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IM REALLY WORRIED

P

princess's mom

Member
Yesterday I brought my 18 week old female puppy to see a 17 week old male puppy and I am really worried because he is double her size!! I thought she was small but compared to him she is tiny!! Should I be worried???
 
Only your vet can tell you IF you need to worry. I have noticed that many of our cavaliers are different sizes. Mine is on the small side and he is going to be two on the 14th of May. But he's not too small, he's the right size for his frame/bone structure and height.

My vet told me you should be able to feel ribs but not see them through the dogs coat.

I hope this helps. We love our cavaliers so much that it is very easy to worry. I know I do.
 
Has your vet said anything that would make you feel you should be concerned?

Many cavaliers that don't come from breeders who breed for conformation (eg show breeders) are quite oversized because casual (backyard) breeders so not know how to breed to preserve the breed's correct attributes, so that may explain the size difference (about 90% of the rescue cavaliers I home in Ireland are clearly from backyard breeders or puppy mills and are considerably larger than breed standard, sometimes twice the high end of the standard!). Also, all breeders, inlcuding show breeders, will occasionally have dogs that are above or below breed standard anyway. Also, puppies grow at different speeds and in addition, their size can depend on how large the litter was -- a puppy from a litter of 5 or 6 will tend to be smaller and grow more slowly than a singleton. They do all tend to even up but even within the breed standard there's a 5-6 lb range that is acceptable for adult cavaliers -- 12-18lbs in the UK and 13-18 in the US.
 
You can have a size difference even within a litter and among the same sex. Teddy is large, at around 22lbs, yet his sire is CH Homerbrent Expression and his dam a Toraylac, whose sister got 2 ccs. His litter brother has 2 ccs, too, so he has good credentials.
 
If it's a comfort Cailean is just under 30 pounds and only a little overweight. He is very tall and long.

There are big variations in the sizes of Cavs so I wouldn't worry. :)
 
I wouldn't worry too much if your vet thinks your pup is ok.

Mary Alice is very small and compact whereas our beloved Charley was almost twice her size.

They are/were both purebred Cavaliers and just had different builds. :)
 
also, your little girl may suddenly have a growth spurt. My little Mona was tiny until 2 days ago, now she looks so much bigger. I feed my puppies as much as they want to eat too, some days they are ravenous, I feel they really need it when that happens.
 
I wouldn't worry yet, they're still young, Sam was very little for a long time, and is still quite tiny but he's getting there. They can grow a lot in a very short time you know!
 
I brought Princess to the vet yesterday and she is 18 weeks old and 1.8 pounds!!! :yikes I got such a fright I knew she was small but I didnt think she was that small!! I have been feeding her 50g a day of Royal Canin and she has a few treats a day too!! The vet changed her to Burns food a handful 4 times a day and gave her an injection to help her absorb more of the food rather than just pass it through! She was having 4-6 poos a day so the vet thinks she just isnt absorbing the food!! Thank God she is not small from medical problems!! She needs to be 2.2 pounds in 2 weeks time!!
 
Oh my! It's a very good thing you got her in to see the vet. :flwr:

I'm almost afraid to ask how much is 50g? Were you feeding her multiple times per day?
 
50g is about 3 egg cups full plus a little extra and I was giving it 3 times a day!

Thank god I brought her to the vet when I did! The vet was worried she may have had a heart problem and that was why she isnt putting on weight so thank god she is healthy!!

I feel really bad about it all but I was following the guidelines!!
 
I know how difficult it can be when the breeder tells you one thing and the vet tells you another, etc., plus everyone else's opinions...

It might help to buy a book about Cavaliers. You'll find lots of good, really useful information.

(Except some of the older books may mention using garlic in the health section, and garlic is considered to be nearly as toxic as onions!!)
 
well it is not to bad once u know she is not sick or anything!! hopefully burns food will do the trick! :)
 
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