# Feeding guidelines for lanky 7 month old



## Kaity (Nov 18, 2009)

Vida is now 7 months old. I'd say, around 50 pounds. Give or take a few. She's not as big as I expected her to be at this age (being a bigger puppy, and the biggest female in the litter)

I need her Wellness Super5mix or whatever, the purple one. She gets 4-5 cups of this a day depending on the amount of activity she is provided.
Everybody gives me a hard time about how skinny she is. Like, what do they want me to do about it? I explain, over and over she wil NOT fill out until atleast, ATLEAST a friggin year. For the love of god. I get argued with over and over. Her waistline is fine. It's the rest of her that resembles Scar from The Lion King. Basically not a lot of muscle, ontop of that she still has fur loss from flea allergys. 
She gets things like marrow bones or elk bones with meat on them or buffalo ribs with meat on them 3 times a week. I give her 2 eggs a week, and also yogurt for more protein. She gets 1000mgs of salmon oil a day. 
I'm so sick of having to argue with people who know nothing about the breed on why she looks so dumb right now. 
What can I do to build more muscle on her? I'm not feeding her more than I already do because I believe that would be overfeeding her and dog food ain't cheap around here, I already spend close to $100 a month on food for her.

So, suggestions please =D.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

50 pounds at 7 months old is not a big deal. Halo is 58-1/2 pounds at a year and a half old, and may not break 60 pounds when full grown. Right now she's almost exactly at the midpoint of the standard for an adult female, (which goes from 48-1/2 to 70-1/2 pounds), and her weight is perfect for her size. 

Vida is a few pounds under the _average_ weight of a 7 month old female, but still within the adult standard. Some dogs go through a lanky stage and there's not anything you can do about that, it's just her structure. Feeding her more is just going to make her chunky, and that's much worse than being on the lean side. Due to her hair loss her ribs are going to be more pronounced than they would be if she had a nice full coat and again, there's not anything you can do about that. The only thing that will build muscle is exercise, but at her age you want to do the right kind of exercise so you don't stress her developing bones and joints. If you've got a place where she can swim, that would be perfect. 

When people ask why she's so skinny, explain that she's a _puppy _and perfectly normal for her age. And then ignore them, because they are obviously ignorant and you can't fix stupid.  Arguing with them is pointless, so stop. Keep in mind that most people are used to seeing fat dogs so they think that's normal and you're not going to change their minds about that.


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## Kaity (Nov 18, 2009)

48.5 pounds for a female gsd.. I couldn't imagine. I don't know how much she actually weighs, that is just an estimate but hopefully it's correct. I'm just worried she's going to look all weird forever. Wouldn't love her any less or more though. 
Haha, that's right! I can't fix their uneducated comments towards me about her, but I definitely try to! We are going to Kelowna in a few days.. very excited to swim with her there for the first time!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

I've never had a dog go through a tall lanky stage, but it's pretty common, I see pictures all the time. Halo went though all sorts of weird stages though, her back end grew before her front end, so she walked around with this big ol' booty, and then it took forever for her head to grow into the rest of her body. My hubby was calling her Zippy (the pinhead) for the longest time, lol! :rofl: Thank goodness she finally looks normal!


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

maybe you have a smaller dog. your dog is
only 5 months old. who knows what
she's going to top out at.

the yogurt you feed, does it have sugar in it?

you think your dog looks dumb. with a comment
like that i'm not so sure what you know about GSD's.



Kaity said:


> I'm so sick of having to argue with people who know nothing about the breed on why she looks so dumb right now.


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## FuryanGoddess (Dec 26, 2009)

My 7 1/2 month old just packed on two much needed lbs in the last two wks.. she's now 55 lbs. She's tall and skinny, now she just doesn't look like I'm starving her. She's got long legs and big ears, still, but she's growing into them. 

I got her fixed a month ago, and then she was REALLY thin, coming in at 49lbs and about 4" past my knee. 

When we got her, her feet were huge, legs like tree trunks and radar ears... I thought for sure she'd be over 80lbs... 85 even maybe.. now.. I think I'd be shocked if she it 70lbs. 

She's only starting to fill out now.. so who knows... she needs to grow out now, that most of the up is done... ppl still know she's a puppy because how lean she is.


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## lrodptl (Nov 12, 2009)

doggiedad said:


> maybe you have a smaller dog. your dog is
> only 5 months old. who knows what
> she's going to top out at.
> 
> ...


Trying to make more friends eh?


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

Anka is a pretty tall female and now at 2.5 years she runs between 65 and 70lbs. She was pretty lanky/skinny for awhile as a puppy. At 6 months and you can see she was pretty skinny. Time and maturity are what did the most for her. There is a certain amount of genetics involved in body type, I wouldn't necessarily up her food, but you can see if you can put more muscle mass on her. Swimming would be great! But as you can see from Anka (who was in pretty good shape) Sometimes you just have to wait for them to grow up.

Anka @ 6 months.









Anka @ 1.5 years.


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## lylol (Feb 18, 2009)

Just tell folks its her "ugly duckling" stage and with maturity will come a lovely GSD girl. You cant change folks so just laugh em off.


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## Kaity (Nov 18, 2009)

yeah but I feel like I'm looking at her and I don't think she has grown (enough to show a difference) since April 
This kinda worries me, like did I do wrong by feeding her adult food instead of LBP? Changing her food too much or any other factors? I just don't personally feel she looks as mature as she should by now!


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## Kaity (Nov 18, 2009)

Haha Debbie, Vida too has a big butt! So did my last girl! 

I don't mean dumb as in stupid, I mean dumb as in weird and silly.
It's my dog and I feel the right to describe her however I want to on here without people commenting on how uneducated I am on GSDs. 
The fact that you just chose to call me out on GSD's doesn't make you look too good in my eyes (not like you care, but still.)
I grew up around A LOT of them. And in the past year I've had a **** of a lot of experience with them and learning about them.

Don't question me about my knowledge on the breed, not interested in snide comments.

She's still got these big ears (like her dad) that she came to me with. She was the biggest female in the litter, I think she was 12.5 pounds when I got her at 2 days before 8 weeks. HUGE paws. Big, huge puppy paws. Everybody said she'd grow up to be big. I'm still waiting! I would like her to be around 70-75 pounds full grown but I don't have control over it! I'm very used to seeing larger GSD's around here.

Anka is gorgeous! Vida looks like she did when she was 6 months but with.. less fur! Going to try comfortis on her to help with the flea allergy.. maybe the fur on her tail will grow back! 

I don't know where you got that my dog is 5 months from.. I'm pretty sure I said she was 7. Count the months from October to now. I feed her yogurt that my grandma makes. Pretty sure theres no sugar in there.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

I've never fed LBP food. It won't stunt their growth. Slower is better anyway.

And Some dogs just grow differently than others. Tag is growing pretty proportionally, and although I "know" he's growing he still looks so much like a little puppy still.


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## retsbreh (May 25, 2010)

JKlatsky said:


> Anka is a pretty tall female and now at 2.5 years she runs between 65 and 70lbs. She was pretty lanky/skinny for awhile as a puppy. At 6 months and you can see she was pretty skinny. Time and maturity are what did the most for her. There is a certain amount of genetics involved in body type, I wouldn't necessarily up her food, but you can see if you can put more muscle mass on her. Swimming would be great! But as you can see from Anka (who was in pretty good shape) Sometimes you just have to wait for them to grow up.
> 
> Anka @ 6 months.
> 
> ...


 
Out of sheer curiosity, how much does Anka weigh now? She look exactly like my GSD Dixie. Anka at 6 months looks almost exactly like Dixie, color and lanky. She got really sick with Parvo just a few days after we got her. I thought she was too skinny because of long lasting effects from that and thanks to you now, I know she is not! Thanks so much! 

Sorry I see now that she is 65 - 70 lbs. Dixie weighs in at 50 lbs at 6 1/2 months.


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## MikeB06 (Mar 12, 2006)

*Skinny pup*

The Wellness formula of dog food you are feeding is 22% Protein & 12% Fat and 407 k-cal per cup of food. That may be part of the problem.
If you don't change food to higher protein & fat then I would at least add PROZYME or other digestive enzyme that will help your dog gain some weight. You could stop what your are using as it's not working for you. 

Having said that, I have had excellent results with 2 supplements from Animal Naturals. K-9 Super Fuel and Show Stopper. 

K-9 Super Fuel
K9 Super Fuel by Animal Naturals

K-9 Show Stopper
K9 Show Stopper by Animal Naturals

Hope that helps,

MikeB


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## Kaity (Nov 18, 2009)

Okay. I'm a bit confused. 
Don't feed LBP food because she'll grow too fast.
But regular food has low protein and fat which is what she needs.
Her food and salmon oil already costs a lot. I don't really want to shovel out more money on feeding her. 

How does the digestive enzyme help her gain weight exactly?


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Kaity said:


> yeah but I feel like I'm looking at her and I don't think she has grown (enough to show a difference) since April
> This kinda worries me, like did I do wrong by feeding her adult food instead of LBP? Changing her food too much or any other factors? I just don't personally feel she looks as mature as she should by now!


At 7 months old her growth SHOULD start slowing down, and so should her caloric requirements. Do you know exactly what she weighed at 6 months old compared to now or are you just guessing? 

You can't expect to necessarily SEE a big difference in her size just by looking at her, but there may actually be a difference in her weight. A young puppy may gain as much as 10-12 pounds or more in a month, but as she nears her eventual adult weight that number is going to drop by a lot. 

I'll check and see if I can find how much Halo weighed at 6 months old. I know I posted it somewhere.


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## Myamom (Oct 10, 2005)

If I'm not mistaken...GSD's aren't completely filled out until around 2 years old. Ava was a lanky looking kid until then...if not even a little longer. 

When I would take Ava to rescue events...people would ask me if she was a rescue dog. I would tell them yes ...and they would say...awwww...I can tell...she must have been starved.. poor thing...(LOLOLOLOL...I have had her since she was 8 weeks old)...LOL. 

No biggie..I would just tell them she's actually a perfect weight for her age...educate them on what a GSD should look like and weigh...smile and move on


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Found it - Halo was 46-1/2 pounds at 6 months old. At 18 months old she's 58-1/2 pounds, so that's 12 pounds gained _in a year_. If I remember correctly at one year old she was in the 55/56 pound range, which averages out to a pound and a half per month from 6 months to a year, a small enough amount that it would be impossible to know without actually weighing her. That also means that she's only gained about 3 pounds in the past 6 months. Am I worried about that? NO! oke:

Really, you're overthinking this because of some ignorant comments by people who don't know what they're talking about. Don't let it get to you - come up with a stock answer that you can offer in a pleasant tone of voice when people try to give you their unsolicited comments about your puppy's weight, something like "oh, she's fine, thanks!" And then change the subject!!!!


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## muddypaw (Jan 8, 2012)

Shadow is still pretty lean at 9 months old she only weighs 65 pounds. I too get the comments about if I feed my dog enough. She is very active so I gues she is burning it off. We feed 1/2 Stella and Chewy Raw and 1/2 Fromm Gold Large breed puppy. she also gets a good sized beef bone once a week and about 2-3 bully sticks a week. 

I've been told its the puppy stage and not to worry. My vet at least says her weight gain is slow but consistant.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I'm concerned about my pup's weight too, she is 4 months and 31 pounds. She is growing taller like a weed, but weight wise she is just to "skinny" for my liking. I was told by two different vets that she is healthy and they grow at different rates. Someone told me females grow tall first, then fill out later. Either way, she's active and healthy. For a while I put a sweater on her so I couldn't see how thin she was---this of course after a couple ignorant people commented on how thin she was. I have chosen not to even answer someone that questions my ability to care for my dog. I know she eats and I really don't care what people say...I am the one with a wonderful dog in my home and heart


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