Help, my dog!!!!

[92ThoStro]

Well the mother had 11 puppies which is a very large litter for an Australian Cattle Dog. My sister and I both got a puppy, she got hers discounted because she traded rabbits to the farmer on her end. Anyway, she picked hers because it was big, one of the largest ones, but it's very hyper and it acts dumb (her fault, no such thing as a dumb blue heeler ).

I picked mine out because of how it acted, not its size. It sat behind me and didn't jump and yap like the other puppies did. There were 3 runts of the litter, and she was the smallest of the 3 runts. She acts very smart, no problems with her. Other than her size. AFAIK runts are only small when born, they don't stay tiny right? She is on her way towards her 5 months now, and she only weighs 15 pounds! She is shorter than a minpin, but she is muscled and stockier

Took her to another vet ( not regular low cost clinic we use ) and one of the techs thought she was 8 weeks old!

Will she stay small forever, or does she still have time to catch up?

 

[Mosinguy]

She may be stunted for life, being the smallest of the runts.

 

[mbills2223]

It all depends on that particular pup. It could grow to be "normal" size, or it could be smaller than average. Just like people! Either way, it's nothing to be concerned with as long as you're feeding her right and taking care of her. Enjoy!

 

[bigworm]

Five months shes gonna be small don't expect much more growth

 

[K_W]

It's a cat but....

We adopted the runt of three kittens my mother found and my wife and I hand raised, he was small enough to fit comfortably on your hand at 1 month (undersized for a kitten) and now at 6 months he is lean and healthy, but is over 7lbs, norm is 5.5 to 6.5 lbs. He is over 2/3 the size of our 3 y.o. adult male (9.1 lbs) and he is still growing daily. The vet said he will outgrow our male by 10 months.

Not all runts stay small.

This is him at 4 1/2 weeks... (Nov. 27)

This is him yesterday... (left) Cat on right is medium-short hair (fluffier)

 

[giovani]

My wife is a vet tech and has had more experience with down and out animals than anyone I know ( in short she is a sucker).

She says you can't say they are done growing untill one year, but if the dog is a runt due to internal birth defects such as malabsorbtion issues, it could be done growing now.

Also she brings up the point that dogs unlike humans can get pregnant by more than one male, meaning that unless the man you bought them from knows for sure that only one stud bread the ***** , your pup could have a different father.

She is suspect of the later because you said there were 3 runts.

Hope this helps

 

[nkdninjafrog]

it wouldnt surprise me if she doesnt get much bigger than 25/30 pounds. my texas heeler was the runt of her litter, just had her first birthday, sitting at a healthy 27 pounds. don't focus on what the average weight charts say. dogs are just like humans, even offspring from the same parents can be very different in size/weight

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

May grow up a bit smallish, but be the best dog you could ever want. Never know. It is what it is. Enjoy the show.

 

[PapaScout]

A friend of mine's red dobbie had a litter by the rottie next door. The runt of that litter he kept and named Zeus as a joke because it was so tiny compared to the others.

I don't know what the other offspring looked like full-grown but a year later Zeus was an absolute monster as tall as a dobberman and as thick as a rottweiler.

I think removing competition and giving free access to resources wil allow even the smallest to accel.

 

[92ThoStro]

I feed her Taste of the Wild High Prairie Puppy food, so she eats pretty good
When I say 3 runts, I meant 3 small puppies and 9 large ones. My puppy was the smallest of the 3 small ones. The farmer purposely bred his dog, for the second time. He told my sister years ago that if he bred her again, she would be able to pick out any puppy she wanted, and she told me, and I got one too. I have no doubt they had the same stud, considering they all looked the same and he purposely bred her. Besides, if a stray dog made it into his compound he would probably kill it and feed it to his pigs.

I am scared to death of those things, they are giant, I wont go near them.

I have too heard of runts growing up and being big, but she is taking her sweet time lol!