Skinny pup!

[Charlie Pup]

I am feeding my 6 month old cocker 240g of James wellbeloved food twice a day, small portion taken out for lunch in puzzle ball. He's quite a tall boy and I can really feel his ribs but he's his fed the recommended quantity. I'm thinking of increasing the quantity. At 6 months was your pup skinny or starting to bulk out?

[Charlie Pup]

By the way last weigh in he was 11.5 kg

[elaine.e]

If you can really feel his ribs and he looks skinny to you then increase his food and see how he looks in a couple of weeks.

Puppies go through all sorts of growth spurts and can look skinny and leggy one day and chubby another! So don't worry about it, and remember that the guidelines for food are just that. Some puppies will need more and some less

[Suzieb]

Not sure if you already have but on James Wellbeloved I think they can move from puppy to junior food at 6 months. I'm not sure how much of a difference this will make but worth doing if you've not already, otherwise I would just increase his food a bit and see if that helps   

[ShazzaC]

Now this is interesting. My pup is 7 months and also on JWB, three times a day still (junior). He has around 200g. He was 12kg at 6 months so we started him on junior and less amounts as vet said he was a weeny bit chubby. Now that he has been clipped and been on the lower dose for a good 6 weeks I find he is always hungry and is looking slim, not sure if maybe slightly too slim. I suppose it is a delicate balancing act.

[Charlie Pup]

We were advised to go from puppy to adult and miss the junior as this may help with calming him down, we did this last week.  ShazzaC I have today upped Charlie from 240g to 280g, may try this for a week just to see, it seems quite excessive to me but I am worried I can see his ribs, although he maybe having one last growing upwards spurt before growing out.

[Murphys Law]

Murphy was very skinny when he was a younger pup. He was eating over twice the recommended amount of food and still not filling out. We changed over to Natural Instinct and he started putting weight on almost at once.

Maybe JW isn't agreeing with him.

[Ali101]

Isla was a skinny pup and we gave the maximum amount of kibble that was recommended and she still didn't gain, but was and still is very active. She is now 2 and still has the same amount 180g (she had a lot more as a growing pup, but this amount since approx 12-14 months) of Millies Wolfheart but she has now begun to fill out, she still looks athletic but no ribs showing. I also put some dried sprat sprinkles on her kibble which she adores and I think this May have helped too. Isla's breeder said it was normal to fill out more around the age of 18 months to 2 years. I did read on another forum that Sometimes with the kibble if you give too much it can have the opposite effect of weight gain as it tends to overload the dogs system and be less well digested causing sloppy poos. Not sure if this is true tho..

[ShazzaC]

One of the people at the kennels says they use Skinners Field and Trial there. It is similar in ingredients to JWB but much cheaper. Can get it at Countrywide stores. Was thinking of going over to this when he is on the adult food. I know dogs can be greedy, but he starts getting desperate for his meals about an hour and a half before!!

[Charlie Pup]

Murphy was very skinny when he was a younger pup. He was eating over twice the recommended amount of food and still not filling out. We changed over to Natural Instinct and he started putting weight on almost at once.

Maybe JW isn't agreeing with him.

I hadn't thought of that, I'll see how the next week goes and if no improvement I may try switching foods