# Why is Wellness so highly rated?



## LuLu510 (Oct 19, 2008)

The purple line is a reference line. I found several charts online that all show the same weight progression graph. The lines for each of the weight groups are plain linear trend lines, projected backwards to demonstrate weight gain rate.

We started her on Science Diet as recommended by the vet, but her quick weight gain (plus finally looked it up and found it wasn't so good) made us switch to Natural Balance Ultra Small Bites. Soon, someone recommended Wellness, so we tried to switch to that, but as soon as she started having some Wellness in her diet, her weight shot through the roof! We switched back to Natural Balance, and her weight went back to normal.

Why is Wellness so highly rated? We were careful with portions and everything, but her weight gain (and distended stomach) were scary!


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

The problem with your charting is that you were doing it during a HUGE growth period for a Maltese. Yes, different foods will have different outcomes for your pup, but judging a food by weight gain before they are 1 year old (or earlier if they are showing signs of being overweight) doesn't make sense.

Wellness is a very high quality food, and Natural Balance is a fairly high quality food. Wellness is often too rich for our Maltese (although some on SM have good experiences with it) so the 4 and 5-star rated foods on DogFoodAnalysis.com usually work best for such tiny dogs.

You shouldn't be worrying about large amounts of weight gain at this age, especially if I'm reading your chart correctly and your pup isn't even 2lbs yet.

I just started feeding London Natural Balance Potato & Duck Small Bites and so far she's doing well on that; she was on Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken Puppy (lamb) and did fairly well on that, but she farted a lot so I'm trying something new. lol


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## 08chrissy08 (Sep 19, 2008)

As long as your pup isn't overweight, I would not be too concerned about weight gain at this age. She's still very much a baby! Jazz went from 2.5lbs at 14 weeks to 5lbs at 23 weeks. He's not the least bit overweight. He is at an ideal weight for his size. And while the reference line is all fine and good, Malts do grow at different rates. Some will shoot up like crazy and then almost completely stop growing by six months of age. Others grow more slowly and continue to grow up to two years of age.
It's very difficult to truly say what the ideal weight gain should be because I really think it varies between pups.


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## 2maltese4me (May 8, 2006)

QUOTE (LJSquishy @ Nov 29 2008, 02:16 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=679181


> The problem with your charting is that you were doing it during a HUGE growth period for a Maltese. Yes, different foods will have different outcomes for your pup, but judging a food by weight gain before they are 1 year old (or earlier if they are showing signs of being overweight) doesn't make sense.
> 
> Wellness is a very high quality food, and Natural Balance is a fairly high quality food. Wellness is often too rich for our Maltese (although some on SM have good experiences with it) so the 4 and 5-star rated foods on DogFoodAnalysis.com usually work best for such tiny dogs.
> 
> ...


Well said!!!!!!


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## Maxsmom (Aug 5, 2007)

I agree. At her age, she was probably going through a growth spurt. You can't really judge the food and their weight at this age. I would at least wait until she was a year old and see if her weight is stable. Then you can experiment with foods if you have not found one that she loves.


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## Big Sky Country (Oct 12, 2008)

My little Baylor eats until his tummy is round and he lays on his back and other times he is poncho picky eater. He is almost 6 months and his weight is 3 lb, I have never worried about how much he ate 1.5 to 2 oz of raw food daily and Instinct dry kibble at all times. Should I feed less or let him free feed as he would like? Sounds like your baby is tiny but is a good eater. Nice chart, you are very organized
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