How heavy can my Lagotto Romagnolo become in its first year?
Nutrition of puppies and young dogs
The healthy growth
There is nothing better than exploring the world with a little puppy. Every day it is time to discover new adventures and time flies by. The puppies get bigger and bigger too quickly and before you know it, a full-grown dog is facing you. While a person is only considered “full” at the age of up to 20, the main growth in the dog takes place within the first 9 months. This makes it all the more important to set all the course for healthy growth. This includes nutrition, but of course also the burden during this time.
What is healthy growth?
The most important principle in my opinion is the slowest possible growth of the puppy and this is where the problem begins in many dogs. The dog’s musculoskeletal system is still in development. The bones become longer, the muscles are built up and the ligament apparatus to support the joints intensifies and all this at the same time. The whole musculoskeletal system is therefore by far not as stable at this age as in an adult dog and is stressed the more weight on it. The damage caused at this age by the overload of bones, muscles and joints is usually not noticeable until much later, for example in the form of degenerative phenomena.
By the way, the final weight can be estimated by using the ideal weight of the same-sex parent as a guideline for breed dogs. This final weight then depends on how much the puppy should weigh at what age. In the first 6 months of life, more than half of the growth takes place in all races.
The simplest tool for monitoring the weight and the rate of growth is the growth curve,
| 5-15kg | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 80-160g | 160-190g |
| 3 | 100-210g | |
| 4 | 100-210g | 210-350g |
| 5-6 | 110-240g | Junior |
| 100-270g | Junior | |
| Junior | ||
| Junior |
BELCANDO® Puppy GF Poultry
Based on the above feed
How can we influence the growth rate?
Fortunately, this is not so difficult, because it can be controlled very well via feeding. The energy content in the feed and this regardless of the type of feed has an influence on the pace of growth. The principle therefore applies to the BARFen as well as to the feeding of dry or wet food. Growth itself is, as already indicated above, a process that consumes energy. After all, a lot of body substance has to be re-formed. If the body of young dogs has too much energy available, it also invests it in growth and thus grows faster. A mature dog puts on reserves and becomes thick, a puppy grows.
By the way, the protein content in the feed has no influence on the rate of growth, nor does a protein excess lead to growth problems, as long as the ration is otherwise balanced.
The supplied energy can be controlled excellently via the amount of feed. Simply put: a lot of food, a lot of energy, fast growth. Little food, little energy, slow growth. So if the puppy gains too fast, you should throttle the amount of food a little or select a feed with a lower energy density. However, it should be noted that the smaller amount of feed also contains fewer nutrients and the supply can become scarce. Many dog owners already use feed for adult dogs in puppies, in the assumption they would then grow more slowly. This is sometimes also expedient at first glance, as many adult foods contain less energy compared to puppy food. However, the price is often an undersupply of important nutrients, because of these, too, is then less contained in the feed.
Experience has shown that it is often not the amount of food alone that is set too high, but it is fed too much by the way in the form of treats and chewy items. Often such treats are true thickeners, but contribute little to the supply of sewing material. The crowd should therefore be limited.
In extreme cases, too rapid growth can manifest itself in the form of painful bone skin inflammation. At the latest here it is important to pull the emergency brake and reduce the amount of energy. The alternative is a lengthy treatment with painkillers and that needs to be avoided! Of course, the ration adjustment in such cases or in dogs that are significantly above their growth curve should only happen under the professional guidance of a veterinarian nutritionist.
(Source: https://www.tierarztpraxis-zaengerle.de/wuchs-hund/)
