Question on normal weight for chocolate lab

[Chocolate Lab]

We have 10 month old chocolate lab. His current weight is abut 86 pounds. I can still see his waist line, but I want to know if anyone has any idea what the normal weight for a 10 month old pup should be?

We feed him Nutro (Natural choice) food about 4 1/2 cups total a day.

He also gets treats through the day.

Any suggestions you could provide would be helpful. I just want to make sure that we have a healthy dog.

[PawNclaws]

WOW- thats one big boy. The ideal weight for a fully grown male lab is between 65 to 80lbs(breed standards) some times 90lbs. Having extra weight at this age can cause stress on his joints, and since your boy is still a puppy he is big for his age. When we weighed Buddy(our male blk Lab) at 1yr 4months he weighed about 70-75lbs(memory is a little off)- we are guessing he now weighs 80lbs now or close to anyway. I would lay off some of the treats- 1 small ones a day is fine, remember treats do not = love. You can give your dog a treat just by hugging and kissing him, brushing, etc. We dont give ours a treat every day- one every other day is good. Anywho have you taken him to the vet to weigh him ? if you see his waist line then he may not be, some labs are just big. I've heard of a lab being 100lbs(which is way to big) but I know there are some breeders out there that breed for Large labs. Your boy can be healthy and not over weight- just Big.

[BellFounder]

that is a LOT of food. All foods differ but our GREAT DANE only gets 4 cups of food a day. Never mind seeing his waist can you easily feel his ribs? If not he is overweight and needs to be on a diet. It sounds to me like you either have a very fat puppy or an abnormally tall labrador.

[Chocolate Lab]

Thanks for the information, I am going to make an appointment with my vet just to make sure he is not overweight. I am also going to lay off the treats.
BellFounder you said that 4 1/2 cups or 4 cups of food is too much for a puppy?

[BellFounder]

I dont know the feeding guidlines for the food you use but the food I use that would be about twice what i would be feeding a dog of labrador type. Check the back of the bag to be sure.

[Shalva]

backs of bags are often too much food.....
the thing about puppies is that they often won't get fat.... they will jsut grow very fast...... and that is not great for their bones and joints. I have to say that without seeing your boy I don't know of what type your dog is.... there are labs that are taller and thinner and more field type and some that are shorter and stockier and more show type and then there are those in between..... my guess is that your boy grew faster than I probably would have liked to see him grow.... and that is judged by the amount of food you fed him and genetics to a certain extent...... my guess is that he won't get alot bigger....
but I would cut that food way back I would probably go to 2.5 cups a day and see how he does ..... slow growth is better for bones and joints......

S

[Carrie]

I don't like to tell you how much food to give your dog because I can't see your dog's frame or size. Your vet is the best person to ask. You could run by your vet's and let him take a quick look at your dog in the waiting room. I don't think he'd charge for that.

But as a rule of thumb, if you can run your hands down along the dog's sides with sort of medium pressure and feel the ribs, that's good. You shouldn't see the ribs, but they shouldn't have oodles of fat over them either.

Basically, what can bother joints and bones, aggrivate hip dysplasia, is being overweight. And puppy Labradors are prime dogs for getting chunky. Labradors in general are chow hounds and have a tendancy for getting fat. Being careful of that is important but so is not going to the other extreme. Check with your vet to really get a good idea.

[Shalva]

this is not necessarilly the case with puppies.... many puppies won't have excess fat, they just grow to quickly......
and not just being overweight can bother hips and joints.... but also fast growth can increase panosteitis which has been correlated with hip and joint disease.....

cutting the food back will slow growth at this point......
S

[Carrie]

I am sorry if I seem contradictory in any way. But, I have to just caution you Chocolate Lab, to not cut back on your dog's food unless you have your dog looked at by a vet...if you can't tell yourself, by looking.

How can we, over the Internet know what weight or condition your dog is in? What if he's not overweight or not receiving proper nutrition? What if slowing growth is not applicable in this case or at this point? If you cut back without knowing these things, you can cause damage to your pup.

You can also p.m. Doberkim, a member on this board who is almost a vet. She may see this thread and respond. She may be able to point you in the right direction and give you some more medical information. I recall her saying in some past thread that it is important that puppies do get enough protein and that in her expert opinion, skimping on some of these nutrients can be more detrimental than just about anything. There are two schools of thought, apparently. Some people don't feed puppy food for the fear of rapid growth. But then they're missing out on some vital trace minerals and protein which are not in lighter, adult feed.

My own vet told me, because I've had larger breed dogs that I wanted to do right by, naturally, that being overweight is more significant in joint/bone desease even than rapid growth. I suspect that both of those things probably contribute.

So, before you decide anything, I would strongly recommend that you talk to Doberkim and your own vet.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

I agree with Carrie, without knowing any of the medical history of your dog or it's overall health it would be nothing more than a guess on what would or wouldn't be right to do. Your vet would be better qualified to give you direction on this and I'm glad your making an appointment.

[theGOOCH]

That's huge, but its hard to say if he's overweight or just oversized without looking at him