Is my pup gaining too much weight too fast?

[Dennq]

Originally Posted by rickaz80

Is he on puppy food? My VET has us stop feeding the pup puppy food relativity soon because of the possible problem mentioned above ( fast growth ).

Yes he is on Acana large breed puppy.

[paulag1955]

This thread got me thinking, so I weighed Shasta tonight on our home scale and came up with 42.5 pounds! Crikey! That's a gain of 13 pounds in three weeks! I'm hoping part of that is attributable to the difference between our home scale and the scale at the vet's office. BUT I think our home scale is pretty accurate.

I'm wondering if we need to switch from the BB Large Breed Puppy to an adult food.

[rickaz80]

The VET described puppy food as to hot. He said puppy food promotes fast growth.

[unloader]

Originally Posted by Dennq

Yes he is on Acana large breed puppy.

That is a fine food that you are feeding, appropriate for a gsd pup.

If that was a recent photo, I think your puppy looks good.

How much do you feed per day? How big was the dam and sire? How old is he?

[onyx'girl]

My pup gained an average of 3# a week til he started teething heavily. He is rawfed.
As long as you still feel a couple of ribs, your pup should be gaining!
I agree, as far as kibble goes, the one you are feeding is fine.

[clearcreekranch]

My pup gained about 10#s per month. One time I went in for a weigh in on my other dog and they claimed he had gained 15#s in a year. I had them use a different scale and he had not gained any. Sometimes, they need to reset the scale!

[elisabeth_00117]

Originally Posted by onyx'girl

My pup gained an average of 3# a week til he started teething heavily. He is rawfed.
As long as you still feel a couple of ribs, your pup should be gaining!
I agree, as far as kibble goes, the one you are feeding is fine.

Stark, who is also raw fed gained 3lbs per week, it almost averaged out to about 10lbs per month until he hit about 5-6 months (teething age).

[KZoppa]

from the pic of him standing, he looks healthy and normal. Puppies go through growth spurts just like kids do. I'm waiting for Shasta's to hit. Some pups just put on weight faster than others but you also have to take into account parent size, whether he looks a healthy and like he should. many people on here will tell you that he looks just right for a pup his age. Is your vet experienced with shepherds? An experienced vet could give a better opinion as well. But as i said, he looks healthy and normal to me. Some pups are just bigger than others of the same age. Saw a 5 month old pup the other day who was huge!!! I swear he could have been 9-10 months old and he was in good body condition and weight. he's just a big boy. You have a good looking pup.

[Konotashi]

I'm not much help on this one, but that is one handsome pup!

Also, since you're feeding a LB puppy food, he should be fine. I believe it's when you feed regular puppy food when problems can arise from the levels in the food making them grow too fast, since they're not formulated for the slower growth of large breeds.

[doggiedad]

my boy averaged 1.5 lbs to 2.0 lbs a week.
how much are you feeding your pup? i've
never fed puppy food to my dogs.