9mo Working Cocker weight

[ConsternationStation]

We've got a female WCS who has just turned 9 months old and she's absolutely skin and bones. We feed her the amount we are told to (Tails) plus treats but there is just nothing to her. When she was weighed about 5ish months she was about 7kg and the vet did comment that she may be on the petite side of her breed. Last weight check was a couple of weeks ago (8.5 months) for worming where she was 7.6kg and the vet didn't seem concerned that she hadn't gained much. She does seem pretty tiny.

Is this in the normal weight range for a 9 month old WCS? She's a very happy, healthy and energetic little pup.

Assuming she is healthy & doesn't have worms
If she is skinny, ( you can feel her boney ribcage ?) she needs more food.
Due to her temperament she may be consuming more calories than some food manufacturer’s scale.
Try upping her dose, or changing to an active/working dog food with higher protein

She's always been pretty slender but it's only been this last week or so that I've felt she is getting skinny so I was planning on upping her food anyway. Maybe giving her some more tasty treats too - just another excuse for even more training and play!

Tails provides notoriously poor nutrition.

Does seem on the light side for the breed, would she eat a bit more food if you gave it to her?

But if she's very petite then maybe it's ok for her. Her ribs, spine, hips shouldn't be too angular and boney, you should feel a bit of muscle over them (it can be harder to see on cocker spaniels with longer coats so feeling for this is better). But if you specifically checked in about this with your vet and they weren't concerned then there probably isn't an issue.

How big are mum and dad – that might give you a guide? And her littermates too?

7.6kg is small but not unheard of. My working cocker girl was 11kg at nine months but that means nothing because she may well be taller or longer – and it sounds like she is. Comparing them is moot really, as silly as us comparing our own bodies when we’re all made differently.

If you’re that bothered you could give her some tripe as that will help her bulk but if the vet says she’s OK and she’s eating well and not actually starving, I’d say she’s alright.

@brushingboots mum and dad are on the lower side of average but she seems so little compared to so many other cockers that we meet out and about. What age do they typically stop growing and just fill out?

@suggestionsplease1 The vet didn't seem concerned but I'd definitely prefer to put a little extra weight on her so I'm going to up her portion sizes and maybe try some tripe/other options. I'm pretty certain she'll eat more if it is offered.

@ConsternationStation I'd say my girl was about fully grown at a year and filled out after her first season at 11 months ish, and more so after she was spayed, though not unduly. Now she's about the right weight for her build, having been quite underweight as a small pup before we tried raw food.

If its been more noticeable this past week or so might it be that she's eating less due to the heat ?

7.6kg seems absolutely tiny to me.

I would swap her to a better food - Tails is awful.

We are very worried about our wcs, male, 12 months. He is 9kg and has dropped 1kg in the last month. I think he has IBD. he won't tolerate anything with any fat (peanut butter , cheese, salmon). He wasn't right on his salmon kibble so we've switched him to white fish wet trays which were going on but now he has runny poo on them. I'm taking him to the vets on Monday. I'm very worried because I cannot work out how to increase calories without triggering stomach upsets which then cause more calories to be lost.

My WCS is 9 1/2 months and has just reached 8kg. She's small, but perfectly formed.

Poor bug, that's an awful lot of weight to lose. They do have very delicate stomachs though, did you switch across very slowly? And the wet food tray will probably still have fat in it as well. My boy is allergic to dairy - apparently dairy intolerances are really common and can lead to runny poo.

There is a particular type of Purina Pro Plan - https://www.purina.co.uk/dog/dog-food/product-proplan-veterinary-diets-gastrointestinal-dry#:~:text=PRO%20PLAN®%20VETERINARY%20DIETS%20EN%20Gastrointestinal%20Dry%20Dog%20Food,-5&text=Highly%20digestible%20ingredients%20to%20help,fatty%20acids%20for%20the%20enterocytes. - it's designed to make sure dogs get the nutrients they need while being really digestible. You wouldn't want to keep them on it forever, but it might help build him up a bit. The vet may also suggest Prokolin sachets which are probiotics. Pooch and Mutt also do really good probiotic treatos which are great for delicate stomachs.

I do hope you get an answer, @optimustime, I'd be in bits with worry.

My sprocker had IBD and went from 18kg to 14kg before he was diagnosed. He had to have hypoallergenic food. Everything else caused severe diarrhoea and vomiting. Might be worth giving it a try. If nothing else, it's a bland food that will reset his digestive system.

Thanks. I've looked at a lot of trh hydrolysed foods but they all have chicken in them. Even hydrolysed he can't have that so I feel really out of options. I'm really hoping the vet can offer a solution.

Have you tried them? The hypoallergenic food is cooked in a way that the dog's body is not supposed to recognise that it's chicken. My dog couldn't eat chicken. Even a chicken flavoured chewbone made him vomit.
However, he was able to eat both Royal Canin and Purina Hypoallergenic foods.

Purina HA does not have chicken in it.

Most hydrolysed will not contain chicken

Hypoallergenic dog food might though

OP if your dog is lively and otherwise well then I would not worry about the weight.

I have 3 wcs and they are all pretty slim especially when puppies. They are constantly on the go!

Most dogs you see out and about are obese.

He’ll still be able to eat them. The whole point of hydrolysed food is that the dog doesn’t recognise the protein.

Another option is insect based food or even vegan dog food.

Feeding guides are just a rough suggestion - you have to vary them depending on the dog you actually have in front of you.

I have 2 dogs on the same food, one needs about 2/3 of of what the feeding guide says, one needs about 1/4 over

Our four year old petite cocker is 9.5 kgs so 7.5 doesn’t sound too small as long as she’s full of energy. We’ve always fed ours 15-20% more than the feeding guidelines for her weight though as she’s so active compared to some dogs her size.

A friend who’s a vet says cockers are supposed to be thin - if your vet isn’t concerned then that sounds like your puppy is fine.

Agility trainer here with lots of experience of skinny dogs. If she’s otherwise healthy and poo is good then she’s fine. Both my dogs have been slim including my border terrier who notoriously are hard to keep slim.

Some dogs just are slim, like people. Maybe look at a change of food as tails isn’t all that good nutritionally. I feed Millie’s Wolfheart 70:30 range with Butchers wet which really suits my dog.

edit. My border is 6 kg and very petit.