Hi, I recently adopted a female husky from a relative. She was 4  months when I adopted her and she's 7 months old now. I'm a little bit worry about her size. She's about 45 lbs.  I tried to measure her height but she kept moving around so my best estimation is that she's around 18-19 in tall.  I take her to the dog park every day or at least 5-6 days a week; 1 1/2 to 2 hours each day. There were other huskies that are bigger than her despite being the same age or even younger. The relative I got her from used to feed her pedigree so I wonder if the food affected her size. I'm now feeding her wellness core puppy. 4 cups (Wellness Core Puppy) + half can wet food (Natural Balance) + half cup cooked chicken meat everyday & 1 boiled organic egg (shell included) every other day. She was also spayed last month so I'm afraid that it might affect her growth. I just want to ask your opinions about her meal plan. Is it too much or is it too little?

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

She's doing fine weight wise. Females tend to be in the 35-50 range, so 45 is just fine. Males tend to be 45-60. She might be an inch or two shorter than normal, but that's nothing to be worried about. Again, males tend to be taller too. At 7 months, she may still have some growing to do also.
Size/weight, everything is fine.

When comparing to other huskies, keep in mind that if they are males, they will be bigger/heavier on average. Also, malamutes, or huskies mixed with malamute/shepherd or a few other breeds may be even larger yet. On top of that, poor diets can lead to dogs being overweight, so some of those dogs may be on diets with lots of grains that may make them actually larger than they should be weight wise. Another thing to watch out for is the fur/hair. Some huskies tend to be really fluffy or have really thick coats adding to an appearance of being bigger dogs than they really are. If yours has a shorter coat, it will appear smaller.

Huskies tend to be large in size, but have a slim, athletic appearance compared to other dogs. They also tend to be pretty efficient diet wise. If anything, you might be overfeeding her. 4 cups + half a can of wet + half a cup of chicken + half an egg a day is a lot of food. You're feeding good, high quality kibble (from a brief search). How are her bowel movements? If they are pretty soft or runny, you may want to cut back a little. If things are good and firm though, it might be what she needs. I'll let someone else weigh in on that though (no pun intended).

Your female is well within standard for size limits - at 7 months, she has another year or more of growing. An adult female Siberian Husky standard calls for a weight of 35-50 pounds and a height of 20-22 at the withers. If anything, at 45 pounds and 19", she may be on her way to over-size for the breed. Siberian Huskies are considered a medium sized breed, not large.

I know in our area of the country, there are Amish breeders who tend to breed over-sized, out of standard dogs because people want a big dog, not a dog bred to the standard.

As for the meal plan - you may be over-feeding. How is her body condition? Can you feel the ribs, see a waist when looking down from above and from the side, see a good tuck-up? At 7 months of age, she should be quite gangly.

Given her age and approximate height I'd be more concerned she's carrying too much weight for her size proportionally. Rather than worry about the dogs of unknown and likely unrelated lineage, focus on your girl as her own individual.

Everyone gave excellent, same as i would have given advice. As far as spaying, most animals that are spayed under age 8 months tend to be taller than those spayed after. Research has been shown that early spay/neuter keep growth plates open longer, and hence animal being taller, so that would not have affected your pup being short. She is after all still a puppy and lots of growing yet to do.

Kmanweiss wrote:

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

She's doing fine weight wise.  Females tend to be in the 35-50 range, so 45 is just fine.  Males tend to be 45-60.  She might be an inch or two shorter than normal, but that's nothing to be worried about.  Again, males tend to be taller too.  At 7 months, she may still have some growing to do also.
Size/weight, everything is fine.

When comparing to other huskies, keep in mind that if they are males, they will be bigger/heavier on average.  Also, malamutes, or huskies mixed with malamute/shepherd or a few other breeds may be even larger yet.  On top of that, poor diets can lead to dogs being overweight, so some of those dogs may be on diets with lots of grains that may make them actually larger than they should be weight wise.  Another thing to watch out for is the fur/hair.  Some huskies tend to be really fluffy or have really thick coats adding to an appearance of being bigger dogs than they really are.  If yours has a shorter coat, it will appear smaller.

Huskies tend to be large in size, but have a slim, athletic appearance compared to other dogs.  They also tend to be pretty efficient diet wise.  If anything, you might be overfeeding her.  4 cups + half a can of wet + half a cup of chicken + half an egg a day is a lot of food.  You're feeding good, high quality kibble (from a brief search).  How are her bowel movements?  If they are pretty soft or runny, you may want to cut back a little.  If things are good and firm though, it might be what she needs.  I'll let someone else weigh in on that though (no pun intended).

For the most part, her poop is firm. Although it can be soft sometimes. For the past few weeks, she would only eat half of her breakfast portion.

amymeme wrote:

Your female is well within standard for size limits - at 7 months, she has another year or more of growing.  An adult female Siberian Husky standard calls for a weight of 35-50 pounds and a height of 20-22 at the withers.  If anything, at 45 pounds and 19", she may be on her way to over-size for the breed.  Siberian Huskies are considered a medium sized breed, not large.

I know in our area of the country, there are Amish breeders who tend to breed over-sized, out of standard dogs because people want a big dog, not a dog bred to the standard.

As for the meal plan - you may be over-feeding.  How is her body condition?  Can you feel the ribs, see a waist when looking down from above and from the side, see a good tuck-up?  At 7 months of age, she should be quite gangly.

I can definitely feel her ribs.

i97.servimg.com/u/f97/19/56/21/31/img_1024.jpg
i97.servimg.com/u/f97/19/56/21/31/img_1918.jpg
i97.servimg.com/u/f97/19/56/21/31/img_1817.jpg
i97.servimg.com/u/f97/19/56/21/31/img_1720.jpg

Given that the links were up, I figured I'd convert them to inline pictures.

Given those pictures, she doesn't look to be underweight - in fact, to my eye she looks good.  My description of what her ribs should feel like is - take a pack of beef ribs at the local grocer, her ribs should feel like the ones in the wrapped package.  You should be able to feel them but they shouldn't be overly pronounced.  It's normal for the hip bones to feel pronounced, but they should feel like they have some meat on them.

That last picture, to my eye, looks good.  She has a definite tummy tuck (she should have).  As I've been reading, my thoughts were that this girl must weigh a ton - given what you're feeding her, but she doesn't; she must get some real good exercise to run all that off!

And for your edification, to take the links you have and turn them into pictures:

Code:

i97.servimg.com/u/f97/19/56/21/31/img_1918.jpg

should look like this:

Code:

[img]http://i97.servimg.com/u/f97/19/56/21/31/img_1918.jpg[/img]

The insert image icon will insert the [ img ] tags, but you also needed the "http://" to satisfy the forums specs.

What a pretty girl! I'm always a sucker for a masked bandit!

Judging by the pictures,I think she looks great. Like Amy, I am also a sucker for masked bandits:)

I thank you Al for posting the pics, cuz when I originally read this, I thought "dang that's a lot of food!" But like everyone else has said, she looks great. LOVE the mask too!