My female puppy is 20 weeks old and weighs approx 15 kilo's. She was putting on about a kilo per week and has now slowed down with weight gain. She is happy and healthy with a very glossy coat. We started her off with premium puppy kibble which didn't agree with her, so we are now feeding her a raw diet. Is there a guide to what to expect with growth and weight gain?
Re: What is the right weight for a Lab Puppy Hi Shelby and welcome to the forum! Growth rate does start to slow down at a certain point. And all dogs are a bit different in terms of their final height and ideal weight. That makes it hard to say what any one puppy should or shouldn't be. The best guide at your puppy's age is her appearance. This article might answer a few questions: Puppy Growth. If not, just ask If you can post some photos of your pup that'd be really helpful too in terms of giving opinions about her weight.
Re: What is the right weight for a Lab Puppy Thanks for that I just need some reassurance that we are on the right track. I have never feed raw before and this is a huge learning curve for me. I am in Australia and using "Vets all natural, complete mix" which is like a muesli, to mix with fresh meat. I am reading a lot on the subject and there are many different opinions on feeding raw. Also learning more about holistic commercial dog food, which one pet store person called hippy food and screwed up his nose. We tried two premium dog foods and they had her vomiting or doing huge stinky poo's. Is it ok to give her raw chicken necks?
Re: What is the right weight for a Lab Puppy I'm in Australia too (Canberra) and have used Vets All Natural. My dog loved it. We now feed Ian Billinghurst's BARF patties (a raw food) only because you don't have to mix anything up yourself. But the Vets All Natural is good stuff. You can definitely give your puppy raw chicken necks I also find that poo is much better and less stinky on a raw diet.
Re: What is the right weight for a Lab Puppy I agree with what Rachael said about the best guide to your pups weight is their age, and also their size. At 12 weeks my puppy weighed 6kg - what most puppies weigh at 7 or 8 weeks, but she wasn't horribly underweight, she's just small. She's now 15 months old and weighs 19kg - again she's not underweight, just very petite, though I am hoping she does fill out a bit. As long as you can feel but not see the ribs, and not see the spine and hip bones, chances are your pup is a suitable weight. It's probably best if they're not too podgy anyway as it can put strain on growing joints. I know I keep mine on the lean side, especially now she's been diagnosed with hip dysplqsia.
Re: What is the right weight for a Lab Puppy Hello Shelby , Welcome to the forum , I am from Australia as well , Melbourne in fact . I feed Bruno (our puppy) black hawk kibble only , as they say its a holistic food . Hes around 5 months now , and is around 20kgs , I am also worried he might be a little over weight but out breeder says if we think of 1 week = kg then hes just fine , He doesn't look fat to me . he does get his share of raw meat . I used to feed him bone marrows from Coles but then , he could not chew them of-course , but he used to tear away the meat from them and also try to chew , but i used to always supervise him . I used to get them for the older dog . I used to feed him chicken , necks no trouble with that . Also now i feed him chicken legs once a week , He does struggle to chew them compared to a big dog but i don't push him , He takes his time ti break it down n chew it . We also used chicken mince to mix with their kibble , also used the dog food minced roll we get from Aldi . They like it , I give them small portions and use it for a week . Now am reducing it to only once a day . I feed them thrice a day , will go to once a day when Bruno is a little older . I think u can experiment with different meat . like roo n meat as well . Give them small portions in the start and observe their poo for diarrhea . Cheers Vish
