Hello,

I am very sorry to bother you, but I require some information about my Labrador. I didn't purchase her from you as a puppy, but as though you're a breeder I think you may be able to really help me...

I have a Black Labrador bitch. She is now 8 months old. The problem I am having is that I think she is too skinny. I am giving her a full to the brim bowl of Beta Junior dry petfood in one of those quite large stainless steel dog bowls. At first I put it down to her maybe having worms, although she has always been wormed regular. So I wormed her (making sure she is up-to-date.)

As soon as we wormed her, we had to leave on our holidays for a fortnight. We put our bitch in the kennels and upon arrival back she still seemed 'ribby' to us! Although when we gave her the full bowl of food she seemed to put a tiny bit on.

Please please could you advise me on any ways to help her gain some extra weight, as she is having more than the recommended amount of food on the bag - 1 full to the brim stainless steel bowl! I can only think of either giving her more food, and regular worming as to which I have done. We have weighed her today, and she weighs nearly 18 and a half kg. Is this normal for a 8m lab bitch? If not, what should she weigh?

Would she be classed as a large or medium dog on the food guidlines? I presume large?

Please could you advise me on the above matter. I very much look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much in advance.

Kind Regards,
Lisa
Email: catwoman_miaow@ntlworld.com

Hi - it's very unusual to have someone thinking their lab is too thin! As a rule people let them get too fat!

A lab is a medium sized breed, not large, and remember, "recommended" food quantities given of bags of dog food are usually about 25% too high.

My old lab bitch, who was on the tall side for the breed (working stock) was 58lb at 8 months old. 18 and a half kilos translates as.....41lb-ish? Is that right? How does she feel when you stroke your hand along her sides? Are the ribs 'sharp' feeling (you should certainly be able to feel them)? Can you feel the 'knobbles' on her spine when you stroke her back?

What does the vet say? If she is eating such a large quantity of food and not getting fat, she certainly isn't utilising it properly. What is her poo like? Firm or loose? It could be a medical problem, a metabolic problem, or simply that Beta simply doesn't agree with her, and she may do better on Burns or one of the other complete foods, or even going down the Raw Food route.

Sorry I can't be of more help.
:)

Is she really that thin?

When u run a hand lightly down her side, you should be able to just feel her ribs, and when viewed from above she should have a small 'waist'.

If she really is in need of more weight, feeding her one huge meal probably wont do it. All that food in one meal just wont be properly digested, i expect she is producing a huge amount of errrrr, waste!

If you are happy with the food, try feeding in several smaller meals, an go back to the recommended amount or less. If she does drastically lose weight then rethink that idea.

It is much better for them to be a little underweight, than a little overweight!

If that doesnt work, then is the time to think about changing the food. I personally recommend a raw diet, i feed it to my three dogs, all different, adn they are all fit and healthy on it. (and trust me, you dont know wot a fit and healthy dog looks like until you feed raw!!!!!!!! i certainly didnt). Oooooh, another point, slightly off topic, did u know, a fair number of the dogs that advertise the big name dog food brands are in fact raw fed!!!!!

Em

I've always been told that labradors are classes as large dogs!!

on the food we feed Darcy it actually has the labrador as the example for large breeds!!

Darcy weighs 27kg but she is a very chunky type and is on a diet. The vet recommended about 24kg
My friends lab who is a working type is 22kg and she is a healthy size

They are both 8 months old so still have a bit of growing to do

Hi Rachael,
If labradors are 'large' then other breeds must be off the scale!! To my way of thinking there are 5 sizes of dog: toy (the very tinies), small (15k-ish, most terriers, beagles, cockers etc) medium (25k-ish, labradors, dalmatians etc), large (30k-ish, GSD, Spinone etc) and Giant (Mastiff, Dane etc).
:)

my vet said that the adult weight of a labrador should be between 30 and 35 kg!!!!!

Darcy is close to that already and while a lot of it is natural chunkiness some of it is puppy fat we need to lose
Am putting myself on a diet as well cos I feel so guilty about it :)

I know the UK standard doesn't specify ideal weight, but the 1957 US standard does. They seem to like their labs taller than ours, but I imagine the desired proportions would be about the same (but I'm happy to be corrected!) That standard requires: Dogs 22 1/2 - 24 1/2 inches, 60 - 75lb, and bitches: 21 1/2 - 23 1/2 inches, 55 - 70 lb. (I think the US pound is the same as ours (16oz) )
:)

JG

Bailey's 19mths now and weighs 29kgs and he is not over-weight. I can feel his ribs and he has a nice shape. He is not a chunky lab though and just in on the standard height wise!

I have also always been told labs are a large breed! They are used on most food packets as an example of a large breed.

Tracy :)

It's very strange, Tracy - dalmatians are always considered a medium-sized breed, but they are taller than a labrador (although they are lighter-built).
:)

To be honest I don't think of them as being large more as perfect size :D Large to me would be a GSD with a Great Dane as Giant. Food companies also class Cockers a medium now I would think of the as small! I not sure if they live in the same world as the rest of us :)

Hi JG

I have 2 sorts of Lab - fat and thin. The yellow puts weight on as soon as look at food, whilst I struggle to keep the blacks at a looking reasonable. Taz is now 6 and I have just about got him to 31Kg. Ash is 15 mths and although he weighs in at around 30Kg, looks like he lives in a work camp!! However, the new diet is starting to show results and his ribs are disappearing.

The food manufacturers class labs as large breed,which is porbably so many get overweight as many people will not know to reduce the food.

Julia & hooligans

Incidentally guest, if you can feel each rib distinctly as a hard surface, the puppy probably could do with extra oil and fat as they burn it up bouncing around, not extra protein (which encourages too fast a growth and puts strain on the joints). Try adding raw tripe, chicken wings, tinned pilchards or good quality tinned meat to her food.

All this talk about the weight of Labradors made me think about a visit to the vet's a couple of weeks ago. Anna was weighed when we arrived. As I sat in the waiting room a great big fat black Lab came in. There were rolls of fat literally falling off! I watched to see him weighed. 32kg!!!! Anna is slim without an ounce of fat on her and had only minuts earlier turned the scales at 35kg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just goes to show that weight on it's own means nothing. Although Anna is big for a bitch she is solid muscle and muscle weighs very heavy

Regards, John

Just like her dad heh John :D

I'll have you know Julia, I'm a Lean Mean Machine!

Thistle is a lab aged 2. She is fit as the proverbial butcher's dog and weighs in at 21 kgs. You can see all her ribs. She doesn't have worms. I feed her a third extra than the instructions on Baker's dog food, but she's so active she just burns it all off. She also has lots of extra bits and pieces, especially at the moment as we are minding 2 eight week old pups. so I have to give her little treats every time I feed them. Anyway she doesn't keep weight on at all, but is perfectly healthy. Wish I could say the same about me :-)
Jane

good point!!!

Thats why Darcy is on a diet, becasue even though she's not theoretically overweight according to the vet, you can tell its fat she's gaining rather than muscle tone!!

Oh HELP !! my working goldie is 8 months old and weighs in at 31kg, never stops all day, eats his breakfast, and sometimes leaves his dinner only eating half like he did to-night.Although he is solid muscle, and has a waist!!. My vet said that he was too heavy, but have had a few people look at him, and said that he was ok, and once he is 12 months old will even out.
Thoughts anyone???? do we join Weight Watchers ???