Feeding and Boxers Weight?

[theDogger]

I am new to the forum and have a question about my boxer. He is 10 months old now and is 25 inches. But he seem skinny compaired to other boxers his age. Since the day we brought him home he has been on the skinny side. You can feel his ribs and his hip bones and his vertibre. He has been check by the vet and there are no appearent problems. As of now he eats 4 times a day being a total of 3 cups a day (Nutro NATURAL CHOICE ADULT LAMB & RICE & LARGE BREED ADULT). His dad was a big dog @ 70 lbs and mom was 55 lbs. He is active and seems to be fine. Just will not gain weight. Will he fill out or should I increase the food or supplment? Here is a pic

thanks

B

 

[courtney323]

Actually, I'd say he looks perfect. Boxers should be on the thin side, and you should always be able to see some of the ribs.

But I think what you are concerned about, is when will he look more like his parents (ie, when will he fill out?). The rule of thumb is that Boxers grow upwards until 1 or 2 and fill out between 2 and 3. This is exactly what happened with both of my Boxers. They always seem to look "thin" until about 2 years, when they start filling out.

I would not feed him more, or try to encourage weight gain (as long as he's healthy). It will happen with time!

Good luck

 

[harleyboxer]

My dog has a very high metabolism and eats about 6 cups of food a day. He barely gains on that and if he goes off of his food for a day or two I can start to see his backbone and feel his ribs more. He has been on lots of different foods and it's been the same on all of them. It's suprising too because he pretty much lays around all day.

 

[jtjumpshot]

welcome to the forum. he looks good! i am on the opposite end of that. my male is 71 pounds right now. he just turned 7 months last week!!! i feed him only 4 cups a day and he just keeps growing. his dad was 75 pounds and his mom was 50 pounds before pregancy. i just think he is part moose. i have one of his littermates too. she weighs only 48 pounds. the funny thing is she is always making him cry too cause she plays so rough. i love it .

but to get back to your issues, i think he looks great. i wouldnt feed him more. especially if the vet says he is fine. i have read on here that they really fill out when they are 1 1/2 - 2 yrs old. i would just be patient and be lucky that your lap dog isnt a moose like mine haha.

 

[kit02]

Hello and Welcome!

Don't just look at how many cups he's eating (b/c each food has a different amount of calories per cup) but look at how many calories he's eating – he seems to be eating on the low end for a Boxer puppy with a high metabolism. I’m not saying encourage weight gain but I think you can increase his food a little. The back of each bag of food will give you guidelines as to how much to feed but you have to adjust it to fit you dog’s needs - each dog is different.
I checked Nutro Lamb and Rice, it has 340 calories per cup which means he’s getting 1020 calories a day (without treats of course). Owen is almost 9 months, weighs 57 pounds and is eating about 1800 calories a day (not all kibble though, about 1200 of those calories is kibble, the rest is homecooking). Any less and every rib was very visible, he was way too skinny. Owen’s still on the skinny side but that’s normal for his age and I don’t want to go over 1800 calories – you don’t want to overfeed. Pitcairn and Strombeck’s books have charts in it which tell you where your pup should be at what age regarding calories and all I remember is according to those charts Owen is on the high end at 1800 calories - it took some time to see exactly how much worked best for him. I'm not saying feed your Boxer 1800 calories, that may be too much for him. I will check tonight to see what the range is and let you know but I think 1020 is on the low end. How much does your Boxer weigh?

I wouldn’t necessarily feed him more dry kibble, maybe a little, but try adding some canned food at each meal. Or try a kibble that has more calories per cup – one example, Canidae has 466 calories per cup so you could still feed 3 cups per day but be at 1400 calories.

Being skinny is normal for his age though. Sometimes they don’t finishing filling out until about 2 years of age.

 

[theDogger]

Thanks for all the replies.....I will do some more research on the calories. Also going to the vet today to just weigh him and see. I think he is around 50-55 lbs+/- a couple. I have started to give a mixture of softfood with his dry. I split a can into 2 of the feedings.


B

 

[kit02]

Kit does owens 1800 include treats and other things?

Yes, for the most part. I tried to figure out his calories the best I could to include treats but it’s hard to monitor the treat intake exactly, especially with training So sometimes he may be over or under somewhat but 1800 is average.

You pup looks looks a little bit on the skinny side, you many just want to try a higher caloric kibble. Cody gets 2.5 cups of innova a day and 1/2 a can of canidae wet. That totals about 1500 calories a day plus other treats ETC........

I totally agree with this. Try a higher calorie kibble so you don't have to increase the quantity you feed too much. I didn't realize Innova had even more calories, that's good to know...

 

[kit02]

Yes, regular innova has 547 a cup and I use the EVO which has 537, this is why I like their products. Cody is not a big eater, so whatever food we feed him we need to make sure it is high in calories or he gets reeally skinny.

Owen LOVES to eat, he is a big eater. And since he’s eating so much right now I may check out Innova for his next rotation b/c I hate to feed a lot of kibble.

A lot of people here are really "gung ho" about Canidae, which is a good food dont get me wrong,the only thing I think is missing from their food is like the fruits and vegetables, that both the wellness and innova have, which is why I prefer them.

I’ve never fed Canidae b/c of the reason you say with the fruits and veggies – though I think it’s a great food also and many dogs do really well on it. And if you add fresh veggies to the kibble and feed fruits as treats this doesn't really matter. Owen started out on Chicken Soup and I recently rotated to Solid Gold Mmillennia.

 

[kit02]

theDogger – according to Strombeck’s book, Bruzer (is that his name?) should be eating around 1500 calories. So you need to increase his calories.
Strombeck has a chart on p.72 – it takes the estimated adult weight and the current age. So say we estimate your Boxer to be 70 pounds as an adult (that’s what his dad weighs), he’s 10 months old now which means he should be eating about 1500 calories – use that as a starting point then adjust to his needs.