Charlie's Weight at 4 Months

**iammike** · 11-14-2011, 11:43 PM

Since we were just at the vet today, I have a weight just shy of 18 weeks.

12.95kg or 28.55lbs at 18 weeks is too small to my understanding. 2lbs per week would be 36lbs.

I feed him 1.5 cups of food 3 times a day. Science Diet Puppy Large Breed.

Should I actually feed him more? I'm feeding more than Science Diet recommends on the bag as it is.

**BigBrownDog** · 11-15-2011, 12:00 AM

How large are the parents of this puppy? There is great variation in size amongst various Labs so your Lab may be appropriately sized based on what he is bred from.

**iammike** · 11-15-2011, 12:57 AM

I'll have to see what I can find out. With all that's happened in the Fukushima area (where the puppy was born) it may be difficult to get info beyond the JKC certificate.

I'm a bit saddened though. I'm reading up on dog food on a site linked here on the forums and I always thought Science Diet would be a good food seeing as I'm constantly seeing it stocked in vet offices...but at least their puppy food is not recommended at all.

**Sophiesmama** · 11-15-2011, 02:53 AM

I have heard that about the Science Diet... Do you see your dog's ribs? Does he look skinny? What about his height? Does he seem to be in normal parameters? How does his coat look? Does it seem thin or sparse or dull and unhealthy? When you feed him, does he rummage and still act hungry, or does he seem satisfied? What did your vet say? I think I would check the dog food reviews and find a better quality food for him. Maybe even try grain free. Dog Food Reviews | Dog Food Ratings

**iammike** · 11-15-2011, 03:50 AM

I'm seeing what I can find here in Japan that I can find good reviews on. The base seems to just carry "crap".

I don't think he looks too skinny at all and sometimes he even looks a tad tubby to be honest. His coat is shinny but seems to be getting darker on his back and head. Doubt that's a bad thing. Assuming it's his coat changing as he grows.

He doesn't seem too worried about food as long as the food bowl isn't left on the floor. If it is, after a few hours he'll go knock it around and look at me but I think he's just being a Lab and wanting to munch all the time.

**Sophiesmama** · 11-15-2011, 05:02 AM

If you could post some pictures, we would love to see you boy!

**iammike** · 11-15-2011, 05:39 AM

This is from a week ago. 17 weeks old.

**javasmom** · 11-15-2011, 06:29 AM

OMG-he's SO cute!!!
I have a little lab...smaller than standard.
Moka is 17" tall and weighs 50.4 lbs at 2 years old.
Her mother weighs 82 lbs, her dad weighs 90 lbs.
She's just...little.
I also have her full sister. Java is bigger-she is 21.5" tall and weighs about 60 lbs.

**dek** · 11-15-2011, 06:41 AM

What a cutie!
As the others have said - not all labs are the same, so if he doesn't seem to skinny to you or your vet, don't worry about the number too much.
Was the vet satisfied with how he looked?
As for the food, my recollection is that Science Diet is considered low quality primarily due to the high amount of corn in it, but you have to work with what you can get.

**iammike** · 11-15-2011, 07:04 AM

Vet is a-ok with Charlie-boy. Guess I should stop getting worried about every little thing. lol My first pup so he's like a kid to me. Learning as I go.

Yeah, it's hard to know what I'm getting if I buy the Japanese stuff. Even if it's from the same company and name, it's not guaranteed that the ingredients are the same here and it's all in Japanese. lol

On base, I'm going to load up the dog food rating site on my iPhone and go in there to see if I can find anything worth muster. Just going through the list and remembering the different foods I was looking at in there it doesn't give me a lot of hope. lol

Worse comes to worse, might bribe a Japanese friend to go to the pet store with me and help me out.