 months through rescue as a fosterr. I will post pics from my computer later. She isn't active at all she plays a little but just lays around more.