# I need your opinion on my 4 month old



## Adele (Sep 25, 2012)

This is my 4 month old,
Does she look skinny to you? cause my mom thinks I'm starving her.
The reality of it all is that I feed her 2 scoops in the morning, 1 at lunch & 2 for supper,
cause she's got an apititte like a monster.

....? does she look healthy?


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

Can you post a side picture? Also, What are you feeding her?


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## Maggies Dad (Aug 15, 2012)

Does a little bit. And a side view would be helpful.
We feed three times a day according to the instructions and the lines are straighter?


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## jaggirl47 (Jul 18, 2009)

She is built exactly like my 5 month old. She doesn't look too skinny in that pic. People are used to seeing fat dogs that they think healthy is skinny.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

What brand of food are you using?

She's slender but how's her _demeanor_? A dog could look like that and be energetic and fine, or be lethargic and can't do much, and that's a problem.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Lean is a good thing but I think she is too skinny as her rib cage really stands out. Let us know what you feed her. You seem to give her plenty of food but either she is not able to digest this fully if this is a good quality food. Or you are feeding her a lesser quality food. So please let us know the brand(s) you feed her.


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## Adele (Sep 25, 2012)

I've been feeding her royal canin, than blue for pups, she got the *hits after blue, 
I thought she would work it out, but got worse, so now in recovery she's eating my wifes 
home made chicken and rice. She does have a tone of energy, other than that ever 
since I took her off of Blue, it feels like she's not drinking much.


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

"Scoops" could mean anything. How many cups is in a scoop? My four month old male is a little heavier than that, but not much. He eats as much as he wants, too. I don't think this pup looks too awful skinny. Sometimes it's hard to put weight on these guys.


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## jaggirl47 (Jul 18, 2009)

This pup is not overly skinny. It looks to be a very healthy size for a growing pup.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

*im not an expert*

I'd say your does does seem to be on the skinny side. maybe an extra 1/2 scoop?


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## lennoxbradley88 (Apr 23, 2012)

Hmm your pup does look a little skinny. When you touch her ribs and spine does it feel like there is any meat in between lol. IDK if I made sense there but maybe just give your pup a bit more to eat. I feed my 8 month 3 cups a day but it's Orijen so it fills her up faster and is pretty darn heavy lol.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Adele said:


> I've been feeding her royal canin, than blue for pups, she got the *hits after blue,
> I thought she would work it out, but got worse, so now in recovery she's eating my wifes
> home made chicken and rice. She does have a tone of energy, other than that ever
> since I took her off of Blue, it feels like she's not drinking much.


She looks fine, a growing puppy. Slender is better than fat.


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## Bubbles (Aug 31, 2012)

No one here likes anything i have to say. But I'm saying it anyways...I just fill up the bowl with lots of food and let her eat as much as she wants for an hour then take the food away. two times a day with plenty of treats in between. Some puppies are hungrier then others. so, I'd feel bad if one day they were hungrier and wanted more and didn't give it to them. 

Your puppy might be sensitive to some foods . So stick with the ones she can tolerate. I give bubbles iams puppy food she likes a lot.



I'd feel bad if my puppy was


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

She does look a bit too thin. I would feed a bit more.


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## MattLink (Oct 23, 2012)

My personal opinion; she doesn't look too bad, but if you find after increasing her food that she appears healthier, than maybe it's what she needed. It's what I did with Link though I feed raw. 

Also it should say on the bag how much to feed your puppy according to age and weight in order to give you a good starting point. 


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


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## N Smith (Aug 25, 2011)

I think she looks good from the side. Nice tuck, good waist definition, can just see the last rib. I think the bird's eye view shot can be deceiving, and it is better to keep young dogs on the lean side.

When you switched her to Blue, did you do it cold turkey? When switching foods, it should take about a week to do a complete change over. 

If you are just starting to wean her off the chicken/rice, you can wean her back onto the blue SLOWLY to avoid digestive upset.

IE: Day 1, 2 - 3/4 Rice and chicken with 1/4 Blue; Day 3, 4 - 1/2 and 1/2; Day 5, 6 - 3/4 Blue to 1/4 Rice and Chicken, Day 7 - all Blue.

At each stage, you are waiting to see firm stool before you progress with adding more Blue. If you see semi-firm, keep the same ratio for a couple extra days before progressing. It can take some dogs more time to switch, and since her gut is still healing, it can definitely take longer.

I would also add a teaspoon of PLAIN yogurt with active cultures to each of these meals, you can continue once she is swiched over, but its not necessary.


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## Angelina03 (Jan 9, 2012)

N Smith said:


> I think she looks good from the side. Nice tuck, good waist definition, can just see the last rib. I think the bird's eye view shot can be deceiving, and it is better to keep young dogs on the lean side.
> 
> When you switched her to Blue, did you do it cold turkey? When switching foods, it should take about a week to do a complete change over.
> 
> ...


This is how I got Rocco back on kibbles after he got sick and was on a rice and ground beef diet. It worked really well. Just be careful of the yogurt. I found Rocco was having loose stool from the dairy.
BTW- she looks a tad bit thin to me, but Rocco was the same. Everyone kept telling me he was too skinny. Vet said he was healthy, however. And I too prefer lean/thin. A 1/2 cup extra a day won't hurt.


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## tsfarling (Oct 13, 2012)

My dog is scrawny as well but my vet said its common for GSD to be long and lean and then they get to an age where they finally stop stretching lengthwise and start to fill out. She's had several GSD and I trust her opinion. My dog is about 2-4 lbs behind growth rate charts but she was also the runt.


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