For Those Of You Who Had Puppies, How Much Did They Weigh At 9 Weeks?

[Guest superfunk]

I'm trying to get a feel for proper weight on Stretch (now 9 weeks old) and thought it would help to know what weights you had for your 9 week old puppy, maybe even what to expect week to week if you can remember. Were there particular growth spurts? Pics would be super helpful if you have them, too.

 

Right now he weighs 12 pounds. He looks too thin to me. I'm giving him the recommendation on the bag for Large Breed Orijen. He wolfs it down without chewing in exactly 60 seconds.

 

 

 

[greysmom]

He does look a bit skinny to me, but puppies go through massive growth spurts where they look fine and they, all of a sudden they look like scarecrows. We didn't get ours until she was nearly 13 weeks old. She's a horse though an she weighed @20 lbs. She sprouted every 6-8 weeks or so until she leveled out around 2 years old. She's now almost 4 and weighs 84 lbs - big!

 

If he's a good eater, with no allergy or other food issues, you can add some canned food to the kibble, or cooked oatmeal, sweet/regular potatoes, pasta, rice, or other add ins to keep his weight up. Be careful of adding too much protein as you don't want him to grow *too* fast, as that can cause issues with his bones and joints later in life.

 

Lilly's four months old here and she probably weighs 30 lbs or so

Edited June 6, 2015 by greysmom

[Guest superfunk]

Thanks so much for these tips greysmom! I love the idea of the addins, I'll give that a go. What a pretty pup Lilly is, love the all white with the superhero cap

[krissy]

Kili was 5 kg when she came home just shy of 8 weeks old, and she put on about a kg per week for the first little bit, so I'd guess at 9 weeks she was probably around 6 kg.

 

I agree with greysmom, they go through spurts. They pull upward and get really thin and then they spend a week or two filling in and look much better. And then they pull up like a bean sprout again. Repeat.

 

This was about 8-9 weeks:

 

And a few weeks later

 

4.5-5 months

 

6 months (not skinny but awkward and leggy!)

 

 

Kili's worst phase was actually around 10 months old:

 

Feeding her more just gave her terrible diarrhea. She was active, she had a good appetite, she was happy... I just ended up having to wait it out and she filled in after a few weeks.

 

ETA: She's a small-average female with a lighter build. Final adult weight is 27 kg, but I keep my dogs pretty lean (healthy, but I don't keep an ounce of extra weight on them).

Edited June 7, 2015 by krissy

[Guest superfunk]

Thanks kris, so helpful.

Edited June 7, 2015 by superfunk

[cleptogrey]

felix was skinny skinny for a long time. we got him at 7 weeks and every time he looked like he gained a couple of ounces he grew! and then got skinny again. we fed him a food w/ a moderate amount of protein, you want slow development in a large dog. no rocket fuel please(protein around 22%)! i did add either rice cereal(human baby food) or cottage cheese to his kibble and fed him 3xs a day until he was 4 months old. then i went to 2xs a day. it's a lot of pooping, but slow and easy w/ the feeding. somewhere around 6 months he was 40 some odd #s, at a year close to, but not #60, now his mature weight- which he hit around 3 or so is 78#s. felix at 12-14 weeks

https://picasaweb.google.com/115653217268393173790/January222014#5971714677927397538

9 months old w/ his mom, cj. to this day she still gets the same greeting.

[Guest superfunk]

Whoops, I messed up my reply krissy, so will just add another. Thanks so much for this info and the photos. I feel so much better, Stretch looks a lot like the first photo. And the weight information helps so much.

Thank you greyaholic! Great info. Holy cow Felix looks huge in that last photo!

[Guest WhiteWave]

Pups can be hard to keep weight on. I have a different take based on my experience and visiting Greyhound farms raising pups. I would recommend to not feed large breed food, it usually has lower fat and calories for slow growth which is needed for some large/giant breeds, but Greyhounds do better on higher protein/fat food supplemented with lots of raw meat, cottage cheese, buttermilk, etc. I also found my pups did better on grain inclusive foods over grain free. I have raised several pups. Have a 5 month old now and had his brother for a week too before he was transported to the group taking him. They almost ate me out of house and home feeding 2 of them for week with them running like crazy energizer bunnies all day long. All my pups were raised on 30/20 or 30/25 performance foods and still eat the same as adults.

[krissy]

Pups can be hard to keep weight on. I have a different take based on my experience and visiting Greyhound farms raising pups. I would recommend to not feed large breed food, it usually has lower fat and calories for slow growth which is needed for some large/giant breeds, but Greyhounds do better on higher protein/fat food supplemented with lots of raw meat, cottage cheese, buttermilk, etc. I also found my pups did better on grain inclusive foods over grain free. I have raised several pups. Have a 5 month old now and had his brother for a week too before he was transported to the group taking him. They almost ate me out of house and home feeding 2 of them for week with them running like crazy energizer bunnies all day long. All my pups were raised on 30/20 or 30/25 performance foods and still eat the same as adults.

 

My breeder had also recommended a regular puppy food, not large breed. Seems like large breed food gets fed to anything with a mature weight over 50 lbs, but a Lab isn't really a large breed. I went with my breeders advice since she's raised greyhound pups for like 30 years. Kili seems to have turned out alright.

[Guest WhiteWave]

My breeder had also recommended a regular puppy food, not large breed. Seems like large breed food gets fed to anything with a mature weight over 50 lbs, but a Lab isn't really a large breed. I went with my breeders advice since she's raised greyhound pups for like 30 years. Kili seems to have turned out alright.

Labs are prone to being heavy and joint problems which is why many do well on Large breed food. Field Labs are usually fed performance foods, but they are also worked and not allowed to become walking foot stools. Danes I know need slow growth, but some newer studies I've read and talking with breeders, many are feeding higher protein and fat food as long as the food had moderate calories (around 350kcal/cup) without any growth issues.

[cleptogrey]

i guess my vet is old school, he said adult food, moderate protein/fat. we also ended up dealing w/ giardia when felix was 6 months old- so, ate lots of rice as well. have fun watching the joints change and grow. felix would wake up in the morning w/ huge knobby joints in his legs- with in a couple of days- he grew into them. it's pretty normal but really weird looking. you can see what it looks like in lilly's pic, but the larger males knobs are more extreme.

[greysmom]

Agree with all the above - I forgot to say, we were feeding Lilly adult food almost from the start. And, due to some other issues, we had her spayed early - at about 6 months - instead of waiting til her growth plates fused. If we ever have another puppy we will definitely wait a bit longer.

[Guest WhiteWave]

My vet has never given me food advise. He has asked me for food advise for their Greyhound blood donor dogs they keep at the office cause they had loose stool problems. My dogs look great and have damn near perfect blood work well into their teens. 11 yr old Frenchie's blood work perfect the other day. Not a thing out of whack. He said for his age, it was amazing.

 

New pup at 5 months

 

Riddick my first pup 9-10 weeks

 

 

Riddick 12 weeks

 

 

 

Riddick 9 months

 

 

Joey at 8 weeks

 

 

 

Joey 10 weeks

 

 

13 weeks

 

 

16 weeks- become a Kangaroo

 

 

 

7 months

 

10 months old

 

 

 

11 months

 

 

 

1 yr old birthday party, not sharing his birthday toys

[a_daerr]

I so enjoyed all these photo flashbacks of our GT puppies.

 

FWIW, Truman came at 15 weeks. He was a moose at 40+ pounds. Had a real hard time keeping weight on him from about 9-14 months. By that point, he'd grown into his body, but had not filled out at all. I fed him puppy food until about 6 months old, and he was neutered at exactly one year.

[moofie]

Lovely puppies!

 

This is reassuring my 1yr (today) muttpup is having one of those ribby phases at the moment just as I thought he looked good a few weeks ago, I think he's going to have similar build to a boxer dog.

 

I've found using kongs,trickle feeder like Kong wobbler or just scatter feeding has helped slow down meal times & uses some energy up.

[Dawnnziggy]

I so enjoyed all these photo flashbacks of our GT puppies.

 

FWIW, Truman came at 15 weeks. He was a moose at 40+ pounds. Had a real hard time keeping weight on him from about 9-14 months. By that point, he'd grown into his body, but had not filled out at all. I fed him puppy food until about 6 months old, and he was neutered at exactly one year.

I miss Truman pictures! Do you have any to share with us? He is one of my favorites!

[a_daerr]

I miss Truman pictures! Do you have any to share with us? He is one of my favorites!

 

Ah, Trumie Doomie. He's an odd duck. I'll have to make a Truman thread soon.

Here's a picture from our last collar event:

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/311474-wetherby-martingale-co-new-thread-for-2015/?p=5830897

[Guest kar]

Where did you get your puppies from????

I'm trying to get a feel for proper weight on Stretch (now 9 weeks old) and thought it would help to know what weights you had for your 9 week old puppy, maybe even what to expect week to week if you can remember. Were there particular growth spurts? Pics would be super helpful if you have them, too.

 

Right now he weighs 12 pounds. He looks too thin to me. I'm giving him the recommendation on the bag for Large Breed Orijen. He wolfs it down without chewing in exactly 60 seconds.

 

 

 

where did you get your puppy from?

[Hollis]

Joey at 11m leaping. Holy wow.

 

 

My vet has never given me food advise. He has asked me for food advise for their Greyhound blood donor dogs they keep at the office cause they had loose stool problems. My dogs look great and have damn near perfect blood work well into their teens. 11 yr old Frenchie's blood work perfect the other day. Not a thing out of whack. He said for his age, it was amazing.

 

New pup at 5 months

 

Riddick my first pup 9-10 weeks

 

 

Riddick 12 weeks

 

 

 

Riddick 9 months

 

 

Joey at 8 weeks

 

 

 

Joey 10 weeks

 

 

13 weeks

 

 

16 weeks- become a Kangaroo

 

 

 

7 months

 

10 months old

 

 

 

11 months

 

 

 

1 yr old birthday party, not sharing his birthday toys

[Guest superfunk]

Thanks for all this great info! To follow up, turns out Stretch has giardia! It's been giving him unpredictable stools and making him thin. We've got the right drugs and he's on the road to recovery. should have some fatter pics to put up soon. Thanks again for all your responses, it helped me a ton. We also learned that he loves cottage cheese, and will eat (but doesn't prefer) green beans and carrots, thanks to your ideas in this topic. As he recovers we'll keep folding in these great nutrition ideas.

Where did you get your puppies from????

where did you get your puppy from?

 

Sorry, just now seeing your comment! Stretch came from a breeder in Colorado.

[cleptogrey]

ah, that sounds all to familiar. went thru that, be prepared for occassional flare ups, it's hard to combat.