my weimar puppy boy is 13 weeks now hes been to the vet twice she assures me hes fine  but he looks as if im starving him . the vet told me to double his food which ive done . the vet said he his growing upwards faster than he is outwards. i would like him to be bit chunkier as you can see his rib cage i feel terrible every time i look at him [which is  alot] he doesnt have worms or any signs of illness. any suggestions would be very helpful  

thanks amanda

Hi amanda,

welcome to the forum :)

There are some wei owners and breeders on here who will probably be able to provide you with breed specific advice but FWIW I can assure you in my own breed this is common with pups and I know of many pups across wide ranging breeds where this is the case too :)  Pups grow at a tremendous rate and at this tender age it is most noticable hence why they start to look skinny, rangey, leggy etc.

Have you been gradually increasing his daily rations since you got him?  Sometimes (understandably) owners concentrate so hard on working out the best regime to fit in 4 meals a day that they forget that the quantities need increasing too.  Perhaps rather than merely double his quota better to add a little more to each meal and if necessary give an extra meal.  Pups have small tums so doubling the quantity per meal could over load his system and simply give him the runs - effectively undoing the very work it was intended for.

Pups which are set to develop into such elegant and wiry breeds as yours are rarely chunky IME - so I suspect you're worrying unnecessarily.

HTH, Teri

What are you feeding him? :)

i have been feeding him the pedigree puppy pouches 1 at each meal time 4 times a day but i have started to add a little of the royal canine puppy dry food.
amanda

thanks for that,. he would eat everything in sight and i have to separate him from my older two when its feeding time.i have doubled what he gets at each meal time and im still feeding him 4 times a day. i think he is going to be a very large boy, at this rate il be eating beans and toast for the next 15 or so years.

amanda

Hi Amanda

Your breeder should be able to reassure you about body shape and weight too.  We have a similar shape gundog and they aren't roly poly puppies like you see in Calendars are they!? If your breeder kept a puppy this time it may be helpful to compare food amounts.  Although all puppies are not the same you may still get an idea of what range to be in.  We fed Nutro at that age although later changed to AG because of availability and I found that I was adjusting quantities week by week and sometimes day to day in order to get the correct balance.  If mine started to look a bit ribby I'd make a small adjustment and often found just a few grams extra (across 4 meals) was enough to make the difference.  It is a good idea to weigh food accurately - when I weighed my guestimates I was often up to 20g's adrift and that would have had a big affect on a pups weight.

Teri makes a good point about upsetting your pups tummy so small adjustments will be the safer way but remember that 'chunky' may not be the ideal description of body shape you are aiming for in your breed.  Have a search on breeder sites or ask your breeder to see if you can find pictures of other pup's at that age.

The owners from my pups litter exchanged email addresses and, with the breeder, formed an informal puppy help group.  We were constantly sending pictures, comparing stories, asking advice and checking weights and measures!!  Now at 14 months old we are still doing it, so if you can get some contact info from your breeder it can be a great help.  Good luck and try not to worry

**Edited to say: I see you are feeding puppy pouches with some Royal Canin.  Dry food does make it a bit easier to adjust amounts, particularly when making small increases

i do prefer dry food my two older dogs have dried food, he was being fed on the pedigree puppy pouches by his breeder i didnt want to change him straight away.all the pups were pretty wiry he had the biggest paws and ears hence why he came home with me. thanks for all the advice

amanda x

Unfortunately doesn't look like he was being fed the best food by his breeder!

My girl is about 19 weeks and I think she's too skinny but she has massive bone!  I've just started adding in chicken backs, tripe etc and the weight is now coming on.  I don't want her to be toooo big though.

It's so hard knowing what's best to do.

Amanda, FWIW I have a different HPR breed, but the same things apply.  I have found that in the younger ones if they are still looking for food after the bowl is licked clean then I need to up the amount of food given at each meal until they are no longer looking for food (within reason of course) Over the years all of mine looked as though they were being half starved as youngsters, but as long as I knew they were eating well, and were happily running, ok tearing, around like idiots then I wouldn't worry. If the pup was lethargic, or not eating, then I would be very worried. The large and leggier the pup, the skinnier it looked. HPR breeds, especially males that are a bit on the large size (height-wise) do take longer to fill out. It could take a couple of years before he starts filling out. Don't worry if you can. It's perfectly normal. :-D

Hi Amanda,
By no means am I an expert on these matter and have only posted on here a couple of times but I do have a two-year-old weim girl. She too used to look a little like she was being starved but was always in good health, energetic and bright-eyed! Other pups we have seen (seems to be a glut in our area) have the same look. So I guess as long as healthy in other aspects then nothing to worry about. Our girl has only really filled out in the last 6 months...she's a beauty now...!

hi Ive got two great dane pups they are nearly 5 months old and when they have a growth spurt they seem to look incredibly thin i always go by their poo as well ..If its too hard up the food a bit if sloppy theyre eating too much in one go  .unless you feed BARF that is then their poo can be solid

I would be feeding a quality food either Arden Grange or James Wellbeloved. You can search for these on the internet to find the webpages. Arden Grange are very helpful. Your pup probably needs to be on Junior/Graduate food.

At the moment feeding Pedigree pouches is like feeding a mars bar each meal...it's crap! Once you are feeding a quality food you should start to see a difference.

The pup doesn't need worming?

I agree with weima. I feed my Weim girl (almost 5months now!) on AG and she looks brilliant. I use the large breed dry food and mix in the chicken and rice partners wet food as well. This just keeps it moist and is my personal preference. I found my girl would go through periods of growth and I would notice a bit more rib than I like, so I would add to the dry food, a little for each meal. You definitely do not want to get ur puppy all chubby and fat (like you may see in other breeds) and it is completely normal for them to look slim (but not skinny). If she is finishing all her food and looking to you for more then I would slowly bump it up a bit. Also some good comments from others about monitoring her poo's which should give you an idea of how much of the food she is eating is being properly processed.
I hope you are enjoing your pup... my girl brightens even the most horrible days! Amazing breed. :-)

thanks for all the advice ,his no 2s are fine not too hard and not to soft.my older weim looks brilliant but she is 8 now . need to get some more dog food today what do you reckon of royal canine? he seems to like it gave him some free sachets of it that i got from the vets. apart from him looking a bit ribby he his bright eyed and full of fun.

thanks xxxx

Sorry, I referred to your pup as a girl... my bad! I have had no experience with RC, there will definitely be old posts about it on here though! It would be worth getting samples from as many places as you can to see if he will eat it first! If you need to get food today, I would get a small amount of what you already feed and then slowly try the other brands when you receive the samples. Instantly changing him over could cause an upset tummy. You will get there in the end, just got to find the food that suits him personally. :-)

I had the same trouble with my weim, he wasn't putting on weight and i even took him to the vet when someone i knew said "if i didnt know you i would say your dog was underfed". I worried in case someone reported me to rspca. The vet put him on science plan which did no good whatsover, eventually i put him and my dobe on Arden grange, he also had a  slightly sensitive stomach, however since changing to Arden Grange he has put on weight but he is a very active dog and is still on the lean side but he looks toned and athletic if a dog can look like that.