# Underweight!?



## Ryn (May 2, 2014)

Hi everyone. I recently picked up my first Golden Retriever a little over a month ago. I was at the vet a few days ago and my girl weighed in at 11.5 pounds. Her father is 100 pounds and her mom is 65 pounds. My girl was far from being the runt of the litter and I feel like she is very underweight for her age, 3 months(the day I went to the vet). She has food available for her 100% of the time following the breeder recommendation as of recently. Prior to this she was eating 3 times a day, 3/4 of a cup of Eukanuba per meal. Do puppies grow at different rates or is this a common trend that people see? Any suggestions to help her gain some weight? How much did your puppies weigh at 3 months of age? She doesn't look skinny, but she's definitely not as big as she should be. I feel like she's growing very slowly. Thanks for any responses.


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## Eowyn (Aug 29, 2013)

Slow and steady is good! I am too tired to explain it and make any sense, so I will just link you to Rhonda Hovan's slow grow article.
http://confettigoldens.com/assets/slow grow.current.pdf


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## Eowyn (Aug 29, 2013)

Her dad was 100 pounds!?!? Who is he?


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

I'm not a fan of continuous feeding. Someday you may end up with a fat GR. They do grow at different rates. Several threads on here have discussed smaller GR around that age. If she is healthy, doesn't have worms or intestinal issues and you are feeding her a reasonable amount for her age I'd me patient. She may have a growth spurt.


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## Ryn (May 2, 2014)

Eowyn said:


> Her dad was 100 pounds!?!? Who is he?


GCh. Gold-Rush Troubadour AKA "Tru"
http://www.gold-rushgoldens.com/tru.htm


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## Ryn (May 2, 2014)

Tayla's Mom said:


> I'm not a fan of continuous feeding. Someday you may end up with a fat GR. They do grow at different rates. Several threads on here have discussed smaller GR around that age. If she is healthy, doesn't have worms or intestinal issues and you are feeding her a reasonable amount for her age I'd me patient. She may have a growth spurt.


Okay, that's what I'm hoping for. I'll be patient. The vet didn't comment on her weight so maybe I'm just being paranoid... But the breeder did so...


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

Maybe she is a slow grower and will have a growth spurt and catch-up. We free fed our previous Golden and she was always thin and never weighed more than 65 pounds. But each dog is different--we could never free feed Max--he eats everything in sight.


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## Ryn (May 2, 2014)

Max's Dad said:


> Maybe she is a slow grower and will have a growth spurt and catch-up. We free fed our previous Golden and she was always thin and never weighed more than 65 pounds. But each dog is different--we could never free feed Max--he eats everything in sight.


Thanks for the feedback Dave! I'm definitely going to stick with free-feeding as well. She isn't a big eater so if anything she would eat an extra half cup of dry a day. Hopefully this will boost her gains a little bit..


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## golfgal (Dec 31, 2013)

Here's a link to a breeder's website on weights and feeding. 

Ingot FAQs

Whether she's underweight or not is partially dependent on how she's done since you've had her and previously. At 9wks, one was 10lbs and at 12wks he was almost 16lbs. The other was almost 23lbs at 12wks. 

They were both gaining anywhere from 1.5-2.5lbs per week so they were growing and both were/are on the leaner side. 

I'm not familiar with your food but it may be too little for her needs. Advantage of set feeding times is you know what is being eaten daily. Guess it depends on how you free feed and keep track of what is being eaten.


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