# Skinny puppies growing fast



## sebdhaese (Mar 29, 2016)

We have two white shepherd pups, brothers, 6 months old. We feed them Orijen Puppy Large Breed, about 450 grams or 3 3/4 cup a day (+threats). They both weigh about 20 kg or 44 lbs and are about 59 cm or 23 inches in height. Both are walked twice a day for 30 minutes and are full of energy and happy.

We went to the vet yesterday and he said two, for me, conflicting things: "They are kind of tall for their age" and "they are kind of skinny, you should feed them more". I don't want them to grow too fast, so I should feed them less, but I don't want them to be too skinny either, so I should feed them more.

Could the Orijen make them grow too fast, but keep them skinny? I also tried feeding a bit more before, but their stool goes soft. Does it matter that they are skinny, if they act fine? Should I feed more or less or just continue what I have been doing?


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Pictures please. Pictures that show the body from the top down and from the side - that will help so we can see what you're talking about. Is the 30 minute walk all they get for exercise per day or do you have a yard?


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## sebdhaese (Mar 29, 2016)

I can't post pictures yet, but I have them in an album on my profile. First one in the album is Jack (21kg or 46lbs) second one is Frost (19,5kg or 43lbs, he has a lighter build)

We live on a farm, so we have a very big yard, but it isn't fenced so they are not allowed to run around alone outside yet. They are in a crate for 4 hours or less per day and walked 2 times for 30 minutes, since I thought that was the norm at 6 months to protect them from dysplasia. Other than that they are free to play with each other inside (we have a lot of room inside) or outside the house, if somebody can watch them.


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## sebdhaese (Mar 29, 2016)

Now I can post pictures. 


*Jack*


















*Frost*


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Thanks for the photos. I am a novice but hopefully you will get some help on this from some of the others.What I have learned here is that puppy large breed formula dog food isn't the best for GSD pups. It promotes rapid growth. Though I don't know if this is causing the tall thin growth in yours. It was from advice here that I switched my pup over to adult dog food at 4 mos. 

They do look on the thin side to me. When you mentioned a farm situation I wondered if your vet has tested for common parasites that are present in a farm environment that may be robbing your pups of some nutrition? Also, sometimes if they are neutered when less than a year old this can produce leggy dogs. 

I feed my girl twice per day to lessen the bulk of the meal to help prevent bloat. She's not quite 2 yet and around 75 lbs and 27" ATW.

There's a lot of information here in the archives on this topic but getting the search here to work here is nearly impossible. If you google search "Thin GSD puppy" and "what to feed my GSD puppy" you'll get lots of hits - then look for the germanshepherds.com address beneath the article and come back into the site using that address link and it will get you to the information.

Hopefully you will hear from the more experienced owners on this post in the next day or two. petfoodadvisor.com also has dog food ratings by brand. I used them to pick for my dog's diet.


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

I don't think they look too skinny. I think they look like gangly teenager dogs. Their coat looks a bit unthrifty to me, but you live on a farm, so they could just be dirty. But, as Stone said, it could be intestinal parasites. Have their stool checked. 

Are you feeding once a day or twice a day?

I didn't use puppy food on my puppies, I used adult or "all life stages". But large breed puppy should have the correct ratio. 

Beautiful dogs!! And welcome to the forum.


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## sebdhaese (Mar 29, 2016)

I feed them twice a day. I doubt it are parasites, as they show no real signs of any, also their shots and dewormer meds have always been up to date.

Could it be then that I feed them a bit too much? The feeding guide for them is 360 g or 3 cups, I feed them 450 g or 3 3/4 cup. Most people say it should be even less than the guide.

About their coats, I just brushed the "spot on" stuff on their back before I took the pictures.


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Ah. That explains the coat!!

I don't think you should cut back on food. The few are still growing and at a decent weight.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

sebdhaese said:


> About their coats, I just brushed the "spot on" stuff on their back before I took the pictures.


You use spot on and flea collars together?


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## sebdhaese (Mar 29, 2016)

Yeah, where we live, there are a lot of sandflies, that carry leishmania. So pets needs to be well protected. Some people here protect their pets three times: spot on, collar and shot.


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## Niexist (Feb 19, 2016)

wow so with treats you're feeding each pup about 4 cups a day?


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## Strikker (Dec 2, 2015)

Kavai looked this thin at 6-7 months, everyone thought we were starving her, our vet was shocked. No matter how much we fed her could not gain weight. Then she just filled out at 10 -11 months. We did nothing different, she just gained weight. We were so happy not to have to explain that we were not starving her  I have a picture I could post if you would like, today she is 75lb and looks great.


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## Niexist (Feb 19, 2016)

Yeah like 4 cups seems like a ton to me. My Judith was getting 2 and 1/2 cups a day and she had like zero food drive. We had to cut her back to 1 cup a day for about 4 days to get her to respond to food. She is about 40 pounds at 19 weeks.


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## sebdhaese (Mar 29, 2016)

Their dad is a huge dog, so it could be that I need to feed more towards 50 kg adult weight instead of 40 kg. But considering that, I'm still feeding more than the guide. So maybe I should cut back just a bit.


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## Superion (Jan 14, 2016)

Mine is just coming to 6 months old and hes about roughly the same size as yours. Its really interesting as a lot of people keep suggesting/making comment about the pup being too thin and got me all paranoid then i bumped into a guy who breed shepherd on one of our walks and we had a nice conversation and he said that the pup is in perfect condition, they should be on the lean side. I think yours looks fine/perfect to me but then everyone opinion is different. When i fed Oregin, mine too was on a huge amount of food and also the soft stool which never really go away, i switched my pup to raw a couple of months back and seems to be working really well. I dont think Origen really go well with our pup. ps hes also a white shepherd.


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