# 5 month old seems small



## beccamomoffour (Jan 24, 2021)

Hello! I have a question regarding our 5 month old male vizsla. He is 22 weeks and only weighs 23lbs. He is not food motivated at all and his food will sit in his bowl most the day. (He eventually eats but only eats about 2 cups a day.. maybe 2.5). When we got him at 8 weeks he was only 8lbs. However he seems small. Is this normal weight for a male vizsla at 5 months? Thanks in advance.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

That does seem on the small size, but I would still go by on if he is skinny, or looks good for size. Any pictures of him?


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## derwos (Nov 10, 2019)

"Small" is kind of a relative term... and agree with @texasred. How does your lil guy look? Definitely, pictures would be helpful.

Aly @ 21 weeks, was 30lbs... and she comes from smaller lineage. Since she was about 10 1/2 months old (now 14 months), she hovers around 41lbs.

Aly is also not very food motivated... unless it's from my hand. The same kibble can sit in her bowl all day... not to be touched. Once I grab a handful of it and we begin to do some training, she'll take it as a reward, as if it's the most delicious treat.


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## beccamomoffour (Jan 24, 2021)

Yes he is so skinny. Is that okay? Vet says he’s healthy but you can definitely see every single rib. I’ll get a pic of him tomorrow standing.


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## beccamomoffour (Jan 24, 2021)

This is him standing


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## derwos (Nov 10, 2019)

From the pictures... Looks like a pretty darned healthy vizsla pup, to me! Good muscle mass and definition in shoulders and haunches. Ribs visible, though not prominent. Nice coat and handsome, alert eyes.

Vizsla pups are known to be very lean and leggy... and yup... ribs showing. LOL I've read someplace, "nose, toes and lungs" as a description for a vizsla. haha

I'd also like to give a little more perspective of my previous response, as it relates to Aly being 30 lbs @ 21 weeks. We live in upstate NY, where winters can be quite brutal... and we are outdoors creatures. I intentionally tried to beef her up a bit with dehydrated chicken breast and cheese bits as her training treats. So, I'd say she was carrying at least a couple extra pounds.

I'm with your Vet, on this one.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I would like to see a little more cover over the hip bones, but your pup looks like 90% of Vizslas at that age. They grow taller, and leggy, before they fill out.


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## Young_vizsla_owner (Dec 15, 2021)

Hey,
Your pup looks great! I’d listen to the vet.

My pup was also the runt of his litter and belongs to smaller lineage parents. When we got him he was about 9 pounds, and he also wasn’t overly interested in food at first. 

A few ideas that helped get our pup his calories 

1.including a bit of a topper on his food like an egg or yogurt, he gobbles his food up that way.

2.we bought a ball that dispenses food while he plays with it. He will chase the ball around eating food at the same time as it falls out.

3.lastly we try and get him excited for his food through verbal praise, and when he eats it all we let him know he’s been a good good boy.

mix In the occasional kong toy filled with peanut butter and use training treats and he should gain some weight


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## beccamomoffour (Jan 24, 2021)

I am so appreciative of the help! Thank y’all so much. Topper on the food is a great idea. I ended up sending a picture to the breeder and he said the same as y’all- pup looks great, maybe a little skinny but nothing he would be worried about. He also suggested a topper on food or heating up some chicken broth and wetting the food a little bit with it. I feel a lot better after talking to him and reading y’all’s replies. Thank you so much! I was worried that he wasn’t eating enough and also getting too much exercise (he is constantly out back playing with my kids.. I home school so it’s a lot.. never on leash, but running around with them!) so I was nervous he wasn’t growing like he should. Will do these suggestions and just continue on! Thanks again.


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## Zsuzsa.YVR (Nov 20, 2021)

beccamomoffour said:


> Hello! I have a question regarding our 5 month old male vizsla. He is 22 weeks and only weighs 23lbs. He is not food motivated at all and his food will sit in his bowl most the day. (He eventually eats but only eats about 2 cups a day.. maybe 2.5). When we got him at 8 weeks he was only 8lbs. However he seems small. Is this normal weight for a male vizsla at 5 months? Thanks in advance.


Hi! I would say he is definetely on the smaller side. For comparison, my same age Vizsla girl at 16 weeks was 32 lbs already. Now judging by her paws and the size of her dad, she will be larger than average size. 
So probably the ideal could be between the two. My puppy would eat anything you put in front of her, there is no unfinished bowl here. We feed her about a cup and a half 3x a day and she still maintains her beautiful figure.


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## rsarvis (Nov 16, 2021)

I don’t know if this is helpful, but if you’re feeding him kibble and he’s not eating as much as you think he should, maybe see if he eats more if you feed by hand? When I switched my pup to kibble recently, he was disinterested in what was in his bowl (he was too used to the yummier stuff, I guess, even tho I transitioned to kibble slowly). But if I took it out of his bowl and offered by hand, why he’ll eat a full meal. My hand is a slobbery nasty mess by the end, tho… 😁


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## Young_vizsla_owner (Dec 15, 2021)

I also forgot to post my dog info for reference. Remember he also was the runt of the litter and had a small mom and medium sized dad. 5months he was weighing 30pounds flat so your pup isn’t super far far off. I think maybe your pup could be fattened up a bit in the methods everyone else described above.


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