Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:22 pm Post subject: Confused about Tillys weight
Tilly was at the Vet a couple of months ago and had a routine weight check etc. She was, at the time, 16 months old and weighed 28Kgs. The vet advised us that she was at her full adult weight but still had 2 or 3 months growing still to do and so told us to reduce her food by a third (She gets 2 cups of Beta Adult dry food once a day and nothing else).
We were back at the vets today and she weighed in at 25.7 Kgs. The vet again told us that she is overweight and reduce her food by a third again. Tilly is now at the stage where you can see her rib bones when she lies on her side and I don't see any way that she can lose any more without getting ill. She's very active and needs some fuel to burn off when running around the fields.
Can anyone tell me what weight she should be. She's now 18 months old and should have pretty much finished growing.
Obviously with seeing her ourselves its hard to tell, but as long as she has a waistline and you can comfortably feel her ribs (and them not showing) she is ok. If I were you I would take what your vet says with a pinch of salt sometimes. I know you need to trust them, but I have had different vets tell me all sorts. Some say he is ideal, some say he is borderline, and some say nothing! I would go with your instinct personally.
I don't go by what the scales says (or the vets come to that). When Tilly is standing up, you should be able to feel her ribs but not see them and she should have a waistline. If you can see her ribs then she is under weight and if you have to poke hard to feel them, then she is over weight.
The trouble with vets is they read the average weights off a chart, which doesn't allow for the fact that some Labs are bigger than others.
I would say that under 26kgs is perhaps a little light, unless you have a particularly fine built dog. My Mojo isn't a huge lab and she weighs around 27 -28 kgs and looks just about right (so I 'm told ).
Corbie recently lost a bit of weight as he had a bad bag offood, whcih I didn't realise and he wasn't eating it all. I started to feel his ribs more and his spine, shoulder blades and hips. So I started to up his meal and give a few more treats and now he's put it back on again.
Why is it vets all say so mant different things. My Kimmy is now 15 months old and weight aroung the 27kg mark he's not been weighed for a couple of months I'm due to do it any day now. According to the breed standards adult males should be no more then 30kgs fully grown and adult females should be no more then 28kgs but all dogs are different and as long as you can feel there ribs and not see then then they are perfect. Each dog is so totally different.
Your little one is fine go with what you heart tells you.
All the best
Ann
____________ Kimmy you will always be our superstar, we love you
Hi welcome to LF.
I think weight really depends on the natural size of your lab/age and how active he/she is.
Amber is a small, petit lab, active and aged six, she's about 27-28kgs and this looks fine for her. I can't see her ribs but I can feel them. Her coat is glossy and she's got loads of energy.
When we got her she was 24kg and a couple of kg under weight, so we were told.
I'm no expert but it is hard to strike that balance and stick to it.
Good luck!
____________ Kimberley,Sheppy and Amber
Amber/Shep
I think I would go by what you are happy with, I see so many labs round my local town that dont look like labs but lurchers in disguise, too thin and leggy.
I wouldn't be too bothered about it. Long as you can feel the ribs, feel the waist, like the others have explained, you should be fine. Well Bella's 8 months, half the age of your Tilly and weighed her last month and was 28 kg. Not sure how much she weighs now though, going for a routine check up soon anyway so will check it out then. But if she's eating healthily, getting plenty of excercise, what do you do?
All labs are different, just like us humans. Bella's always been big. Was the biggest out a litter of 10!!!
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