We have just returned from the vets. She said that our Rhodesian Ridgeback is growing too fast. We have to reduce his food by a third for a month. He always looking for more as it is, she said he was in perfect condition?! He's on Nutro large breed puppy and we were feeding him to the chart on the bag. I am now confused, I thought the feed was specially formulated so these problems didn't occur. Has anyone got any advice?
Thanks.
p.s. He's 15 weeks old and 20kgs

I've never really understood this growing too fast thing. As far as I'm concerned a puppy will grow as fast as they will. I've had pups in litters (as I'm sure many others have) that have grown considerably faster than their siblings but this hasn't prevented their siblings from catching them up at their own pace! I can understand that the growth rate can cause problems if the pup is also over exercised etc but I haven't seen any scientific evidence to suggest that input of food actually affects the rate of growth other than by an absence of it!
Does anyone know of any?
Bec

I agree, if the pup is being overfed it would be growing outwards rather than upwards, there are various graphs showing puppy development wich are very steep in the first few months and then level off at about a year BUT these are the average which means there are some that grow faster than others.... I guess the vet would say if he wasn't growing fast enough feed him more!!

I like to think of it more as a builder - if the builder needs the materials to build at his normal rate give him what he requires ... nature is a wonderful thing

Al

I used to feed Nutro (think its one of the best diets!) and had a problem with my elderly dog. I phoned up and spoke to their nutritional expert and found him to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Why don't you ask them for some advice?
Lara x

Thank you for your help.
I was thinking about my son, who at 13 was nearly 6 foot. I wonder if we took him to the doctors worried, he then advising we cut out one of his meals!!!
I have spoken to Nutro and they can't understand the advice being as he's not overweight. They also said we may have to start feeding adult food earlier as this will encourage slower growth. I think we will just reduce his feed a little and then have him weighed in a few weeks.
Thanks again,
Paul.

I wouldn't reduce his food at such a critical growing time...not all vets are experts on the growing dog as much as they would like you to believe that they are.

When I took Mia to the vet for her 2nd jab, the vet said to me "Oh that's a big puppy", I said "Do you think so, I think she is small to average for the breed"...to which he backtracked and said "What I meant was she's very sturdy"......

I think so long as your pup is not carrying excess weight, ie FAT, then you should be fine.

If he is getting fat, then that wont do him any favours whilst growing. If you can feel, but not too much, and not see, his ribs, then thats a pretty good sign that he is ok, but check all over his body. if there seems to be too much of a covereing of fat under his skin, then may be reduce the food a little, but i wouldnt bother unless he actually does seem to be very fat (unlikely in a growing pup).

I actually think, however, that with the way commercial feeds are produced, (ie, totaly broken down, then with the key nutrients, minerals and vitamins added back later) that it is indeed possible to cause an animal to grow too fast.

However, i would be biased, as i feed raw!!!!!

Just use some common sense (hehe, a lot of vets seem to lack this at times) if he seems right, then he probably is. Do you know of any RR pups of a similar age that you could compare with? Or ask your breeder?

Em

This growing business can be a worry!
Murph (lab) is five months old and weighs about 55lbs now. If he carries on growing at his current rate - he'll be well over 80lbs by the time he is seven months old!!:O
I'm hoping that he will slow down. I've cut his food right back - he's raw/barf fed and is on between 1 and a half - 2lbs of food, 50 - 60% of that being RMB's.
They'll be as big as they're going to be, I guess and he's going to be a BIG lab!:D

TTFN

Ruth

Every dog is different just like people are.

When Taz was about 6mths the Vet said I ought to put him on a diet 'cause he was too fat (he was one of those who bloat out when they eat). I refused.

A further 6 months later they were telling me to increase his food because he was thin. Make your mind up!!

He's now 6 and I can't get him past 31Kg no matter what I feed (and that's managing to get a Kg on him somehow:)).

Ash on the other hand was 32.5Kg at 8 months and 2" taller.

Chester weighs around 35Kg, but you can still feel his ribs, and he has a waistline.

I think its wrong to put a young anything (child or dog) on a diet as they still have alot of growing to do. Start dieting young and you can have problems for life.

I have been told that too much protein in a puppy's diet can make them shoot up in height without taking the body weight and width with them, thus they end up looking very leggy. When you look at a lot of the puppy foods they do tend to be about 30% protein, some even higher ! Adult foods a good bit lower.

Maragret

Hi,

It is right in some respects that growing pups too fast can cause problems, but Nutro large Breed shouldn't cause this problem, I take it you are feeding the puppy version?

You could try changing to BARF, because this is more natural, it will help to balance the diet better. You could have a read of Ian Billinghursts books, he states in there about growing pups too fast.

Manda
X

I am familiar with that breed of dog and from experience they will eat quite a bit of food. You do need to monitor their diet because at least from my experience they will continue to eat even though they are full.
Aside from monitoring their diet I would make sure they get plenty of exercise. Hopes this helps some.
Rolarue

first time on the website for some months.

I've got an 18 month ridgeback dog,i was a bit concerned for 2-3 months when he was about 6 months old,i swear if i stayed awake for 48 hrs i could have seen him grow cms at a time.
I thought about changing his food to largebreed dog food at the time but decided not to.Now at 18 months "Touch wood" he's had no problems what so ever.

good luck

Hiya...

A rule I always go by, is you shouldn't be able to see their ribs, but you should just be able to feel them.
If you can do that with your dog then I imagine he/she is fine.

Vets have different ideas on things. Some dogs tend to get very tall very quickly....it's not something to worry about.
Your vet probably has no idea of your breed and is just going by dogs in general. I have this problem with my GSD's.
I've had my vet say, oh he's much too big, or he's much too small.......but they grow at their own rate. There's nothing much you can do about it.
It sounds like your dog is doing well....and you're doing a good job, so try not to take too much notice of the vet.
Something I learned a long time ago is they're not perfect..and they don't know everything. You have to trust them to a certain extent.....but if you feel your dog is healthy, and the right weight, then don't worry.

Take care

Lisa