Weight at 8 wks

[Kitkat]

OK I was just reading the thread "what does your baby weigh now" trying to figure out if my baby's weight is "normal" and I'm freaking out -

He'll be 8 wks on Sunday and he currently weighs 3lbs - Is this normal? Is he obese? The funny thing is, to me he looks like such a tiny little squirt. I weighed him by putting him in a shoebox on a kitchen scale - I 0'd out the shoebox weight.

Oh boy.....Is he going to be a 20 lbs malt?

[uniquelovdolce]

lol can u take a pic of the fluff already? my dolce was and is a tiny lil thing so im not much help

[Kitkat]

Originally Posted by uniquelovdolce

lol can u take a pic of the fluff already? my dolce was and is a tiny lil thing so im not much help

I know I'm so technologically inept...but I've also been all over this puppy this week. I downloaded about 300 pics from my camera yesterday to free it up and will take pics of my widdle poochie over the weekend. We took pics when he was 4 wks at the breeder and then used the camcorder for when we brought him home late Sunday night. I will post pics of him next week...I hope I can figure it out - I'm so spastic! I use I photo too on the mac which makes things more confusing to me.

But seriously, I think I may have a big widdle fella on my hands...it's weird though, he was the tiniest of his littermates and the mom didn't seem like a big malt at all - I don't know.

[llf060787]

My Bitsy was about 2 lbs at 14 weeks. She's now 8 months and weighs about 7.5 lbs. Some do their growing at the beginning, and some do it more slowly. It depends on the weight of the parents. How much did Max's parents weigh?

[Ladysmom]

The general rule of thumb is to triple their weight at eight weeks which would put him at about nine pounds.

Genetic play a big part in it, though. Not only how big his parents were, but his grandparents, great grandparents, etc.

[Kitkat]

Originally Posted by Ladysmom

The general rule of thumb is to triple their weight at eight weeks which would put him at about nine pounds.

Genetic play a big part in it, though. Not only how big his parents were, but his grandparents, great grandparents, etc.

Which means my baby will probably end up being a bigger malt. Unless he's just growing a lot now and will then slow down...we'll see. It's just that it seems like most sm members doggies here weigh less at a much older age.

[maltlovereileen]

If your puppy is healthy and active, no need to 'freak out'... if you've read the board, the dogs end up all different sizes. Depending on where you bought your maltese, will be a better indicator of size (ie, from a breeder who is known [therefore you see the general sizes of the dogs in their breeding program], you will have a better idea of what the full grown size will be...if yours was bought from another source, you will be less likely to know because even if you saw the parents, you don't know how large the dogs who they were bred from were, etc...therefore, it is more of a mystery card ) Hope that makes sense. Just ENJOY your new little one and don't worry about stuff (and let your vet guide you as far as your pup's health [have Never heard of an obese puppy - they are way too active for that])

[Ladysmom]

Originally Posted by Kitkat

Which means my baby will probably end up being a bigger malt. Unless he's just growing a lot now and will then slow down...we'll see. It's just that it seems like most sm members doggies here weigh less at a much older age.

The Maltese standard calls for adult weight between 4-7 pounds. If you didn't get him from a responsible breeder who carefully breeds to produce Maltese who will grow up to be excellent representations of the breed, he could be very far from the standard.

The standard is a blueprint for breeders to follow, a "recipe". Just like with cooking, if you don't follow the recipe carefully, the outcome can be very different from what you intended.

We have had Maltese from backyard breeders here who weigh in the teens and have long snouts and curly cottony coats.

This is a good explanation of puppy development from a Maltese show breeder:

Maltese Puppy Development

[Kitkat]

Originally Posted by Ladysmom

The Maltese standard calls for adult weight between 4-7 pounds. If you didn't get him from a responsible breeder who carefully breeds to produce Maltese who will grow up to be excellent representations of the breed, he could be very far from the standard.

The standard is a blueprint for breeders to follow, a "recipe". Just like with cooking, if you don't follow the recipe carefully, the outcome can be very different from what you intended.

We have had Maltese from backyard breeders here who weigh in the teens and have long snouts and curly cottony coats.

This is a good explanation of puppy development from a Maltese show breeder:

Maltese Puppy Development

Thanks - no actually they're not real breeders so although I met the mom and her siblings, I guess it's a mystery as far as the other factors go. I took a look at the chart and there seems to be little or no difference between the 8wk weight and the 3 month weight so maybe for now, he's just a bit over the standard at 8 weeks and will slow down for the next few weeks. Or maybe we're over-feeding although many people here expressed that I shouldn't really worry about that too much since he's a pup...still, I wonder. Going to the Vet early next week - I figured that if I thought he was doing fairly well, I didn't want to put him through yet another stressful event all in the same week.

[Ladysmom]

You cannot overfeed a eight week old puppy.

Considering the circumstances, be glad he's a bigger boy. Much less risk of hypoglycemia.

He is already genetically programed to be the adult size he will be. Don't worry about it and just enjoy him.