6 month weigh in...

[knie0012]

Our guys turned six months today and Oskar, the black one, weighed 83.5 and Carter the brown one was 79.5.

These are our first newfs and for some reason I am obsessed about thier weight and eating habits.

We feed canidea ALS, and they are eating about 8 cups a day with a little soft mixed in. We can still feel their ribs doing the rib test so I don't think they are eating too much.

How are we doing and are these numbers comparable?

Jason

 

[charlieinnj]

8 cups a day seems like a lot of food to me. Of course, I don't know how active your dogs are. I never fed my Newf pup more than 3+/- cups a day and now that he's an adult, he still eats around the same.

 

[Peter Maniate]

The amount of kibble that a pup eats varies considerably. Not only does each pup have their unique metabolism but kibble varies in number of calories per cup and in digestability. For example, Fromm Fish & Potato Formula has 325 calories/cup whereas Orijen Puppy has 523 calories/cup.

The best way to keep on top of your pup's weight gain is to weigh them weekly. From two months to six months they should gain 2 - 5 lbs a week (ideally you average over three weeks to account for normally fluctuations). At six months, your pup will be approximately 2/3rds of his adult weight and the rate of growth slows in the next six months to 0 - 2 lbs per week. Around 11 - 12 lbs, your pup will normally be finished in height growth, within 1/2 inch and should be 3/4 of adult weight.

After a year of age, the weight gains vary considerably as some will reach maturity at two years and others could take up to eight years of age. At this point, the standing rib test is your best way of ensuring that your Newf is the correct weight, allowing some extra for "winter weight".

To know when your Newf has reached physical maturity, do the ear test. According to the breed standard in Canada "When the ear of the adult dog is brought forward, it reaches to the inner corner of the eye on the same side." There is a similar provision in the US breed standard.

When doing the ear test, it is important to bring the ear over gently and not stretch it. This test may not work on Newfs neutered/spayed before going through puberty.

Newfondly,

Peter

 

[NessaM]

Jason - At 6 months Nanook was about 85 lbs, and Pooka is 95 lbs now, he just turned 6 months. From the picture your two look more like Pooka than Nanook at that age - Nanook is a shorter, stockier newf, while right now Pooka is a leggy, scarecrowish bone creature - all elbows and gigantic ears!

I agree with Charlie and Peter - activity level and individual metabolism will effect how much of the calories they are taking in is being put to growing versus play/exercising so if you feel like your boys are keeping trim on that amount you're fine. You might notice as they get older that the amount they are fed must be tapered back - once they no longer need all that extra nutrition for growth they might start to pack on the pounds. Nanook is down to 2 cups a day at 18 months old. He's on a DIET.

Another way to check is, how are their stools? Sometimes when a dog is being fed too much the stool becomes soft/loose.

 

[knie0012]

Yeah, that picture is the fellas when they were 4 1/2 months old.

And in response to Peter, that means these guys won't get that big? Maybe 110 if they are 2/3 their wieght right now . . .

Maybe we are over feeding them then. They don't have loose stools now but they did have mud butt a little bit ago for about a week.

 

[NessaM]

A lot of things cause diarrhea - dogs have a habit of exploring their environment with their face/tongues and tend to eat things that disagree with them on a pretty regular basis, especially when puppies. If they were consistently loose, you could guess you were overfeeding. If they just had a bout of diarrhea it's likely they ate something 'off'.

 

[Peter Maniate]

Originally posted by knie0012:
And in response to Peter, that means these guys won't get that big? Maybe 110 if they are 2/3 their wieght right now . . .

By my calculations your boys will grow to 125 lbs and 119 lbs respectively. The 2/3 of weight is just a general guide and not absolute by any means.

Here is a website where different people have given their opinion on growth rates and you get further rule of thumb (1/2 adult weight at three months of age):

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070423112123AAcQXaq

My personal experience is that the 1/2 adult weight at three months is not applicable, at least not to Newfs, and like the folks in the above website, I have had disagreements with vets on the subject. Typically the vets that use this particular rule of thumb for dogs and then use it as an absolute for Newfs are found to have the ink still wet on their diplomas, especially if they challenge a breeder with decades of experience.

If anyone would like to see a couple of growth charts for Newfie pups, send me a PM and I'll send you the link. You will see that at three months, the pups weigh less than half of their weight at six months, meaning that at three months they are less than 1/3 of their projected adult weight.

Newfondly,

Peter