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Help from Veteran Owners

Gaff

Active Member
Hi guys, I've read seen some growth charts in the forum and I'm really worried that my bullmastiff is not getting what is supposed to be given to her.<br><br>Weight: She's rather slim. I couldn't get her exact weight since our scale broke and we've been using the scale for my eagles up until when she's 2 months, when she went over 4 kilograms. I'm getting one when I get the chance to hop on for the town (we live in the rural areas so getting a good quality scale is very difficult). She looks fit, I can see her ribs, especially when she curves her back. Her face is wrinkly, and she has loose skin, and has some skin folds over her neck.<br><br>Age: She's approximately 2 months and 2 weeks. (DOB: March 25, 2013)<br><br>Height: She's 14"+ but not more than 15".<br><br>Her daily diet consists of:<br><ul><li>1.5 cup x 3 times Dog food (Alpo) kibbles, dry, the one that comes in different colors, shape, and some of it are bone-shaped. (The best we can get from the local husbandry shop)</li><li>We usually wet the kibble with 3/4 cup of soup from our own meal. She eats eat even without the soup.</li><li>Eggs. I'm so careful of feeding her eggs, like I only give her periodically, especially when our hens (chicken hens, not the eagles) lay a lot of eggs. (Omg I sound so farm-ish)</li><li>Fish. She loves fish. She gobbles on fish without even chewing it. She can devour 5-6" fish without chewing it. I'm afraid that she'd choke sometimes.</li><li>Pork / Beef / Chicken, in varied quantities depending on what's left from our own consumption.</li><li>All the water she can take.</li><li>Multivitamins.</li><li>Fruits as treats, so this varies a lot.</li></ul><br>I understand that females have naturally lower height and weight compared to the males. But I'm wondering if you can check this out and tell me if we're doing something wrong, or lacking, or too much. She's seems to be always hungry. There's this one time when we let her eat all she can and she had watery stools, and there was also this one time when she vomited a half-digested fish. She didn't chew it so it came whole. She also seems to be so interested with RICE! :(<br><br>I'll update my information here as soon as I get further assessment.<br><br>Thank you so much.<br><br>- - -<br><br>My family is planning to get a Neo mastiff but I'm hesitant. We can't get another dog if we can't feed her right.&nbsp;<img src="images/smilies/pray.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Pray" smilieid="147" class="inlineimg">
 

Gaff

Active Member
Hi guys, I've read seen some growth charts in the forum and I'm really worried that my bullmastiff is not getting what is supposed to be given to her.

Weight: She's rather slim. I couldn't get her exact weight since our scale broke and we've been using the scale for my eagles up until when she's 2 months, when she went over 4 kilograms. I'm getting one when I get the chance to hop on for the town (we live in the rural areas so getting a good quality scale is very difficult). She looks fit, I can see her ribs, especially when she curves her back. Her face is wrinkly, and she has loose skin, and has some skin folds over her neck.

Age: She's approximately 2 months and 2 weeks. (DOB: March 25, 2013)

Height: She's 14"+ but not more than 15".


Her daily diet consists of:

1.5 cup x 3 times Dog food (Alpo) kibbles, dry, the one that comes in different colors, shape, and some of it are bone-shaped. (The best we can get from the local husbandry shop)

We usually wet the kibble with 3/4 cup of soup from our own meal. She eats eat even without the soup.</li><li>Eggs. I'm so careful of feeding her eggs, like I only give her periodically, especially when our hens (chicken hens, not the eagles) lay a lot of eggs. (Omg I sound so farm-ish)

Fish. She loves fish. She gobbles on fish without even chewing it. She can devour 5-6" fish without chewing it. I'm afraid that she'd choke sometimes.

Pork / Beef / Chicken, in varied quantities depending on what's left from our own consumption.

All the water she can take.

Multivitamins.

Fruits as treats, so this varies a lot.

I understand that females have naturally lower height and weight compared to the males. But I'm wondering if you can check this out and tell me if we're doing something wrong, or lacking, or too much. She's seems to be always hungry. There's this one time when we let her eat all she can and she had watery stools, and there was also this one time when she vomited a half-digested fish. She didn't chew it so it came whole. She also seems to be so interested with RICE!
frown.png


I've already consulted with the vet and she says it's okay. Last time we checked her in was when she was 2 months.

I'll update my information here as soon as I get further assessment.

Thank you so much.

- -

My family is planning to get a Neo mastiff but I'm hesitant. We can't get another dog if we can't feed her right.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Ah... the second post is so much easier to read. Whew. I like paragraphs! :)

My thoughts:

Being on a "farm"... I'd think you could easily ditch the Alpo and go all home-made. There are a bunch of us here that feed RAW, and love it. Search the nutrition area of the forum, and you should find lots of advice on going RAW, even for young puppies.

The rest sounds like lots of great variety, so she should be doing well. With multi-vitamins, the only concern I see is having too much calcium in the diet while she's growing.

Rice is a good filler, and can help firm up stools, but doesn't offer much in the way of nutrition.

Denna (EM) was gaining about 0.5 lb/day at that age (on Solid Gold Wolf Pup kibble at the time, we went RAW when she was about 6 months old). But all puppies are unique. As long as she's in good shape and staying lean, she'll grow as nature intended... and slower is better for these big pups.

I think "always being hungry" is normal for most puppies... Denna (15 months old) still doesn't have an "off" switch, and will eat any amount put in front of her - then look for more. :)

Over feeding will cause loose stools (we've experienced the same phenomena here).

Sounds like you're on the right track to me - hopefully some other BM people will chime in here, too.
 

LizB

Well-Known Member
I agree with DennasMom about the RAW diet. What you have available is pretty poor quality and in your situation she'd likely really thrive on it. I have never done it with any of my BMs (it does not fit into my busy schedule and I have premium kibble available to me), but I know a lot of BM owners who do, and swear by it. I think the dietary switch might turn everything around, though usually the bigger problem is for the pups to gain weight too quickly, causing issues with their joints and future troubles.
 

ruby55

Well-Known Member
If you can, please post some pictures of her....from the top as she's standing, from the side as she's standing, maybe laying down.
I don't remember Ruby's growth rate; it's posted somewhere here. Also, I think either Bullybug or AKBull posted their boy's growth rate. Those wrinkles & skin folds? Yes; they're supposed to be there.
I'm with LizB & Dennasmom; if you switch her to homemade or RAW, I would. It's much better than Alpo. We feed kibble, because our dogs are therapy dogs, & they can't have RAW. Long story. Just be careful of protein & calcium consumption.
Hang on; I'm sure some of the dog food pros will show up & give you more information.
BTW welcome! And we really love pics!
 

Gaff

Active Member
Hi guys, thank you so much for responding. I really appreciate these advises guys. For someone who has little experience, your help means a lot.

The only reason why I am sticking with the kibbles is that I'm afraid I wont be able to provide her with enough nutrients she needs, like protein.

Thank you so much for recommending RAW. It might really be appropriate for her to switch to a RAW diet since we're in the farm. I will be checking out some diet plans which will suit our barn and supermarket.

I was really desperate to increase her growth rate cause I thought that she really is light for her age. Now that I know that she might get some problems if I get her to grow faster than she's supposed to be, then I shouldnt really put my efforts on buffing her!

And guys, we did her 3rd deworming earlier and LOTS of large worms were expelled with her feces! I am now starting to think that this has caused her rather light weight! 3 weeks ago, when we did her 2nd deworming, we didnt really get any worms, unlike today...she had large worms!

I took some photos of her today when I took her out cos she seemed to be so uncomfortable with the deworming process. I'd loveto share it! Please take a look at them.

I'll upload them in the next post.

Thank you so much guys.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
She looks Sweet!
Love those big brown eyes!! :)

She doesn't look too thin to me.
I'd just keep going and let her grow nice and slow - enjoy her when she's little while you can, it won't last very long! :)

As for RAW - we go by the 'whole prey model' which is pretty easy once you get it setup.
80% meat (i.e. without the bone) - protein! (chicken, beef, pork, goat, sheep, venison, rabbit, etc.)
10% bone - but contained within some of that meat - calcium and phosphorus in naturally balanced proportions
5% liver - vitamins
5% other organs (kidney, spleen, brain, etc.) - more vitamins

The easiest place to start is whole chickens (or rabbits) chopped into quarters - bones and all. The bones are nice and soft and easy to chew. Start with a SMALL meal, since her stomach juices will have to get geared up for a whole meal of raw (more acidic). Whole chickens are about 25% bone, but don't worry about that to start off with, extra bone keeps the stools firm. It's best not to mix raw and kibble in the same meal - due to the different stomach acid requirements. And the kibble takes longer to digest, so if you do both, try to space the kibble meal well ahead (12 hours +) of the raw meal.

Don't worry about the liver and organs for a little bit, either. Liver is very important (the 'vitamin pill' in the diet) but it can loosen the stools considerably if you give too much too soon.
You'll get her caught up with organs when she's ready, until then, just meat and bone to get the system "in gear".

I know there are some good posts and links on getting started here on the forum. If you don't find them, let us know!
 

LizB

Well-Known Member
Great advice above, and what a CUTIE PIE! She looks pretty good to me, and I do think the deworming will make her feel better and get her back on track, as will a diet change.