# Is our little girl too skinny?



## colkai (Dec 30, 2012)

Hi,
New Cockapoo owners here, got a question about our little Amber, she is 15 weeks old and doesn't seem to be getting any "chunkier". She was last weight at the vets a week ago and was only around 7lb and doesn't seem to be gaining any appreciable weight, well, not according to our home scales.
We are feeding her 3 decent sized meals a day, but it seems she is burning it all off dashing around playing as there seems to be little padding on her. We are used to puppies being quite "well padded".

Our last two dogs were considerably larger, our previous old boy being a chunky black Lab of some 6 1/2 stone! So we are not sure if, being a small dog, the growth is much more subtle. (Shadow was larger than Amber when we picked him up at 8 weeks!)

Her mom was a standard Roan Cocker and dad was apparently a toy poodle.
We *think* she is going to be a small Cockapoo, but from what I gather, there is no "set" size due to the wide variety of parent options.

Amber is pretty active, eats fine, does "the zoomies" a couple of times a day and seems to be going the loo ok, though the motions get a little softer through the day.

We did try feeding her more, but she was sick and we read that apparently, that can happen if they are overfed?

We have moved her from a dry complete to Natures Diet wet food over he last week as our last dog thrived on that.

She is due her next worming in a week, but is fully up to date with injections / worming. I've attached a pic of herself so you can see how she is. 

It could be normal, but as we do not know how big she is supposed to get, it is a worry for us that she is not growing at a decent rate. Any advice and opinions welcomed.


----------



## Smallears (Oct 28, 2012)

I'm no expert but she looks absolutely fine to me. Gorgeous girl! If her dad was a toy then she probably isn't goin to be that big. Muttley was a working cocker mum and dad a minature poodle but he's not huge especially when he's wet he is really skinny. I feed 3xs a day too. I wouldn't worry looks like you're doin a great job with her


----------



## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

She sounds well - fit, active and eating well. With a toy poodle dad you would expect her to be a smaller poo, but as you say there does seem to be quite a variation in how big they end up and she may favour her mum. Time will tell.
Kiki's afternoon poop often was a bit soft, but I always put that down to the fact that she was also totally mad in the afternoons and obviously didn't give her belly quiet digestion time.
If you are worried pop her into the vets and ask the nurse to weigh her prior to worming her next week - that way you can be sure of giving her the right dose of wormer and they will be able to reassure you that she is beautiful, fit and lovely!


----------



## colpa110 (Jul 5, 2011)

My Betty is a show cocker / toy poodle cross and fully grown weighs 7.8kgs, another member of this forum i know has a working cocker / toy mix and weighs only 5.5kgs so I would not worry at this stage. Just keep an eye on her weight over the next Month or so...


----------



## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Max is 22 weeks now and I would say he put on the most weight between 17 weeks and now. Up till then he too felt very boney with very loose skin. He is finally getting a bit of padding now, so I wouldn't worry too much at this stage.


----------



## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Lola is a working cocker / toy mix and weighs 7.5kgs at her current age of 36 weeks. Your girl looks lovely


----------



## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

My two are very active, healthy and pretty skinny. Their bodies have the slim shape of their poodle fathers rather than their sturdier spaniel mothers. She looks perfect to me, in fact quite adorable!


----------



## colkai (Dec 30, 2012)

Thanks everyone, appreciate the comments. 
Amber is certainly active enough, she is just getting used to walking on the lead, thanks to our "fabulous" weather, we've even had to use the garage as part of toilet training as the garden is like a marshland!
Had a relapse last night with poo in the house, but overall, she is doing ok. 
Pretty good on her walks so far, sits down a bit and needs encouraging, but we are getting there. First time we've had a dog that needed to be coaxed into walking, our other two were rather the opposite. 
Will see what her weight is at the vets as our home scales do not do less that 0.5Kg marks, so if she is putting less than a pound on a week, it doesn't show up.
Next big step is leaving her on her own, got the Kong and peanut butter ready for that!


----------



## colkai (Dec 30, 2012)

Managed to measure her roughly today, she's 15 weeks and is 11 inches to her back and around 15 inches long to her neck, (excluding her head as she was attempting to bite the tape measure  )
At 15 weeks, what sort of percentage of adult height would you reckon she is? I'm thinking she could get to around 15/16 inches to her back, does that sound about right? Or is it too much / too little?


----------



## colkai (Dec 30, 2012)

Well, 16 weeks now and she now weighs 4.1kg, so finally putting some padding on.


----------



## lovecockapoo (Nov 26, 2011)

Lottie is an American x toy poodle and is 5.1k at 1 year. She is a lovely Lottie dog. Xxx


----------



## Janev1000 (Oct 4, 2011)

Honey was 4.3kg at 16 weeks and is now 6.3kg at 27 weeks. Over the last month she has only gained 200g! She is approx 13.5" tall to the shoulder and doesn't seem to be growing much at all since 5 months. They keep you guessing these poos! x


----------



## colkai (Dec 30, 2012)

Aye, I'm definitely thinking she'll be around 15" shoulder height and no more than around 20lb fully grown. Her coat is starting to get little spots of brown along her spine now too. Constantly changing!


----------



## CharlestonBear (Jan 7, 2013)

I think that she looks absolutely fine!
She is super cute by the way!
My Charlie is quite thick in the bottom but I have seen even some of his siblings to be much narrower, and you can always ask your vet.


----------



## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

My boy was always very slim up until about 8 months then he got more chunky, mind you he was neutered at that age and I think that may have made a difference. (although we kept his food the same amount).


----------



## MillieDog (Jun 1, 2011)

She looks lovely and healthy too. I wouldn't worry, she sounds happy, perky and active.

My Millie was a tad on the thin size as a puppy but once she reached a year and stopped growing upwards she started to grow outwards. Now she's a lovely chunky 2 year old


----------



## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

I think Kiki is thin - but the vet assures me that she is 'a lovely size'.
She said make a fist with one hand. Rub fingers of the other hand across the back of the hand of the clenched fist - if that is what your dog's ribs feel like he is too fat. Rub fingers across knuckles - if that is what your dog's ribs feels like then he is too thin. Rub fingers acrss the clenched fingers - that is what your dogs ribs should feel like when you rub along the side of your dog.
Don't know if that helps, but that was what she said...


----------

