Is Pita gaining weight too quickly?
 

Pita weighed 2.6lbs at 12 weeks, about 3.6 at 14 weeks and now she weighs about 4.8 lbs at 16 weeks. I don't think that she over-eats by any means. What do you think?

How old was she when you got her and what did she weigh???? If she is underweight then they do gain weight faster.

She was 11 weeks and she was 2.6lbs, so she didn't really gain the first week that I got her....she was a little chunk!! :)

Is she still eating the same food that she ate before you got her? With her not gaining the first week that you had her then there will be a bigger weight gain to catch up what she did not get.

I have 13 week old puppies and they are free fed and the most they are gaining a week has been 6 oz. Right now they have dropped some and are gaining about 3-5 oz.

Like I said, if she was limited food (which some shady breeders do to keep the dogs small) then she could just be making up for what she needs to be where she is supposed to be. I have a boy Maltese that gained a lot of weight when I first got him because the breeder was only feeding him small meals twice a day to keep him smaller. Did not know that till I got him and he blew up in weight.

Hopefully someone else may have something helpful to add. Have you contacted your vet yet to see what they say???

Thanks for the info, she goes into the vet for her 16 week checkup on friday so I will def bring it to their attention. The vet said that she looked great when I got her and she def was not underweight, she had some meat on her for sure!!

So, that's about 1/2 a pound per week. Well, you'll have to ask your vet if that's too much, but basically just go by how she looks. You want to be able to feel the ribs pretty easily, but not see them and (altough it can be hard through Yorkie hair - easier when they're wet) you should see a "waist line" when looking down at the dog. If she seems chunky and the vet also agrees, cut back on food just a little bit. It's much more tricky when they're still a growing puppy because obviously they do still need to gain weight and grow, but at the same time you don't want her getting overweight because that'll be a bigger battle if you have to get weight off her once she is done growing. It's pretty hard to make a growing puppy get overweight, but I've definatly seen it working for a vet, so it is possible. I think the average for a toy breed dog of that age is about 5 or 6 ounces per week, she seems to be gaining about 8 ounces per week and it was more like 10 ounces the last one, so you may be over-feeding just a bit.

What brand and type of food are you using and how much per day? If you're giving something really high quality, especially if it's grain-free, you don't need to feed as much as you think.

That seems like alot of weight but it would depend on her frame.

She does have a waste and I can tell that she has gotten taller over the past few weeks. I am feeding her a cup per day of Wellness for puppy and about 4 tsp of Wellness wet food for puppy and maybe 2 wellness puppy treats per day. I free feed and she never eats all of the dry food, she leaves most of her 1/2 cup in the evenings but eats all of the wet.

Here is a side view of her from last week...

She sure is cute!!!!!!!!!! The canned food and the treats have extra calories in it. Try cutting them out or down and see how she does. My puppies get NO treats yet and the only time they get canned is if I am having a hard time getting them to eat which only happened after their first set of shots. If she doesn't want to eat her dry food without the canned food then use a small amount of the canned mixed in the dry. Just a small amount will usually get them to eat the dry. I still soften the dry food for the 13 week pups that I have. They will eat the dry but not as well as they do when I let it soak in water and get soft.

Thats pretty much the same weight gain Laci had. She is not 6.5 pounds of love. She is not fat by any means, she is perfect in my eyes :)

My Jezebel had a phenomenal growth rate.

At 12 weeks: 72 oz (4.5 lbs)
At 14 weeks: 83 oz (5.2 lbs)
At 16 weeks: 97 oz (6.1 lbs)

From week 9 to 10, she went from 38oz to 50oz, a 30% growth rate in ONE week. And she was lean and skinny throughout this time, not overweight at all. It was true growth, skeleton and all.

I was concerned, too, so kept track of it on a spreadsheet and showed it to my vet, he just laughed, shook his head, and said it was "amazing." (Probably shook his head at the crazy dog lady that keeps a spreadsheet on her dog's growth rate). He said that in large breed dogs that a growth rate like that would be a big problem. I forget what they call it, but basically the joints can't keep up with the high growth rate and it puts a lot of strain on them. Their joints do eventually catch up, so they "grow out of it," but in the meantime it is painful for the dog. He said that a high growth rate is not a problem in a small breed dog.

Your dog does not look overweight to me, I think you just have a fast grower.

Thank you, I love her soo much. I will love her that same no matter how big she gets, I was just a little worried about her gaining about a 1lb every two weeks, but perhaps it is just a growth spurt. She only gets treats when we practice sitting but I will def cut down on the wet, I did think it was too much but she sure does love it. I also cont to wet her food as well. Thank you everyone for your thoughts....first time yorkie owner and just wanted to check.

That's about the same rate as Pita. I just had no clue was the growth rate should be around...I guess if this rate continues for a long time she will be giant, ha! Yeah, she doesn't look overweight at all to me, and I can still feel her ribs with a little fat covering them. I guess the vet will let me if she's on target when we go on friday...thank you all!!