# 5 months and 60 pounds - too big?



## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

My male will be 5 months tomorrow, and was weighed at the vet last night at 59.9 pounds. They were surprised at his size and re-weighed him at 59.0. He was 16 pounds when we got him at 8 weeks, but his parents were moderately sized (mom was 55-60, dad was about 80).

Google suggests it isn't necessarily good for him to be this big at 5 months? He is definitely not overweight, just big.

Should I be concerned or change/modify his diet? He is on Nutro Natural Choice Limited Ingredient Large Breed Puppy dry food. His training treats are freeze dried buffalo lungs, his teething/chew treats are cow tracheas and frozen beef marrow bones.

This is him, taken last week:


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## Ace GSD (May 30, 2014)

How many cups food a day and how much treats and bones he get. Im pretty sure people gonna ask to see him from the side.. cause its the best way to see his body condition. Can u see ribs, at least the last 1 ? is the tummy tucked ? does he have hourglass shape ? these are some of the things you can use to determine if he is overweight or no.


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## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

Don't go by weight, go by body condition. You should be able to feel his ribs as you would feel your knuckles when your hand is laid flat. Can you post some pictures of him standing, from the side and from above?


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## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

He gets about 6 cups a day - more if he is active and hungry, less if he has had a lazy day. He gets a marrow bone every other day or so? He got them daily when I was really worried about his floppy ear (LOL), but not regularly. The tracheas are usually around, but he doesn't eat them as much as chew them for a bit then walk away.

You can easily feel his ribs, but I wouldn't say you can see them. His skin seems bigger than his body - you can grab handfuls of skin and fur at his withers and it sort of lays on the floor next to him when he lays down. So I am not sure I would be able to see his ribs even if he was underweight.

I just took these pics.


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## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

I really don't think he is over weight. I could be wrong, but I was more concerned about his long bones and joints and such, just from growing too fast. Is that something I should worry about?


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

What did your vet say? He doesn't look overweight.


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## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

Just that she was surprised he was almost 60 pounds. Then when she entered it into his file she wanted him re-weighed because he gained 10 pounds in a month. She didn't say anything else about his weight. 

People have started commenting that he is going to be huge. I wasn't expecting huge (and don't have any size preference), so like a fool, I googled...


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## emmers (Dec 30, 2013)

He doesn't look overweight to me. I just looked at some of my records, and my GSD, Krieger, weighed in at 51.3 pounds a week before he turned five months old. He's not overweight in the slightest, either. Just be wary of pano--keep him as lean as you possibly can to help out with his bones and joints. I gave Krieger beef tracheas and put him on adult dog food at six months. We had about two short bouts of pano that were treated quickly with anti-inflammatory medicine. Otherwise, he's healthy as a horse!

EDIT: My breeder is my veterinarian, and she said that it's typical for them to grow about ten pounds in one month at this stage. I wouldn't be worried.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

he's going to be at least 100 lbs. 6 cups seems like a lot to me. i know others feed that much and are fine. my last boy at 6 months was 66lbs, looked fat and only ate 3-4 cups a day. if i fed him 6 cups he would be completely obese.


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## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

I know - it is a lot more than my 4 yo female eats!

He is 22.5-23" at the withers, if you push his fur down.


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## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

scarfish said:


> he's going to be at least 100 lbs


Not necessarily.... my male was that big at that age and topped out at 75 lbs. 

It's hard to tell from the pics, he has such a beautiful coat! I wouldn't worry too much about it, if his body condition is good. They grow at the rate that they grow, ya know? My male was HUGE as a puppy and then slowed right down around 7 months. I wouldn't feed that much kibble, personally- they can only handle so much and the rest will just go right through them and not really help at all. If you're concerned about calories try supplementing with something else (I add eggs and yogurt... they helped my boy's skin a lot).


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

LoveEcho said:


> Not necessarily.... my male was that big at that age and topped out at 75 lbs.


your're right. i was going on what my dog weighed at 6 months. i messed up mine was 75lbs at 6 months i though he was 66lbs then, closer to the op's dog's weight. just looked at his paperwork.

the rule of thumb is at 6 months they hit 75% of their adult weight.


as to the point of the thread, OP, your dog doesn't look fat.


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## my boy diesel (Mar 9, 2013)

yes you need to see more of a tuck behind his ribs
reduce his food rations until you start to see that


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## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

I know this is blurry, but he is a wiggly thing.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

This thread caught my eye because my pup has had quite the change in growth rate. Around 6 months when he was growing quickly he ate six cups of food. Now at 8 and 9 months his growth and appetite have slowed down quit a bit and he has 4 cups of food, plus training treats (remember to count those) and some bully stick in the evenings. We also walk about two miles a day, at a leisurely pace, with shorter potty walks the rest of the day.

With the long hair you can't see the ribs but you can feel them, and the back bone and from above you see a waist. He seems to have that gawky adolescent body but less clumsy than a month or two ago. When he was growing fast it seemed he had no idea how large he was and how much space he took up.

OP, yeah, often getting a nice clear shot of you dog is a team effort. One to hold the camera and one to interest the dog.


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## my boy diesel (Mar 9, 2013)

from above he looks good
you could switch to a good adult food instead of any puppy food to see if that helps


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## d4mmo (Mar 27, 2013)

The issue in my opinion is not weight. It's the rapid growth that causes problems. A high energy dense food along with too much food is a recipe for problems. 
Read this. It's written by a leading Australian vet and she just so happens to own a couple german shepherds.


http://www.gsdcv.org.au/sites/default/files/file/Growth Disorders in Young GSDs_Hedberg 2010_1.pdf


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## Diesel7602 (Mar 12, 2014)

He looks awesome to me.


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## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

d4mmo said:


> The issue in my opinion is not weight. It's the rapid growth that causes problems. A high energy dense food along with too much food is a recipe for problems.
> Read this. It's written by a leading Australian vet and she just so happens to own a couple german shepherds.
> 
> 
> http://www.gsdcv.org.au/sites/default/files/file/Growth Disorders in Young GSDs_Hedberg 2010_1.pdf


This was my question exactly! I will read the link - thanks!

And thanks for the feedback on his weight either way


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## crisco78 (Jan 29, 2011)

my boy diesel said:


> yes you need to see more of a tuck behind his ribs
> reduce his food rations until you start to see that


I hope I don't have Mommy Goggles, but I swear his skin/coat is just too big for his body. He doesn't 'feel' fat all all.

That is normal, right? For him to have so much skin?


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Yep, no need to fill up that skin . Deja is 10 months and I keep her trim so that I can feel her vertebrae when I pet her.


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## Diesel7602 (Mar 12, 2014)

crisco78 said:


> I hope I don't have Mommy Goggles, but I swear his skin/coat is just too big for his body. He doesn't 'feel' fat all all.
> 
> That is normal, right? For him to have so much skin?


Enough skin to grow into =) . My boy is big, and he still has a lot of skin.


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## Ruby'sMom (May 25, 2014)

D4mm- is right on with that article! It applies to my Ruby's loose ligaments (floppy paw gait- as I call it). In my case I think I was giving too many treats and over exercising. She's 31 wks, 57 lbs, 22" shoulder to floor. 4 C of Taste of Wild (puppy) and countless training treats. Changing treats and doing low impact exercise and training. My point is .... Read the article d4mm posted. It's valuable knowledge.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

*Excellent article reference puppy weight gain*



d4mmo said:


> The issue in my opinion is not weight. It's the rapid growth that causes problems. A high energy dense food along with too much food is a recipe for problems.
> Read this. It's written by a leading Australian vet and she just so happens to own a couple german shepherds.
> 
> 
> http://www.gsdcv.org.au/sites/default/files/file/Growth Disorders in Young GSDs_Hedberg 2010_1.pdf


Just finished reading the link. Nice clear explanations, will refer to my vet to read. Thank you.


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## Glacier (Feb 25, 2009)

My guy was 60lbs at 6 months, he's 7 months old now and I need to get him weighed again. He's been eating 3 cups of food consistently, we use high protein/high fat foods with appropriate calcium and phosphorus levels, so we really don't have to feed much. The only times we had to up that amount is when he was getting ready to have a growth spurt, we then upped be food by a cup and a half, but after the spurt he'd go back down to three cups again. He growth has been very consistent and steady, so I figure we're going something right.

He's very lean, has the stomach tuck up, and you can feel his spine when you pet him. I'd be concerned about his leanness, but I can see and feel the muscle he's gaining and out vet never says anything when she examines him. We take him for walks, but we don't push him. He also gets to run around and play with other dogs. He has an allergy to chicken eggs, so I have to be careful of the foods I choose.


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