11 weeks, too thin?

[Gronk'sMama]

HI!
My little boy is 11 weeks and weighed in at 22.8lbs at the vet. He is on Holistic Select adult giant breed and eating 1 1/2 cups a day. His liter mate (choice male) is 27lbs. I called HS to see how much he should be eating and they were VERY unhelpful! They would not give any advice because they said he should be on the puppy formula. PLEASE help! I don't know how many calories/day he should be eating. I can see his last few ribs and his waist is very defined. I just want to make sure he is getting enough, he acts like he is STARVING!

 

[dpenning]

I had the same problem with Daisy, always starving and on holistic select. I finally changed her over to a different food that feeds more per the bag instructions. Daisy never had firm stools on the holistic select but once I changed her over it is much improved. I also thought she looked starving as I could see all her ribs. The vet kept saying she was fine but I started giving her a couple of satin balls each day and now I can just see the last two ribs and she has firm poops so I'm happy. LOL

 

[Gronk'sMama]

I had the same problem with Daisy, always starving and on holistic select. I finally changed her over to a different food that feeds more per the bag instructions. Daisy never had firm stools on the holistic select but once I changed her over it is much improved. I also thought she looked starving as I could see all her ribs. The vet kept saying she was fine but I started giving her a couple of satin balls each day and now I can just see the last two ribs and she has firm poops so I'm happy. LOL

Exactly! Can you tell me what you feed now?

 

[Oak Hill Farm]

We really need pics to determine weight. Proper weight depends on height and bone density. Correct calories varies on activity an metabolism in each individual dog. Puppies tend to "starve" even if they aren't. If you can see hip/ribs (other than the last one or two) or spine you probably need to increase the amount of food.

 

[Gronk'sMama]

We really need pics to determine weight. Proper weight depends on height and bone density. Correct calories varies on activity an metabolism in each individual dog. Puppies tend to "starve" even if they aren't. If you can see hip/ribs (other than the last one or two) or spine you probably need to increase the amount of food.

I haven't been able to figure out how to post pics what do you feed?

 

[Oak Hill Farm]

I feed raw, so I am not much help in the kibble department I'm sure someone will be on here shortly to give you good advice

 

[Smart_Family]

You probably want a higher calorie food. Is he having solid bowel movements?

 

[dpenning]

My vet strongly recommend Wellness Super 5 Large Breed Puppy Mix, was going to try to go with the all life stages food like everyone says here but it just didn't work for her and the Wellness is on the recommended lists an has the correct calcium phosphorus ratios so I'm going with it and it seems to be working. Seeing the vet tomorrow so will get a new weight at 18 weeks.

 

[Smart_Family]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Wellness Large Breed Puppy. However some mastiffs have problems with grains and with chicken which that particular formula of Wellness has both. In most cases the labels of "puppy" or "large breed puppy" or "senior" are just marketing techniques and the formulas are usually almost identical to the adult formulas just more expensive. Dawn, it sounds like you found a food that works well for your pup and that is really awesome. Sometimes you find a good food on the first try and sometimes it takes three or four or more tries! We actually tried Wellness with our lab and shepherd puppy and it was just too rich for them and it turned out my lab needed grain free.

 

[AKBull]

I haven't been able to figure out how to post pics what do you feed?

If you pictures are located on your computer it's pretty straight forward.

First start a reply or a new posting. You'll see the little boxes of options right above where you're typing. Click the one I pointed an arrow to.


Click "select file" and find where your pictures are and select the one you want, click "upload files" and you're all set. You can select multiple files if you wish.


Hope that gets you on the right track!