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skinny puppy

431 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by  LeoRose
Hello

I have an 18week old male lab pup (field strain) who is a gundog reject. I got him at 16 weeks old and he was being fed on skinners. He was a bit itchy and gassy so I have moved him onto Nutriment raw as of 3 days ago. Hes getting 750g a day. Plus cut up dried lamb intestine as treats.

His worming was up to date when I got him 2 weeks ago. However I noticed within a week he was on the skinny side and I could kinda see his ribs a bit. I mentioned this to the vet last Friday and she said his weight was perfect at he weighed 14.5kg at 17weeks which seems about right.

A week later and I still think he's definitely a bit too skinny as when I look down on him as his ribcage is too prominent and I can feel the knobbly bits along his spine.

I plan on worming him with VermX from tomorrow just incase. I see no worms in his poo and he's not bloated or scratching his bum.

My question is, is it normal for pups to go through a lanky stage? Hes eating well, playing as normal and nothing else has changed.

Its possible I maybe didn't feed him enough of the skinners as it was just in a bag and the website didn't give feeding guidelines. I was giving him 4 small meals a day, a cup at a time, plus extra for training. I don't think 4+ cups of kibble a day should be enough for him to lose condition. But maybe I grossly underestimated it? He was also a bit over active the last week and didn't nap much during the day. He seems more settled since I moved him onto nutriment.
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I'm not familiar with either food, and you are giving measurements in metric, so I'm assuming that you are outside the US? It's possible that the food he's on now just doesn't have the calories he needs.

Has he had a stool sample taken in to the vet to be checked? I'm also not familiar with the dewormer you are planning on using, but unless it's a broad spectrum medication, it might not get something like whipworms.

And yes, field line Labs are usually very lean and lanky, especially when compared to show line Labs.
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