Hi everyone, I have a 15 week old golden labrador and I'm worried about his weight. He currently weighs 6.4kg or 14lbs, now I was never worried about his weight but when I was researching how much I should be feeding him I was reading about some labs his age being nearly double his weight?! He is growing really quickly and, to me at least, feels like he weighs a ton. But is he underweight or am I just panicking for nothing. When we went to the breeder to pick which dog we wanted we saw him and immediately fell in love. He was the smallest of the litter (also the most mischievous). But his mother was also quite a lean lab, so we thought maybe it's genetic. But as he is the first dog I have ever had I don't know much about them in regards to proper weight. He is fed 3 times a day (9am, 2pm and then about 5.30pm) and he gets half a cup each time. He is also walked everyday for about 20-30 mins. Is 6.4kg too light a weight for a 4 month male lab? Did your lab weigh more? Thanks, Eimhear
Hi and welcome to the forum The weight of dogs of a particular breed varies enormously. If you take a look at the top of this "Labrador Puppies" sub-forum you will see a sticky post called "How much does your puppy weigh?". If you take a look at that you will see the variation. Has your puppy been wormed? If you are at all unsure I would take him to the vet for a check-up. They may well smile as they say "Are you a first time dog owner?", I know because OH is a nervous first time owner and we've had that experience, but at least it will give you some peace of mind. BTW what is the puppy's name? Do you have any photos of him?
Hi, I'll have a look at that sub forum now, thanks. We actually gave him a worming tablet this morning. To be honest I think I'm worrying for absolutely nothing, but I just want to make sure he is fine and healthy (which I'm sure he is) His name is Cahir, which means Warrior in Gaelic.
Hi and welcome to you and Cahir, from me and Juno, my chocolate girl. What a lovely name and I don't think we have another Cahir on the forum. There is always a lot of worry about what our puppies weigh and I know you've seen the thread mentioned by Uncle Bob, so you know how much variation there is . I was watching a programme a few weeks ago and on that they were suggesting a weight of 1lb for every week of a puppy's age as being around ideal so it looks to me that Cahir is about right and Juno weighed much the same at that age. If he is eating well, playing, sleeping and pooping I would guess he is absolutely fine but if you're not sure pop into the vet for a chat and of course keeping your puppy slim is by far the preferred way to go to achieve a lean dog.
Thanks for replying and welcoming me and Cahir to the forum. Juno is absolutely beautiful. Cahir's mother was a chocolate lab and looked like Juno. Cahir is such a great little puppy. He sleeps like a trooper, right through the night. Eats all his food (often without taking a breath to swallow ) His bowel movements are regular and he is always ready to play but, adorably, waits by the front door for you to come home. I just wanted to make sure he is fine, so you have put my mind at ease. p.s Just out of interest what food do you feed him? (I.e. Brand and amount) Thanks, Eimhear
Does he look too thin? Can you see ribs sticking out? Our breeder does not like to see fat puppies, believing lean weight and slow growth is best. She required us to weigh at two week intervals and at 14 weeks Oban was 17 lbs. By then his food had been upped from what your pup is now getting, a total of 1.5 cups a day, to two cups a day total over three feedings. He was fed ALS food with about 26% protein, 16% fat. I forget how many kcal/cup, the food today is 354 but I think it was a bit higher when I fed it. Did you call the breeder to discuss? What does your Vet say?
Hi @Eimhear I used to feed Juno on Husse (Valp Maxi being the puppy food) as that is the brand that the breeder used for all her dogs. I found it very good and managing quantities was really easy with it as they quoted x number of grams per kilo of age based upon age. I used to take out a portion of her daily allowance for treats, and never had any tummy problems with her. I only switched her over to a Royal Canin product after she was spayed at the suggestion of the vet. http://www.england.husse.co.uk/dog-...-food/puppy-dry-food/large-breed/?product=110
Thanks Showshoe. He doesn't look too thin and you can't see his ribs. To be honest I started researching how much food because I thought he was getting a bit portly around the stomach, especially after feeding. You can see his shoulders when he moves but I'm sure that's natural because he is lean around there. He goes absolutely crazy for his food so I might up his intake a bit more, he might be hungry. His current food is 27% protein. To be honest his vets didn't really take all that good a look at him, they just gave him his shots and checked his heart, then we were sent to the reception area to pay. I questioned them about food (I.e. Brand and quantity) and they had never heard of the food we were given him, even though it can be purchased from all the major pet stores were I live. Eimhear
We're giving Cahir the food the breeder suggested and he seems to like it okay. The only problem was it came in a Huge bag so he'll probably be eating it until he's ten We did switch to Royal Canin for a while and he seemed to love that but it ran out and were just trying to finish the original bag now.
Know what you mean @Eimhear . We bought a 15kg bag of the Husse from our breeder as she was a distributor for the company and what with the puppy box we had which contained several more kilos of the food we were sort of overflowing with kibble. 15kg for a 10 week puppy on a couple of hundred grams a day is a lot of puppy food and meals . I used the Royal Canin Large breed (now called Maxi) Junior for neutered dogs but found I had to reduce the daily amounts allowed quite a bit to keep Juno's weight gain and growth steady. Choosing food is so difficult, what suits one dog doesn't suit another and then everyone has an opinion on what is best etc
So true about how difficult it is to choose food, there really is no end in sight for the bag of food I have, I'd almost be tempted to give him more food to get rid of it quicker but you have to watch with labs, cause apparently they'll just keep eating all day. Greedy things that's they are. There lucky they're so cute!
Most definitely cute Amazingly they're not all greedy and will eat forever; a good reason for not overfeeding is the runny poo it usually produces
Hi and welcome - what a beautiful name. Any pictures? My boy is slim and after each feed the only thing that seems to grow is the length of his legs! I keep checking that his ribs feel like they have a cover (not a duvet) over, as he is my first "from a puppy" dog.
