Too Skinny?

[Midna793]

My new baby puppy is 6 weeks old and weighing in at 9 ponds. Is this normal? Her ribs and spine are predominantly showing and she has a abdominal tuck. No meat on her ribs. She looks very skiny. And she isn't eatting any food I give her expect treats. What can I give her to put some meat in her bones?

[valkyries]

stop the treats then she will eat, she wont starve her self. she's not ill or wouldn't be eating treats 

[Dunc]

Gotta ask what you doing with a 6 weeks old puppy at all ? I take it you got the mother as well !!! She is too young for treats of any kind and should of only just started on food and not milk from her mother

 

Very worrying post unless you have just left out a lot if detail

[paisley&chad]

guys and gals, I know this sounds crazy, but around where I live 6 weeks old is the age you take puppies home. I didn't know it was even bad until I got on this site.

I got my first little girl at FOUR weeks and five days old and she was fine. best dog I ever had, actually.

anyways, I know taking them home that early sounds absolutely insane and unhealthy to you, but some people really don't see it that way.

I'm just saying this because when you comment on stuff about the pup being too young, it sounds a little rude to me (sorry), and it would scare me off from this site completely. and I don't think we want that.

juuuust saying. please don't take that offensively, just really trying to help.

ANYWAYS- to address the actual issue. huskies are very picky eaters. she may not like her food or she simply might not be hungry. has she been vet checked ?

[Dunc]

guys and gals, I know this sounds crazy, but around where I live 6 weeks old is the age you take puppies home. I didn't know it was even bad until I got on this site.

I got my first little girl at FOUR weeks and five days old and she was fine. best dog I ever had, actually.

anyways, I know taking them home that early sounds absolutely insane and unhealthy to you, but some people really don't see it that way.

I'm just saying this because when you comment on stuff about the pup being too young, it sounds a little rude to me (sorry), and it would scare me off from this site completely. and I don't think we want that.

juuuust saying. please don't take that offensively, just really trying to help.

ANYWAYS- to address the actual issue. huskies are very picky eaters. she may not like her food or she simply might not be hungry. has she been vet checked ?

just because a situation is so in some country's does not make it right and should not be address having a puppy so young is wrong !!!! in some counties dog fighting is legal so if some one came on here saying they did this would you just sit back and say well that's OK  ?

Yes I agree the answers and questions do come across harsh but justified IMO

 

you say  "huskies are very picky eaters." no they are not its the owners that are picky not the dogs IMO 

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

just because a situation is so in some country's does not make it right and should not be address having a puppy so young is wrong !!!! in some counties dog fighting is legal so if some one came on here saying they did this would you just sit back and say well that's OK ?

Yes I agree the answers and questions do come across harsh but justified IMO

you say "huskies are very picky eaters." no they are not its the owners that are picky not the dogs IMO

I agree with dunc here huskies aren't picky eaters it really does depend on the people , blaze has been spoilt rotten when it comes to his food so will only eat certain stuff ( tho he is willing to occasionally try something else) skyla hasn't been given the opportunity to become picky and will eat pretty much anything no matter what u give her she'll eat it , I unwillingly found out yesterday she likes skips :-/ lol just some have sensitive stomachs so u have to be picky about what they have

Having a pup so young is not recommended at all for this very reason it's dangerous this puppy should still be with its mother and weaning over

[Chula]

Baylee, I understand what you are saying. Sometimes things come across in a tone that might be considered rude. It's hard to know someone's tone on the internet. Some people are just more blunt/brusque than others, don't take it personally, though I know from experience that is hard not to. And I do agree that there is a way to help people understand why something is not good/healthy for a dog without making them feel like an abuser and a criminal. We don't really know why Midna has her dog at 6 weeks, and the best we can do is try to help her give the dog the best chance she can now that it's home, while also educating her about the risks of taking a puppy away from its mother and litter mates that young.

 

At 6 weeks, I'm not sure I would use the "picky eater" reasoning or even spoiled dog reasoning, though. If you haven't already, I would immediately take the puppy to the vet to make sure she is healthy and then get her on a high quality puppy food.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Chula

[paisley&chad]

Baylee, I understand what you are saying. Sometimes things come across in a tone that might be considered rude. It's hard to know someone's tone on the internet. Some people are just more blunt/brusque than others, don't take it personally, though I know from experience that is hard not to. And I do agree that there is a way to help people understand why something is not good/healthy for a dog without making them feel like an abuser and a criminal. We don't really know why Midna has her dog at 6 weeks, and the best we can do is try to help her give the dog the best chance she can now that it's home, while also educating her about the risks of taking a puppy away from its mother and litter mates that young.

At 6 weeks, I'm not sure I would use the "picky eater" reasoning or even spoiled dog reasoning, though. If you haven't already, I would immediately take the puppy to the vet to make sure she is healthy and then get her on a high quality puppy food.

oh my gosh, thank you. finally someone gets what I'm saying. never did I say taking a puppy home at six weeks was right nor did I say it was wrong. I just wanna explain that around here, it's pretty normal and not to go and bash someone for something that they didn't know was even wrong. no reason to make them feel like a bad owner. I got mine early and just reading their comments made me feel awful about it. and she turned out perfect.

I mean, my friend was gonna get a red bone coon hound from someone. the litter was born, and the mom are like half of the babies. so the rest they had to bottle feed and wean quicker. in that instance, it's obviously not good to keep the pups around the momma! ya know?

anyways- thank you. I didn't know how to explain it without sounding rude myself. so THANK YOU I hope they understand what I mean now, and I'm not trying to make them mad.

[Jase]

I think what is frustrating to some (myself included) is breeders letting their puppies go (or shoving them out) at 6 weeks. This is not the usually fault of the buyer. 

 

I believe that it is a very positive thing that people who have very young puppies come here to get help and assistance, as such a young puppy is going to present a lot of challenges to an inexperienced owner. 

 

I suppose some of us get frustrated when it appears that people haven't done enough research prior to getting a puppy and our first thought are some sadness that the puppy has been removed from the mum too early. There is a big difference between reputable registered breeders and backyard breeders and I don't believe that reputable breeders will send puppies out into the world at this young age unless there is exceptional circumstances - this is pretty well universal with "good" breeders.

 

There is a very high occurrence of huskies being surrendered because of owners not doing their research and puppies developing behavioural problems because of this. 

 

None of my comments are intended to make the unsuspecting buyer feel bad, Baylee has done a great job and demonstrates that it can be done, it is just that most of us don't recommend it. 

 

I think anyone coming here for advice is welcomed wholeheartedly, and it is a great step in getting the puppy and owner the help they need - it also shows that they care about the welfare of their husky. I am sure that the OP will be given a lot of assistance here and will not be persecuted for buying a very young puppy.

 

... phew - I am glad I got that off my chest 

[Midna793]

Hello! OP here. Sooooooo. After all that exploding I finally decided to come back and reply to everyone. I got my husky online. Here in Texas it is very common for puppies to go out to new homes at that age. That seems to be the minimum limit here. I got her because they were selling her at a low price. Turned out she has distemper. So guessing the weight is not normal being as I don't think anyone answer the original question. And yes it was obvious that she should weigh more but by how much I was unsure. I'm a stay at home house wife so I have all the time in the world to make sure she doesn't pick up bad habits but she also is my first dog ever. But don't worry, I have my nose I the books and websites I can find. Any advice would be great on things to watch out for as far as behavior issues since she is so young? And yes when she gets her shots I will be socializing the heck out of her. Right now I just have to see if she will pull through the distemper. She is past the first stage. Eating now and playful. Waiting for the secondary infection to come. She is on antibiotics. And next Friday I take her in to get her second shots in she is over the distemper.

[Emma]

Hi there.  I can't help with your original question as I simply don't know what is a regular weight for a young pup. 

 

However I can answer your new one.  In the last few weeks that a pup is with it's mother it learns social ettiquette through playing with it's siblings.  Things such as bite inhibition (how hard is acceptable to play bite).  Pups who don't get to experience this with their littermates usually have poor bite inhibition and therefore tend to nip you quite hard and often!   Schools of thought on how to tackle this can vary.  Some people say that yelping when they bite (like a littermate would do) will help.  Others say that stopping play and ignoring them for a brief period of time will help.  i'm not sure which is best but I do know that my Ice used to be a pain for nipping (we got him at 4 months old but he was a rehome)  as he got older he did get better with the nipping.  But to this day if he gets incredibly over excited, very ocassionally he'll give you a little nip on the ear or something.  At almost 3 years of age he knows full well that he's not supposed to do that, all it takes now is one dirty look from me and he's straight back for a lick to say sorry, lol.