Underweight possibly underage lurcher puppy

[TwiggyTwiglet]

I've just got a beautiful little lurcher pup. I was told she is ten weeks old, but she is absolutely tiny. I have no way to weigh her but judging from my cats weights I'd be surprised if she's more than 2.5/3kg. She's probably about 8 inches to the shoulder at the moment. I can see all of her ribs and her hip bones are very prominent.

I have got some high quality kibble as well as grain free wet food and plan to feed little and often. She will be going to the vets for a check when they open on Tuesday.

Anything else I should be doing in the meantime? I feel like I'm in way over my head. I was planning for a healthy 10 week old!

[mollie123]

she sounds a bit underweight for 10 weeks old - but it depends on her cross. There are lots of lurcher/greyhound experts on here so I am sure they will give you good advice. Perhaps post a picture to give us some idea of her size.

[mollie123]

on rereading - ribs and hipbones visible - you would expect them to be hidden under puppy fat. Did you get the puppy from a breeder or someone advertising '10 week old' lurcher pups (I do worry about thing like this )
Good luck - they are beautiful dogs.

[TwiggyTwiglet]

She was from a working type breeder. Reared outside, not exactly pampered. :/

Her cross is a real mix. Bull lurcher, akita, collie, whippet and greyhound. So she shouldn't end up tiny.

[Floralnomad]

Looks like a JRT X to me .

[tabulahrasa]

She looks a bit thin, but not particularly tiny to me...

[mollie123]

agree a bit of JRT there
her ears and face look pointy but I would have expected longer legs at 10 weeks which is why she appears tiny.

[NotMyMoney]

She looks fine weight size for a lurcher but she's very short for a 10 week old lurcher with that mix are you sure she's a lurcher? Have you taken her to a vet? Did you see mum? Do you have a photo of her side?

[TwiggyTwiglet]

She looks lurcher shape to me, just miniature. Her belly looks better here as she's had a few meals since getting home, but it shows just how thin her back legs are.

[NotMyMoney]

This is my 8 week old deerhound x greyhound he is 25cm (10 inch) she looks fine to me I've had 5 lurchers farm girl. I'd be concerned about her thigh muscles if she was 10 weeks it she should of more of it but with all lurcher they are a "mongrel", don't come in uniform and she's not that tall for her mix.

Our 2 year old greyhound x Saluki always looked extremely underweight till she was 1.5 years vet said she was fine.

I'd have her checked out on Tuesday because with that mix she should be taller and vet should be able confirm a rough age plus new pups should always have a health check by new owners just so you 100% know the pup is healthy. I think she's younger tbh

[TwiggyTwiglet]

Thank you for the pic. It's good to see another young pup to compare. Nice to see they look fairly similar shape wise too. I agree, I think she's younger than I was told. I will book her in as soon as I can when the vets open back up. :)

[tabulahrasa]

The thing is, I don't know if she is that miniature...greyhound is the only tall breed in that mix, Akitas are considerably shorter, the rest quite a lot shorter again.

I'd expect her to be smaller than NotMyMoney's puppy even at 2 weeks younger, because the smallest breed in thst cross is the largest in yours, and it's a straight cross.

Also they do a huge amount of growing from about 14 weeks, just for perspective my current dog is s rottie, till 14 weeks there wasn't a huge height (there was a weight one, lol) difference between him and the westie puppy my neighbour had, only mine then grew feet overnight every couple of weeks and theirs didn't.

[NotMyMoney]

It's only really the akita and the whippet that's small in that mix. The whippet could also be a German whippet they are nearly as tall as greyhound's the pup should stop growing I'm height from 8-9 month so if she was 10 weeks you'd expect a little more height by now. It's a mongrel so no uniform size or shape I don't approve of pedigrees for health reasons so love a classic lurcher

As I said weight wise she seems fine to me but would expect more muscle if she was 10 weeks on her thighs. When we get a pup we put them on goats milk to supplement their diets it's very good for dogs and humans so I'd be giving her that every day even if she is 10 weeks also I don't see any jack in her

[tabulahrasa]

Collies are smaller than Akitas and the bull part of the bull lurcher could well be staffy, they're small or bull terrier, still pretty small.

I'm not saying she's not small, but just maybe not as tiny as the OP seems to think given the differing sizes of breeds in there.

[mollie123]

her legs look much longer in the later photo - they were a bit foreshortened in the other photos - hence the JRT connection !
the legs look very lurcherish and the paws are a good size for her to grow into