Puppy looking skinny

[Jan2009]

My almost 16 week old female is looking skinny. She weighs about 27lbs. I feed her Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy food 1 cup 3 times a day. I see and feel her and see her rib cage. Am I feeding her too little? Her poop is healthy. I just feel she is too thin....maybe I need to up her food? I know she always gets super excited to eat!...like she is starving and she doesn't chew her food she just swallows it! But i guess that is typical in a Lab. I would post a pic..but I can't figure out how to do so

[Tanya]

you should not SEE the rib cage on a normal lab no. Is she a mix or pure bred?
Can you talk to your vet about this? what did they say at her last puppy shots?

[Jan2009]

She is a full breed yellow lab. The vet said she is fine. Healthy and Hyper. I started feeding her a little more today. See if she gains some weight.

[windycanyon]

General rule of thumb here for active pups is to feed a cup per month of age up thru 4-5 mos. Always go by feel of ribs to fine tune.

[Sophiesmama]

We give Sophie about a cup of Iames puppy mixed with a couple of big spoon fulls of Iames puppy canned food three times a day. She also gets dog biscuits and doggy treats when we train her. I also give her plain yogurt once a day, about 1/3 cup usually. She still is a more lean looking dog than some of the husky looking yellow guys... She is 14 weeks and 33 lbs. Some days when she has played hard and seems to think she is starving, we give her an extra feeding.

[BigBrownDog]

My almost 16 week old female is looking skinny. She weighs about 27lbs. I feed her Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy food 1 cup 3 times a day. I see and feel her and see her rib cage. Am I feeding her too little? Her poop is healthy. I just feel she is too thin....maybe I need to up her food? I know she always gets super excited to eat!...like she is starving and she doesn't chew her food she just swallows it! But i guess that is typical in a Lab. I would post a pic..but I can't figure out how to do so

Ribs should not be visible. I would up it to 1.5 cups per feeding.

[Mark_J]

Labs do have a propensity to over-eat and you certainly don't want to start down that road, that will lead to all kinds of health issues later.

There is also some subjectivity to what 'seeing the ribs' means, can you vaguely see the outline of ribs or can you see the sides of the ribs and count each one? The first case might be acceptable during a growth spurt while the second is an underfed dog. If your vet says he's doing well after he checks him out then the dog is probably doing well. If you don't trust what your Vet is telling you then you need to find a new Vet...

[BigBrownDog]

Only 3 cups of food a day for a 4 month old puppy is not enough IMO. I'd up it to 4-4.5. I was feeding 4.5 at that age and my puppy was not/is not fat.