# 7 months golden pup weighs 72 lbs.



## Mowgli.thegolden (Nov 5, 2017)

Hi! My golden pup is 7 months old and he is about 72 lbs. we feed him 4 cups of Merrick dry food everyday (2 cups in am and 2 cups in pm). I can not tell is he is getting fat. He is very playful all the time and I walk him 45-60 mins twice a day. In weekends, he hikes and goes to the beach.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

That seems like a lot for a 7 month old. I expected him to look pretty chubby but he doesn't. Can you feel his ribs? I try to keep Rukie pretty lean since it's better for joints and cancer prevention. Rukie gets 1 cup Eukanuba large puppy food for breakfast and 1 cup for dinner plus another 1/4 cup for training treats and fruit and carrots. He's a pretty chill guy so he doesn't need as much as some. I would try to keep him where you can easily feel individual ribs.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

He looks pretty good for 72 lbs. What did the parents look like and how large were they? Each dog is different and you are doing a great job of monitoring the weight. Sometimes you have to watch the dog and not the scale. Check with your breeder and see how large dad was


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

If I were you, I'd talk to your vet about his body condition and what an ideal weight would look like. Let your vet know that you are very committed to keeping him fit and don't want to let him get even a couple of pounds overweight. Vet office are very good about letting you drop in for a quick weight check. Take advantage of this and keep track.

He is eating a lot of food. His growth will be slowing down and the unused calories will creep up on him. It sounds like you're doing a good job keeping him moving, because he does not appear to be much overweight. My concern would be that he also does not have the look of a typical teenage/adolescent either. At this stage I would expect him to look more athletic since you do keep him active. He has more body mass than what you would normally expect to see on a growing puppy of his age. You might try dialing back on his food by 1/4 cup at one meal a day and see if just that little bit might help. Dogs are really better off being a shade too lean than a shade too heavy. Just like people. The study done by Purina is fascinating and points very clearly to the benefits of keeping a dog lean. Here are some links to read more about it: 

https://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/extend-your-dogs-life

" The lean-fed dogs also had a delayed need
for treatment of chronic conditions (for
example, about a two-year-later onset of
treatment for osteoarthritis than dogs in
the control group). "

https://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com/media/1148/52185_weightexchange_aug_hr.pdf
https://www.avma.org/News/Journals/Collections/Documents/javma_220_9_1315.pdf


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

4 cups a day is about twice the amount of food he should be eating. To me he does look like has too much fat pad on his ribs. Can you feel them when you lightly press on his sides? If not, he is overweight. You should be able to feel his ribs but not see them.

My suggestion would be to cut his food to no more than 3 cups per day and by about a year old he should be down to only 2 cups per day.


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## alleyratz (Oct 14, 2017)

My 8 month pup Hank just weighed in at 75 Ibs and is 8 months old. My vet said he's healthy and my breeder say's none of her Golden's as adults have weighed more than 75ib (male), I cut his food by a cup and he seems to be adjusting just fine. He also does not look overweight and i check his ribs daily-he's healthy. But I worry that the weight on his joints could be unhealthy in the long-run. Just start a little diet and see how he does


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