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16 month old male looks a little thin

The dude

Jr Member
I’ve got a 16 month old male that has not been fixed. He’s pretty active and has been floating around 65-70 lb for the last few months. He’s been raw fed since 8 weeks old, and I try to go by the book and he gets a pretty decent amount of variety in his diet. He’s always ready to eat anytime he gets the opportunity. We’ve started feeding him once a day at around 1 year old. Usually between 4-7 in the evening. At a year old he was looking really good and filling out nicely. But now he seems a little on the skinny side. It seems no matter how much I increase his food he just won’t gain weight. I think he would look great around 75-78 lbs. His daily meal consists of

29oz of muscle
3.6oz of bone
1.8 liver
1.8 other organ

We used to feed him BARF up until around 10 months old but now we pretty much do PMR. He’s never had worms or anything the vet always talks about how healthy he looks, says he wished all the dogs that came in looked like him weight wise.

I know he’s pretty close to his ideal weight and I know that he will gain some muscle and size over the next year or two. I’d just like to see him a little more filled out if possible.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.
 

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Hey Dude,

Handsome young boy you've got there. What is his height at the withers?

He reminds me of my boy, Oji. Oji, when under 1 year of age, topped 70 lbs., but proceeded to drop below 70 and stay there for a long long time. Now, at 4 1/3 years of age he has filled out a bit and is probably 70-75.

I'm not saying your boy has the following qualities, by the way: Oji is a full 28" tall, but is quite narrow in the chest and lacking in head and jaw size. I think it's Oji's narrow chest in particular that makes him such a lightweight at 28" height.

Your boy looks to have a somewhat broader chest than Oji, and is a bit better in the head/jaw.

Depending on his height I bet he will reach over 80 lbs.

I am quite familiar with the sight of those ribs by the way, as Oji has been very slow to put on weight and has g.i. problems.

If you are feeding him well (I'm not familiar with raw) then I think he just has a fast metabolism and will fill out in time.
 
Good looking boy.
Take some side pics with him standing.

Dobes are supposed to be lean. A leaner Dobe will be a healthier Dobe.
He will be starting to fill out shortly. Dobes continue to grow until 2-3yrs old
 
Is PMR fed at a % of current weight or ideal weight?
Ideal adult body weight to get a starting %, adjust up or down as needed based on results.

He looks fine to me. Like a growing dog. Lean dogs don't look that great laying on their sides, lol. The ribs you see are most likely due to breathing. When they inhale, you will see the muscle along the ribs and faint lines of a rib or three on a lean dog. Look at his muscle tone and you know you are doing him right. He will eventually slow down and put weight on more easily for you as he matures. Nice looking boy!
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. I like them on the leaner side and I know they are healthier for it. He is around 28” tall give or take it’s been a mine since I’ve had a good accurate measurement on him. My only concern is you can see his back bone and hips when standing and I just figured he could probably use a few more lbs. I feed him 3% of his ideal body weight 80 lbs. I’m all for keeping him lean and in good health bc we are best buds and I want him to be around for a long time, fingers crossed!
 
He doesn’t even look thin to me. I would concern myself with actual weight as much as what he looks like. He looks healthy, overweight is worse especially when they are growing.
 
He looks good to me. He has the height so now he will start filling out. They go through the lanky periods but I wouldn’t worry. If he is getting a lot of exercise/activity then you could increase his food accordingly.
Lean is certainly more preferable and healthier.
 
He looks really good to me too and he will continue to fill out for some time yet. Both of our Euro boys kept filling out some until they were almost 4 years but of course they will vary some too.

I personally like to feed twice per day so they don't go so long on an empty stomach.
 
He looks completely fine to me ! You’ll start to notice him filling out at 2 years old. My boy was gangly and awkward till about 18 months then at two he started filling out and packing on muscle. Heres a comparison of my guy bottom is one year old and top is two years old.
 

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