# Slower more steady puppy growth



## barneysmom2510 (Oct 12, 2011)

Barney my basset is 5 months old he has been eating raw for almost 2 months he is 31 pounds. The vets office was saying he would be full grown at 6 months hi bone structure would thicken but he would reach his adult weight. I think I remember reading that a raw diet promotes a steadier slower growth as opposed to big growth spurts I was wondering if that is true. I also will not be fixing barney until he is 16 months at least. I would be thrilled if he stayed on the smaller side just for health concerns alone but I was curious is raw fed puppies hit their adult size slower than kibble fed dogs.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Growing up we had a Basset, she was "full grown" around the 9 month mark, I remember those horrid spurts when she looked like she would NEVER look like a normal Basset!!LOL But she wasnt even close to filled out till she was 5-ish years old!:wink:

Right now I have Rhett(Border Collie), who is nearly 10 months old....he has been on raw since he was 14 weeks old and he is CLOSE to full grown, but not there quite yet(when compared to his full sisters, who are 18 months older and kibble fed and his parents)....and I have seen a CONSTANT steady growth but not ONCE have I seen a spurt...which I have LOVED!!!:thumb:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I have definitely noticed this trend with my Danes raised on raw. Is it the same for ALL puppies? I don't know...but one thing I do know is that there is a trend for raw fed puppies to grow slower, steadier and take longer to reach their full adult weight.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

My collie pups at one year old still have a little growing to do and have grown so evenly. They have not been high in the front or rear like my past kibble fed pups used to do. My boy still looks like a pup I am estimating another 3 months for him to get his height then he will start bulking up. My shelties are doing the same. They have grown slowly and evenly and my tiny one is still growing. Shelties tend to be done at 6 months but these guys will probably not be done until 9 months. I think the do grow slower and more evenly while maintaining nice muscle tone to support growing bone structure. I love raw.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Liz said:


> My collie pups at one year old still have a little growing to do and have grown so evenly. They have not been high in the front or rear like my past kibble fed pups used to do. My boy still looks like a pup I am estimating another 3 months for him to get his height then he will start bulking up. My shelties are doing the same. They have grown slowly and evenly and my tiny one is still growing. Shelties tend to be done at 6 months but these guys will probably not be done until 9 months. I think the do grow slower and more evenly while maintaining nice muscle tone to support growing bone structure. I love raw.


I LOVE how we just had this talk a few days ago!!LOL

Oh and BTW...Im STILL in LOVE with Hunter....and Kathy is still in love with your little girl!!!:wink:


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

Scarlett_O' said:


> I LOVE how we just had this talk a few days ago!!LOL
> 
> Oh and BTW...Im STILL in LOVE with Hunter....and Kathy is still in love with your little girl!!!:wink:


Don't forget me! I am also in love with Hunter *Sigh and dreamy eyes*


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

My pup is just now coming up to 2 y/o. She reached what is considered to be adult weight 5 months ago. However, most of the experts that have seen her say she still has to fill out. I am going to patiently wait to see how big she gets. I know she is physically smaller than other peoples pups of the same age that are fed kibble. She is definitely more solid than they are though.

My thoughts are that the kibble fed dogs get larger quicker I may be wrong here but it is a bit like feeding up lamb's to get good marbled meat, they feed them up quickly as the meat is then more tender for us the consumer. The slower growing lambs have a much stronger muscle but does not taste as good .


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## barneysmom2510 (Oct 12, 2011)

I am happier with the slower growth also. He is very lean which is great for a bassett. I did not think at 6 months that they were pretty much the size they would be minus the filling out part. At this vets they would not be friendly towards a raw diet I only went there for Barney's first appointment and to pick up heartworm it is right down the street my other vet is 40 minutes away. All I kniow is Barneys has never been a rolly polly puppy he always had the structure of a small adult. Everywhere I go I get compliments on his shiny red coat. He definietely self regulates if he is done he leaves food behind all the time plus he has never had people food(except raw) or biscuits so hopefully that will help keep the weight off.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

One of my Australian Shepherds, Copper is the first puppy I have raised on raw and she DEFINANTLY grew much slower but did grow to her full size. Even my sister-in-law said "is she ever going to grow"? I feel like it is much healthier to grow at such a slow rate.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Liz... I am feeling a very strange need to meet Hunter.... I have heard quite a bit about him. Abi and I agree with you. We need to get al of the collies together in January once she gets Keeva... as long as you guys don't mind a hound dog tagging along!!!

With Buck, I have noticed that he has not had any growth spurts either. I used to notice when Dude would grow during a spurt (he was raised on kibble) but with Buck I haven't noticed. It will just hit me one day that he is way bigger than he used to be when he does something requiring size. He is growing so steadily that I don't even notice the growth taking place. With Dude, I felt like one day he would be one size and the next day he would be noticeably bigger. It was weird. 

Buck is 2 days past 8 months old and he is approximately 52 lbs. His dad was much bigger than that and I see another few months of growth in his future. I haven't measured height in about 40 days so I should get on that. Forty days ago he was a little over 23 inches.


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

This is so timely. Just the other day a man walked up to me at a dog park and asked me what I was feeding Mateo because he was so impressed with the "even-ness" of his growth. And then he pointed to a GSD puppy who is about the same age and looked like a train wreck: skinny, wobbly legs that bow way in and cause the poor pup to not even run in a straight line (and this pup was bought for thousands of $$.) And the proportions on him were, just... off. Now, I don't know if this pup will straighten out; I'm no expert. But I have been very happy with my pup's growth rate and really nice proportion of bone and muscle development-- on RAW, of course.

(Also, just yesterday 3 different people commented on how white his teeth were -of course he's still young, but it _is_ pretty impressive!)

Anyway, a couple of months ago I got sucked into the vortex of watching way too many youtube videos of dogs, and Dogue de Bordeauxs. I was kind of disheartened to see home videos of their Bordeaux puppies looking gangly and/or way too soft-- and then their owners wondering if their 5 month old puppy was "underweight" at _only_ 68 pounds(!) It's as if they want a massive dog _right away._  Mateo wasn't even close to that weight at 5 months (I'm thinking low 50's...).

Now, he's 80 pounds at 7 1/2 months. Never had a weird growth spurt. Maybe he could be bigger, but as long as he is growing at a steady, healthy rate, (and avoid any growth/joint problems) I'm beyond happy.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

I think all the collies need to get together also and one little ol hound (LOL) would just spice up the mix. I think it would be fun.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Liz said:


> I think all the collies need to get together also and one little ol hound (LOL) would just spice up the mix. I think it would be fun.


And if I can get her too I can probably bring my little Mini Hound-dog along, just to keep everyone in line......now Brody, well he will GLADLY back out if it is any thing other then sunny out....so no worries about a Puggie tagging along!!LOL :lol:


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## Chocx2 (Nov 16, 2009)

I think my lab pup grew much slower than my other dogs also, she is 19 months and still seems to be growing first heat was a couple of weeks ago. My other female had her first heat before she was a 12 months and grew different than the one on raw. And my Aussie has changed since on all raw, lost his bulkness around his chest area and now has a nice waist ? Just thought I would add that lol


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