Weaning and the growth curve: following a puppy with the right numbers

Weaning is not a day but a process of three or four weeks, in which the young animal moves from its mother's milk to a complete growth diet. Starting it too early deprives the litter of antibodies and warmth; leaving it too late complicates both separation and the switch to solid food.

One practical detail is often overlooked: the timing of arrival in the family. In Italy puppies cannot be rehomed before sixty days of age, which coincides with the end of weaning, and a change of house should never coincide with a change of food. Asking the breeder for a supply of the current diet and changing it only after a few weeks, with a gradual transition, drastically reduces settling in diarrhoea.

In the first weeks body weight is the most sensitive clinical parameter there is, because it reacts before any symptom does. A kitchen scale accurate to the gram, a bowl to hold the animal and a notebook are enough to build a useful series.

The signals that call for a phone call to the clinic are few and clear. A newborn losing more than ten per cent of its birth weight in the first twenty four hours, a puppy or kitten that does not gain weight for twenty four hours, any weight loss during the first weeks, a newborn that feels cold or cannot latch on: in all of these the useful time is measured in hours, because dehydration and low blood sugar arrive very fast.

For some years now growth charts have existed for dogs and cats, built like human paediatric ones from large archives of weights collected in primary care practices. They are organised by species, by sex and, in dogs, by adult size category, and they show centile lines describing how the healthy population is distributed.

A centile answers a precise question: at this age, what percentage of healthy animals weighs less than mine. A puppy on the twenty fifth centile is not thin, it is simply lighter than three quarters of its peers; one on the seventy fifth is not fat. What matters is not where it sits but whether it stays on its own line over time.

• A stable trajectory along the same centile line: regular growth, nothing to do beyond the scheduled checks.
• Crossing several lines upward within a few weeks: fat accumulation or growth that is too fast, the ration needs reviewing.
• Crossing several lines downward: a possible feeding, parasite or clinical problem, worth a consultation.
• A flat curve for more than a week in a growing animal: never a normal finding.
• A weight constantly hugging the highest centile: in large breeds this is the situation to correct first, because fast growth loads the joints.

The chart is also useful for a practical reason: it lets you estimate adult weight and therefore plan the ration ahead, the parasite treatment dosing based on current weight, and future costs. Bringing the whole series to appointments, instead of a single number recalled from memory, changes the quality of the conversation with your vet.

During growth the energy requirement per kilogram is far higher than in an adult, and it falls progressively as growth rate slows. This means the amount has to be recalculated at regular intervals rather than fixed once and for all.

1. 1

   Start from the food table, not from the bowl

   Complete growth diets state the amount based on current weight and expected adult weight. That is the starting point, not the destination.

2. 2

   Weigh the ration on a scale

   A volume scoop carries an error that matters a lot during growth, because the ration is small and the percentage error is large. Thirty seconds of weighing a day is enough.

3. 3

   Split it into several meals

   Four meals a day up to four months, three up to six months, two after six months. In kittens frequent meals suit their physiology better and reduce vomiting from eating too fast.

4. 4

   Count the treats too

   Treats, snacks and training rewards should stay a marginal share of the daily ration. During growth they are used in quantity, so they should be subtracted from meals.

5. 5

   Recalculate at every monthly weigh in

   If weight runs above the curve reduce it, if it lags increase it, always with modest changes and checking the effect after two or three weeks.

6. 6

   Change food only with a gradual transition

   The switch to an adult diet happens at the end of growth, replacing progressively over seven to ten days to avoid gastrointestinal upset.

A frequent mistake is leaving food permanently available in the bowl. In kittens free feeding is better tolerated, but in large breed puppies it is associated with excessive intake and faster growth than is desirable. A measured meal also gives you a free clinical signal: a growing animal that leaves food it normally finishes deserves attention.

In large and giant breed puppies the skeleton grows for many months while carrying a load that increases week by week. Excess energy and excess calcium during growth are associated with developmental orthopaedic disease, which shows up as lameness and pain in very young animals.

• Use a complete diet formulated for the growth of large breed dogs, which accounts for calcium content and energy density.
• Do not add calcium, phosphorus or vitamin D supplements to a complete diet: in a growing puppy excess does more harm than deficiency.
• Keep body condition lean: during growth a puppy slightly below its own curve is preferable to one consistently above it.
• Avoid repeated jumps from height, long stair descents and running on hard surfaces before the growth plates close.
• Do not push walk duration: in a puppy activity should be frequent, varied and short, with the option to stop.
• Report any lameness immediately, even intermittent, instead of waiting for growth to resolve it.

In kittens the problem has a different shape but is just as real: excess weight during the first year raises the chance of obesity in adulthood, and neutering reduces the energy requirement sharply and suddenly. Recalculating the ration in the weeks after surgery, rather than waiting for the animal to gain weight, is the moment at which most cases are prevented.

The end of growth does not coincide with a birthday. It depends on adult size, and in giant breeds it comes far later than people expect. Knowing when it happens tells you when to switch to an adult diet and when to stop treating reduced exercise loads as normal.

The timing of neutering interacts with these figures: removing sex hormones delays closure of the growth plates and produces slightly taller animals. It is one of the reasons why, in large breeds, the choice of timing is discussed case by case, taking into account size, sex, behaviour and breed specific risks.

Once growth is over, weight stops being a moving figure and becomes a reference. The weight reached in ideal body condition at the end of development is the value to record and to compare against for all the years that follow: any significant deviation from that number, up or down, is clinical information.