[Alid35]

We have a female Newfoundland puppy. She’s currently 12 weeks old. She’s such a sweet and smart girl and we all love her. My concern is her size. She’s a very picky eater and I have explained my concerns to my vet as well. The vet did agree that she needed to put on some weight as she was a little boney. But I feel like she is really underweight. She’s 12 weeks and weighs 17 pounds. From my research I would assume she should be around the 25 to 30 pounds by now. Now as I mentioned before she is picky when it comes to food. Which from my understanding newfs can be picky. After many failed attempts of trying to get her to eat her food (3 cups a day) she would only eat a total of maybe 1 cup a day. Vet told me to put a tablespoon of canned puppy food and mix it into her kibble. It worked and she was eating 3 to 3.5 cups a day. But then 2 days after adding the canned food she started getting diarrhea. I assumed it was due to adding the canned food. Called my vet and she prescribed endosorb to help. Well it’s not helping at all. I started a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice today and will be taking her to the vet tomorrow to rule out giardia. With all that being said my main question is how much did your female newfie weigh around 12 weeks of age. According to the puppy charts it’s saying she’s only going to be 46 pounds which I know is way to small for a newfie. She is purebred and AKC registered. I didn’t get to meet or see her parents as a friend of mine got her from a breeder but then her husband was tragically killed in a accident and she in all honesty wasn’t in the mindset to care for a puppy. So we went ahead and bought her. I currently have 3 Golden’s and I’ve never got a dog without doing my background checks on the breeder. But I just fell in love with this little girl and grew up around newfs and love the breed. Any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[storyist]

Why not contact the breeder, explain how you've come to have her, and ask for advice? That's assuming your friend didn't sign a contract agreeing to return the puppy to the breeder in circumstances such as she was in, in which case she should have honored the contract.

My guess would be more that going from picking at her food and only eating 1 cup to eating 3 - 3.5 at normal puppy speed (and are you counting the canned in that measurement or does that make it even more?) is what caused the diarrhea. Also what percentage of canned? Just enough to flavor everything or a substantial percentage of the food? The latter would be more like new and different food, maybe richer, and more inclined to cause digestive upset.

 

[Alid35]

I have been in contact with the breeder but was told that all puppies grow at different speeds and that she was one of the smallest of the litter.

I only give a tablespoon of canned food so it’s just enough to entice her to eat. But even then I wouldn’t think she would still have diarrhea for as long as she’s had it.

Like I said my main concern is her weight for her age. I just feel like she’s way underweight. I can literally feel every single bone in her body and when she’s wet she looks like she’s been starved.

 

[Knute]

How did the pup handle the rice and chicken?

Have you tried other brands of kibble or cooked or raw food?

 

[Alid35]

She picked at the boiled chicken and rice. I haven’t tried a lot as she is so young I didn’t want to give her the poops. But that still backfired lol. My Golden’s eat Canidae Turkey. I tried that with her since it’s for all life stages and she turned away from it. So then I tried Canidae chicken. She still turned away from it. Even the food she was on blue buffalo large breed puppy she didn’t want to eat too.

 

[Knute]

Try a few small pieces of raw chicken. Just a couple of small 1 inch cubes of chicken breast. Try as a treat. See if the dog has interest.

 

[Effisia]

At 12 weeks Annabel was around 25/30 pounds. She was the largest of her litter, but is actually now the smallest. Or she was, but she's put on some weight as she's getting older. Her healthy weight is slightly below "average" at 90 or 95 pounds (she's at nearly 100 now and needs to lose weight). She's nearly seven years old now, not a puppy, and it's harder to remember her exact weights, lol.

If you're feeling more than just a bit of rib and her hips and spine are feeling too prominent, I would definitely try canned food or soaking dry food in chicken or beef broth or different toppers on the kibble or even raw food might be more appealing. We've never had a problem with Annabel's appetite, so I don't have much more to offer beyond that, except to say that if it was a choice between a bit underweight and a bit overweight, I would happily choose underweight every time for a giant breed. It's better for their joints. If she's really unhealthily underweight, though, you'll have to get the weight up. But definitely go by feel and not what she's "supposed" to be according to any chart.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

B Natural archives News letters are a good place to read about digestive problems. My major GSD, always a picky eater as a pup, never eat a breakfast meal , eat his food way after night, lots of skip meals. 3 years of the vets saying they can't find anything wrong with him. He was having digestive issues, that was causing inflammation in his stomach and intestinal lining. That inflammation was the cause of him not feeling well enough to eat , until the inflammation settled down or he was just so hungry then he would eat and it would cause the inflammation to come back. By 3 years old his system finally broke completely down rush to the vet and so on. I put him on a cooked human food diet, no fat. He got better, Worked with B naturals for their recommendations, he continued to be consistent and gain weight eat regular on the cooked diet. I tried Canidae Lamb rice and he did fine coming off the cooked food diet. I did go back to a lighter cooked diet then raw for the rest of his life because I liked feeding it .

In the end it was handling that inflammation situation going on in his body, finding something to keep his body calm long enough for the lining to heal and not be so sensitive and reactive to everything and anything he ate. Cause it wouldn't of mattered what he ate when his lining was already inflamed he would of had the same reaction to it. Once the inflammation was handled he could and would eat anything and everything.

my current breed are larger breeds around 60lbs at 5 months to 160's adults) they don't have digestive problems this last pup I did use the breeders food choice Royal Canin Giant puppy, He did really well and balanced and liked eating it. No didn't care for the ingredients, but the pup ending at 165lbs was strong , sturdy and good hips . elbows all the way through. can't complain for feeding it.