"Beef him up" Vet says - 8 week old boy @ 12.3 lbs.

[collegal]

Just got back from our first vet visit with our new little boy. He will be 8 weeks tomorrow. He weighed in at 12.3lbs, which vet said was a little low. He told me to "beef him up". He also asked what i was feeding, and I said we were feeding TOTW, and he said we need to feed a large breed puppy food, until he's at least 4 months. I explained that I've been doing weeks of research of on the best type of food for a dane pup, and all avenues point to staying away from puppy food. He said he agrees, after 4 months, but especially for this pup who's a bit underweight, i need to use puppy large breed.

He comes from a litter of 7 pups, so not sure if he just didnt get his fair share, or whether he's just going to be a little guy. His dad was very large.

In any event, has anyone ever been asked to 'beef up' their dogs, and if so, how did you go about doing it? The vet suggested increasing his food to 4 cups (currently feeding 3), several times throughout the day.

Any thoughts?

[CarolB]

Stay away from large breed puppy food. Since he has been taken away from his litter he will get all the food offered and will start gaining. Don't try to overfeed him to make him gain weight rapidly. This will result in bone growth problems.

[GoingPostal]

Is the pup actually underweight? Packing pounds on a pup that doesn't need it isn't going to make him a bigger dog, just fat so the fact that your vet mentioned the weight and not his condition makes me wonder. Very few vets are up on proper nutrition for animals, some are better than others but doesn't sound like yours is one of those. 7 pups isn't a large litter for Danes, seen some double that so he may just be destined to be a smaller dog. Do you have a pic from the side and from above so we could see how he looks? They will go from fat to too thin and back and forth as pups, you have to learn to watch the dog and adjust as needed.

[collegal]

I snapped some photo's with my Iphone, hopefully they are clear enough for you to see his body shape good.

He was weighed in at the vets at 12.3 lbs today, and he turns 8 weeks old tomorrow.

I didnt realize he was tiny, until the vet mentioned it, and i started looking at charts, which put an 8 week old male at about 15-18 lbs average.

Other than this underweight issue, he seems otherwise happy, healthy and getting really well adjusted to his new home.
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[Kumah]

From what I can see he looks good. When it comes to a dane at least with me I never went by weight. I only based off of Kumah's body condition. My vet always told me that her body condition was perfect but that they wanted me to put her on a large breed puppy food. I just smiled and nodded but let it go in one ear and out the other because I new better. As long as he is doing good on the food you've got time on and his body condition looks good don't worry so much about his weight. It changes so frequently when they're puppies anyways so it's hard to keep track of an average. Besides he is going to grow up to be as big or "small" as he is genetically designed to be. Just have fun with him while he's young, its fun to watch them grow. and just wanted to say that he is a very handsome boy.

[melissa.lynn]

OMG! I have your puppy's sister! haha
I am from Essex, ON!
I literally posted right before your post asking if my girl was too small!

[Danewillow]

That puppy looks more like a 6 week old puppy. Feed him a quality adult food and you'll be fine. His condition doesn't look underweight but he does look like he hasn't been given the best of care before you got him (thin coat and little muscle tone). We had a foster puppy who looked similar and was 6 weeks old. After a couple weeks on good food and some worming he looked much better. Did the vet check for parasites? It wouldn't hurt to give him a worming even if he didn't do a fecal. Puppies are supposed to be wormed a couple times before going to their homes.

[Lacey]

OMG! I have your puppy's sister! haha
I am from Essex, ON!
I literally posted right before your post asking if my girl was too small!

I actually thought this was the same pup as yours. Didn't realize it was a totally different poster.

[collegal]

Danewillow, vet did do a de-worming yesterday (Pyran), together with his shots (DHPP). The vet wants to do a fecal at his next visit in a month. He told me to watch the 'poop' for worms, but in any case they will check for them at the next visit. After reading a lot about vaccinations on these boards, I decided to opt out of the Lepto.

Thanks to everyone for the great advice! I am so happy DOL is here to guide us all.

[Macbeth]

Hi there

Your puppy is gorgeous. Our vet felt our fella was skinny too but he was full of energy, happy and a typical puppy. He came to us on a crappy adult food snd a bit of Raw.We switched slowly to Eagle Pack Giant puppy and he had constant butt explosions, we tried 4 other Dane friendly types of dry food and he did awful on them and yet we only added a few biscuits at a time. We switched to Raw and he put on a little weight and filled out a bit but I still feel he is a little bony. I'm calling him bony ass. Anyway he is happy and in great condition I think he is just gonna be a skinny dude your fella might be too:-)

[Kev]

Your pup looks fine from the photos you posted. I would go by the condition of the pup rather than growth charts. You should be able to see the last two ribs when a pup is standing relaxed. If you cannot see any ribs, the pup is on the heavy side. If you can see more than two ribs, the pup is on the thin side. We struggled with what to feed Magnum as a pup. We knew that Danes should not be fed puppy food. We switched Magnum over to Eagle Pack adult food when we brought him home. We researched just about every brand of dog food out there and found pros and cons for pretty much all of them. At 12 weeks old we made the decision to switch him over to a raw diet. He has been on a raw diet for almost 5 years and and is thriving.