I was contacted by one of my puppy owners who had just come from her vet's office with her English male puppy. She was told by the vet that he is concerned about the puppies growth rate. He is 47 lbs and is 1 week shy of 5 months. The owner says he is growing taller at this age and appears to be not filled out yet. He is very active and healthy . The owner is continuing to feed him Natural Balance Ultra which is a All Growth Food. He has been on this food since he was 4 1/2 weeks old. The owner feeds him 1 1/3 cups 3 times a day which is actually 2 cups less than the recommended amount. The protein ratio on this food is 23% ,the fat ratio is 13% and the average calcium is 1.75%. Should we be concerened that is he is growing to fast or does this sound right to some of you? I have his Daddy's weight at 30 pounds at 12 weeks and no other records of his puppy weight after that. He is now 98 lbs and is a heavy boned male that is very muscular.

had a boy who was larger then that at 5 months, no fat, just big and lots of bone. At a year, over 90 in great condition, no fat.

I have had several at 5 months right around 50lbs. Whats more important is what he looks like. If he has above average bone and decent size, this weight is probably OK.

Some vets think that all the labs should look like the "Amercan" type. I had a case of a girl I sold and she came to visit, the girl I kept was probably 10 to 12 pounds heavier and I asked the owner how many cups was she feeding and it was the same amount that she was eating when she left my home.

Bone weighs a lot and vets don't get it. They are used to seeing BYB or Am. bred Labs and they also read off those idiotic weight charts!
I had a litter last year, kept a male and female here. One male I sold weighed 25 lbs at his 4 months check up!! I spoke to the owner about this right away when she contacted me and told her mine weighed 45 and 40 lbs!! She has since upped his weight and now at 6 months he is in the same condition as my own pups.

Tell them to watch the amount of weight he puts on in a two week period-if he is gaining more than 8-9 lbs in 2 weeks then he is gaining too fast and it is at that point they should consider changing his food. Don't go by just weight rather how fast he is gaining the weight. I had a boy who weighed more than that at 5 mos, at full adult weight he was 100 lbs. However as above posters mentioned he was loaded with bone and tons of coat.

My 4 1/2 month old female is 50 lbs. right now. She is not tall but has a lot of bone and coat. Her sister came to visit recently and looked too thin, their vet told them he thought she was too fat and they cut back to what she had been eating when she left me at 8 weeks! I told them they need to up her food right now. Both puppies are on Innova large breed puppy food.

I had a female that was 45 lbs at 4 mos. She also had a lot of bone and substance.

47 pounds sounds very typical for a 5 month old male.

What is the harm in following the vet's instructions? Research demonstrates quite clearly that a lean body is associated with orthopedic health and longevity.

I think that sounds very average for most nice boned show types. Mine are usually always about that much. They do that growth spurt at 5 mos. and go on adult about then. All of a sudden they look alot smaller. I would not worry about the weight and most vets want that slim look, most of us don't.

Boys out of my last litter tended to be 10 pounds for every month of age and around 80#/8 months old, started slowing down, filling out.

I have a 10 month old male who just went in to get his blood draw at the Vets for Optigen testing 2 weeks ago and he weighed in at 93 lbs. He is all bone from a known CH Sire and my large female. He is a Lean, Mean Machine. Now he will start to fill out as he grows. By the way, Optigen emailed me yesterday and he's an A or Clear. YEAH!

Does your vet think he is a lean machine? It appears that breeders make very different judgments than vets about appropriate weight.

Yea and sometimes they make very bad calls about spaying and neutering to early, and whelping a litter. Some seem so clueless. I had rather listen to other breeders thank you.

No, research demonstrates that sound genes indicate good orthopedic soundness.
Keeping your puppy "lean" will only cause it to lose bone, so go right ahead and feed the way your vet recommends, because they do know best about breeding and genetics. SUUUUUURRRE they do ;)

It's pretty simple to tell if the dog weighs too much. If you can't easily feel the ribs with gentle pressure, then he is overweight - no matter how much bone or muscle he has.

Personally, I prefer to keep my dogs leaner and healthier, but judge by the rib test not the scale.

And how exactly does keeping a dog lean cause it to lose bone? That makes NO scientific sense. Bone is bone and isn't affected by dieting it's affected by genetics. Dieting first affects fat, and then if excessive can cause a loss of muscle, but the bones are simply not affected. Makes me wonder how much of all that "bone" that's out there is really bone if it's susceptible to weight loss

Yes, in fact, a cohort of 49 Labrador puppies from 7 litters were followed for their entire lives and repeatedly studied throughout that time. The study was funded by Purina. Lean is better.

Many studies have been conducted on other species demonstrating that lean body mass is associated with longevity.