Feeding new Lab

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MyDogMax
Rank: Just A Pup
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:47 am

Feeding new Lab

Post by MyDogMax » Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:47 am

I have a 5month old lab that is very active. During the week he generally is getting 2 walks a day (45min at least) where I will walk around for some, throw a ball around do some basic obedience etc... Weekends he gets time at a camper where he runs around a dog park a few times a day, goes in the water a few times a day, definitively doesn't nap as much as during the week where he is in his crate for most of the day. He is certainly extremely active on weekends.

Thats just some background to provide context on his energy levels.

I am feeding him about 3.5cups of PPP Large breed puppy a day and hes still skinny enough to see ribs at times depending how hes standing or sitting so not anorexic or anything. He seems healthy but when I did a search most people barely feed their dogs anything - I have seen answers from 2-3 cups a day. My last dog as an actual large breed (125lbs) and he gobbled down 5.5 cups a day and was always perfect shape until his very late years when joint issues prevented him from exercising and he was overweight at 130.

Thoughts?

RayGubernat
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Location: Central DE

Re: Feeding new Lab

Post by RayGubernat » Wed Aug 04, 2021 4:55 pm

Puppies go through growth spurts. When they do, they will go from chunky to skinny fairly.

First...don't panic. This is kinda normal and will happen in cycles until the dog is about 18 months old or so.

Second, just because you can see ribs when you are up close, that ain't necessarily bad, especially if the dog is getting a fair amount of exercise, as yours seems to be doing.

Third, PPP puppy is about as good a ration as you can feed a puppy, so be confident that the pup is getting the nutritiion necessary for it to grow and thrive.

My benchmark is always looking down at the dog between my legs and seeing an hourglass shape where the ribcage meets the waist. You want to see a definite "tuck-in" at the end of the ribcage. On my pointers, if I can "just" see the rise ad fall of each rib as they are running around in the yard, I'm fine with that. If i can plainly see each rib when they are next to me...that is too thin.

If you think the dog is getting too thin... keep everything else the same and bump up the feed a half cup or so and see what happens.

RayG

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