Female Pup underweight?

Hi,

I recently purchased a lovely female Puppy.
She is now 9 weeks old and at her last weigh in she was 4.3kg.

I am just a little worried she is a little thin for her age. This is also due to her not eating the way I would expect a staff too, which is to gorge themselves usually needing to be restrained from eating rather than encouraged.

Would I be able to ask some advice o  how you think my puppy is doing. Without prompting she is eating around 150g of food a day, is very active though.

I am probably being paranoid. She has what my vet said is vaginitis, and just today started antibiotics, the vet checked and said everything will be fine but I’d like to have your opinion as well please, to help put my mind at ease.

Thank you so much in advance.

David, Caitlin and little Nala xD

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Hi from me & Katy, welcome to our forum Nala doesn't look underweight to me. They all vary in weight at that age. What are you feeding her & how many meals a day? She may just not be keen on her food, not all staffies are gannets tbh.

Thank you so much

The breeder was free feeding them bakers puppy food, her first night in her new home I fed her Raaw puppy food and she seemed to wolf that down fine it was after that the next day at breakfast she didn’t seem too keen, so I switched her to the same food the breeder had used. I try feed her 3 times a day but when I put her dish down she has a wee snug and walks away.

If I leave the dish out she does go over and have small nibbles throughout the day just not what I thought is ‘normal’ to be honest.

I know she does get hungry though, yesterday when she didn’t eat her breakfast or lunch I took the bowl away and on her 3rd meal when I put it down she ate around 80g of it however she does coke begging when we have our dinner so I know she doesn’t have total loss of appetite.

To be honest, I would get her off Bakers as quickly as you can (without giving her a bad stomach). It's probably one of the nastiest foods on the market - not your fault, and you've done right by keeping her on it until she's settled, but try to find a quality feed within your price range & gradually swap her over.

Having said that, I would say that she is possibly a little underweight, but not skinny. That's my personal preference, because I like to see a tiny bit of weight on a pup because they grow so quickly!

Have a look at this site to see which foods are better & compare the prices...

https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

I did notice the Bakers had a lot of grains and cereals in it and was apprehensive about giving her that at all but decided like you said until she was settled to go with that.

I have already purchased her some Lilly's Kitchen Puppy Dry food and some of their wet food too and am in the process of slowly replacing her regular meals with this.

I do genuinely believe she is just being a little picky to be honest as like I said she does come a begging for our human food when we have ours.

Placing her dinner down at set times, and then taking it away if she isn't eating it for a day or so wouldn't do her any harm do you think?

I personally too prefer a little bit of weight on puppies, not too much of course but a bit more than she currently has.

I just worry about her not eating properly even for a day or two whilst she transitions to a healthier food.

I agree with Gilly, transition her off Bakers as soon as you can, start mixing it with Lily's now & she should be fine. Never leave food down, not good for dogs to graze, you need to monitor what they eat. Add some sardines if you want to tempt her during the transition but I think the new food will be more appetising for her

It isn't just the grains etc in Bakers, it's the tons of colouring in it. Really not good for dogs.

I'm another one that likes to see some weight on a puppy - not fat, obviously, but not skinny. That's not to say that your girl is skinny (she isn't), just a little thinner than I would like to see.

Thank you all so much for responding to my post and offering advice .

I did ‘panic’ and take her to the vet just to be safe. She’s perfectly fine for her age. Stress moving into new home couple with paranoid owners changing her food too much In an attempt to get her too eat.

Already when we ignore her pleas and whines for our food, she has already started eating hers much better than before. It is that horrible bakers mind you the breeder had her on, although phasing out has already begun .

Thank you all so much again and will keep you updated on her progress.

David, Caitlin and Nala

I'm sure she'll quickly pick up & she'll be even more beautiful!