Weight
My OES is 6 months. We got her about 2 weeks ago. At that time she weighed 41 lbs. Now she is at 40 lbs. She does get more exercise than at the breeders. But you can feel each rib very well. She is eating Pro Plan for puppies. The breeder told me not to get the kind for large breed dogs. Any suggestions? |
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| First, relax about the weight. It moves up and down depending on exercise. You said your pup is getting more exercise, that could be the answer.......or a different scale?
Since sheepdogs vary in final size, it is hard to find a chart. I've seen one from a breeder in Florida. The only info I could offer is a general rule of thumb (and thumbs are easily broken) is the dog will be 2-3 times its weight at 12 weeks. If the dog is quite skinny, yes, that could be a problem. I'd suspect worms, thyroid or some such. But a chunky puppy is not a good idea either. If the dog is eating, has energy, looks good, then don't fret about the ribs. You should be able to feel each rib, but the area between should be level, not sunken. Also the backbone should not be "high and dry". Now, my Paige is skinny and has never been a good eater......she's 9......and in great health. If I give her extra food to "fatten" her up, nope, she leaves it behind. (gosh I wish I had that willpower!!!) Like people, some dogs are just naturally skinny and others put on weight just passing the cookie jar. Talk to you vet too. |
| Thank you for the reassurance!
I guess I am just an overprotective "furrless" mom. She would eat everything in the house if I would let her. Since she is new to me, we have not been to the vet yet. I have chinchillas-and well they go to a different vet. Everybody I talk to says their vet is the best. I think she is healthy. I do not believe she has worms. I will sit back and relax. I did increase her food to 2 1/2 cups a day. This did increase her energy level. She is now running laps around the living room sofa. Did I say running-I mean galloping! She is so cute. Thanks again! |
LOL! Get used to it, they keep this high energy level up for another year at least. I'm assuming the 2 1/2 cups is over two or three feedings. ...and a very good quality food. That sounds OK, even a touch more wouldn't hurt. A sheepie getting too much food will get the squirts before it gets fat.....a good measuring tool 
I feed my mature sheepdogs and Great Pyrs 2 1/2 cups a day, but then they aren't growing....plus the Pyrs have a very slow metabolism. Enjoy the sheepie and remember, a tired sheepie is a well behaved sheepie.....so exercise her little legs off. |
| I am feeding her ProPlan Puppy-recommended by the breeder. Shouldn't I be giving her the large breed puppy food?
She is now getting 1 cup in the morning and late afternoon and a 1/2 cup "snack" about 11 p.m. I also fill up her kong with a little low fat peanut butter and a little bit of food that I freeze for when she has to go in the crate. |
| Hi Bethany,
I really don't know how many do feed the large breed. I do feed large breed forumla to mine. It has been recommended by both vets we have seen. When Annabelle was 6 months old she weighed a few pounds more than the 40 lbs that your sheepie does. She is a solid 60 lbs now and the vet thought she was at a perfect weight. She looks bigger though with all of her hair. Just to be on the safe side, I would take her on to the vet for a check up. At 6 months old, she can start feeling familiar with that process of going to the vet. When one of ours goes, we usually let the other tag along just for socialization with the staff. They seem to be excited to go and are on their best behavior. LOL Good luck, Stormi and co. |
| In my oppinion the large breed puppy foods are not meant for Sheepdogs. Some of them get to be over 75 lbs, but many do not. A lot of them average out to about 60 lbs full grown, and that's borderline really for the 55lb and over recommendations. Most vets will NOT recommend a large breed formula for an OES. Depends on the dog i guess. But I don't think the large breed formulas provide enough energy for a growing sheepie. Just some average stats here, but most normal puppy kibble has 350-400 calories per cup. Large breed kibble is usually around the 200 mark.
I know the intent is to provide certain nutrients to help cushion the growth of bones and joints, and it is meant to keep growth slow and steady, which is a good thing. I still think as long as a pup is growing at a normal rate and is healthy and content not to mess with whatever works. JMHO |
| Is there a difference in the calorie count between the "large breed" food and the "regular" adult food? Differences? |
| Calorie count varies from brand to brand. Trying to find the calorie count on the bags will wear out your patience. Some brands I'm still looking.
One difference between large, senior, puppy, weight control products is the protein percentage. For example in Nutro's products the puppy protein is puppy 28%, large adult 24%, senior 22% and weight control 16%. The other ingredients vary as well. Many large breed people don't like to see too much protein going into a large breed pups after a few months age. The large breeds continue to grow for many more months than the toys so don't need to concentrate the nutrients as quickly. IMHO sheepies aren't large breed, but if you read labels, many consider anything over 60 lbs to be large.......that makes a very tiny sheepie. I know, I have one.......my itty-bitty-sheepie. |
| I am planning on taking her to the vet in 2 weeks.
My daughter did talk to the vet that I am going to be taking her to. He said definately the ProPlan puppy for large breeds. I think I will nose around the Purina web site. I would like to know if they consider a OES a large breed. And she sure did look large when we dog sat last weekend. We took care of a toy and a miniture poodle. She looked like a giant around them! |
| Well, Max went in for his boosters yesterday, and to just give you more info on weight.......he is 15 months and only weighs 56 pounds. His size may be due to his having "growing pains" when he was a pup, but not sure. I had been feeding him large breed food, but will stop with the next bag. |
| I was told many times never to feed a large breed puppy,puppy food.The high protein count makes them grow too fast and their bones could not keep up.I was told to feed an adult formula.We have been using Nutro Natural for over a year now and have definitely seen a difference in their coat,energy level and bowel movements are hardly anything. Just my opinion. |
| UH-OH!!! My Cosmo weighed in last week at over 81 lbs with only 8.5 months old.He is in no way fat, he just sleeps alot.He has grown very tall too and boy does he push his weight around!! |
| uhmmmmmmmmm....Mickey is 7months old and weighs 60ish lbs...he does look huge but he also as alot of hair...uhmmmmmmmm im wondering if he is going to be a BIG sheepie.i know his parents are really big not just weight wise but they are very tall....guess ill have to wait and see. |
| I feed lg breed dog food, but a high quality one. If you can take time to compare what ingredients are in the products, usually a good indication of the quality is the price tag. The higher the price you should see ingredients in the puriest form, human grade chicken not chicken by product meal...a meal is a nice way of saying garbage remnants...beaks, feathers, blood, diseased parts. Also grain shouldn't be listed #1, and when it's there it should be a full grain.
Here is a quote I found, I didn't save the website name...sorry. Wording of Pet Food Labels (including a handy definition list) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One pet food company advertises their food as better than others because the main ingredient in their food is poultry meat and others use feathers. But when we read the labels on all the different pet foods we can't find "feathers" listed as an ingredient in any of them. The words used on pet food labels can hide many evils. They are sometimes misunderstood, often ignored and can be confusing. To limit confusion when listing each ingredient in a food, all pet food companies should be required to also use the International Feed Number (IFN) that has been assigned to each feed grade ingredient. Then we could clearly identify the ingredients in each pet food and be able to make intelligent choices amongst them. To help you determine what may be in the pet food you are now buying, here are definitions of some words that can be found on most pet food labels today: By-product: An ingredient produced in the course of making a primary food ingredient; a secondary or incidental product. Feathers are a by-product of poultry meat processing. Feathers which are removed from a carcass during production of poultry meat are then hydrolyzed (pressure cooked with steam until they are an edible gel) which makes them an acceptable feed grade ingredient. Hydrolyzed feathers have been assigned the (IFN) International Feed Number 5-03-795 and can appear on a label as "Poultry By-products." On page 158 in the AAFCO book, Official Publication, 1994, Association of American Feed Control Officials Incorporated, they show: Hydrolyzed Poultry By-Products Aggregate is the product resulting from heat treatment, or a combination thereof, of all by-products of slaughter poultry, clean and undecomposed, including such parts as heads, feet, underdeveloped eggs, intestines, feathers and blood." The IFN assigned to this mix is 5-14-508. Today's regulations allow the entire mix or any part of it to appear on a label as "Poultry By-products." A "Fish By-product" can contain heads, tails, intestines and blood. This fish process residue has been assigned the IFN 5-07-977. A "Meat By-product" could be viscera and blood soaked sawdust from the floors of a packing house where meat is being processed. The meat being processed can be lamb, beef, horse, or any other source. Each one has its own IFN. Some of the animal feed IFN's that contain wood shavings from the floor of a processing facility include "Dried Ruminant Waste" #1-07-526, and "Undried Processed Animal Waste Products" #5-02-790. It is important to note that the amount of wood shavings in either of these two "Meat By-products" is limited and should not be more than 35% in one and 40% in the other. When a pet food label's list of ingredients shows the word By-product you can be assured that there is NO measurable amount of meat in the ingredient. If the ingredient contained enough meat that it could be measured the pet food company would proudly list the MEAT, not just the By-product of that meat's production. Mill Run: An ingredient consisting of residue left after the primary food product has been extracted during a milling process. A "Corn Mill Run" would be a pulverized blend of the corn husk and cobs which are left after a milling process has removed the kernels. Mill Run is the vegetable or produce equivalent of meat's By-product. Digest: An animal feed-grade ingredient that must be made soluble with the use of heat and moisture. Since these ingredients are not soluble in their natural state they require this manufacturing process before they can be put into pet food. An example of this would be the feet of poultry IFN 5-07-947. When a pet food label shows "Poultry Digest" as an ingredient this could be what is in the food. Meal: A ground or pulverized composite of animal feed-grade ingredients. One example of a Meal is found on page 156 in the AAFCO book, Official Publication, 1994, Association of American Feed Control Officials Incorporated. It shows "Poultry By-product Meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices." The IFN for this blend is 5-03-795. The only MEAT that might be in Poultry By-product Meal" 5-03-795 is what could be left on the necks after becoming clean rendered By-products of meat production. This is not enough that it can be measured and thus have an ingredient listing showing any POULTRY MEAT to be in the food. Gluten: The sticky substance in wheat or corn starch that gives the starch its tough elastic quality. It is used to hold together the pulverized composite of animal feed-grade ingredients. Digestibility Test: A test to see how much time it takes a food solid to break down in a strong laboratory acid. There are companies that are claiming the food which passes this test in the shortest amount of time provides the best nutrition for all animals. But the word digestibility is not a synonym for the word nutritious. Just because a food solid can be broken down in an acid does not mean the animal eating it can nutritionally use that kind of food. Not all dogs or cats have the same nutritional acceptance of any one food source. This has been established in tests cited in the 1985 Nutrient Requirements of Dogs by the National Research Council. Since pet foods are made from many different food sources we could thus be making the proverbial comparison between apples and oranges. It would be a mistake to judge any food's total nutritive value on one test demonstrating how fast it breaks down in laboratory acid. Comparing pet foods by using a Digestibility Test is valid only if the foods being tested are of equal nutritional value for the animal that will be eating them. Then the faster a food breaks down the easier it is for the animal's digestive system to make use of it. Today, pet food labeling is done using the honor system. AAFCO, which claims to be the governing body of the pet food industry, has tried to get some form of standardization (see the quotes above), but even the terms AAFCO wants are so vague that two different foods could be made with two different ingredients and have the same term on their labels. The ingredients going into pet foods today have no clear single set of label terms with a precise set of definitions attached. If pet food products used the IFN with each ingredient listed we would know if a food contained Dehydrated swine excreta (IFN 5-02-790) or Hydrolyzed hair (IFN 5-08-997) as a "Meat By-product" or if the ingredient identified as "Poultry By-product" was feet (IFN 5-07-947) or feathers (IFN 5-03-795). Unfortunately, until we get new labeling regulations requiring the use of IFN's, pet food buyers will remain at the mercy of competing pet food companies to tell them what is in their food. I believe laws should be passed that would require all commercial animal feeds to use IFN numbers along with the wording they now use to list the ingredients in their product. That would give us all a way to know what is in their food. I also have a suggestion of what can be done until all animal feeds are labeled with the IFN numbers. If you are now buying a pet food with words you don't understand on the label you might try this: contact the manufacturer and ask them for their definitions. If they do not give them to you in words you, the buyer, can understand then maybe it's time to consider home cooking your pet's food. You'd know what was in the food, and for thousands of years before commercial pet food was available (just 75 years ago), that's what pet owners successfully did. This article was written by The Animal Advocate |
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