Kai Ken Growth Rate
Ginko is growing up fast, can't believe I've had him for almost a month already (feels like 6 months.)
Anyways, when I got him at 4 months he weighed 16.7 lbs.
I weighed him a few days ago and he's up to 21.4 lbs. He will be 5 months old this Sunday the 24th.
Is this a normal size for his age? I expected him to be bigger. Should I be expecting growth spurts at any certain times? At what age was your Kai fully grown?
Thanks guys!
Anyways, when I got him at 4 months he weighed 16.7 lbs.
I weighed him a few days ago and he's up to 21.4 lbs. He will be 5 months old this Sunday the 24th.
Is this a normal size for his age? I expected him to be bigger. Should I be expecting growth spurts at any certain times? At what age was your Kai fully grown?
Thanks guys!
Comments
He is definately growing though, the cage I have him in now is almost too small for him. When I got him it seemed giant. I really don't have a problem if he does end up being on the smaller side, but man it seems strange that Matsu is so much larger than Ginko..
I think Matsu is the top end for the litter- you need to hear from Orry and Misaki and Sumiko too for a better average. @montanakai @mysticrhythms
I would say not as a breeder or long time expert that your average female kai is low 30s and male kai is in the high 30s. Though @yandharr, cszeig, sjp051993 and I all have kai under 30lbs, male and female. (sorry if I butchered names). Unless he gets the 'big' gene he might only be as tall as your knee.
He def has several more months of growth and will at any size be able to be the activity partner you want, trust me I've seen my girl for run for more than an hour and not be tired, but sticking to a good high protien food is always a plus.
I've heard of few ways to project adult weight for medium sized breeds, which provide ballpark figures at best. There's a lot of variation based on breed and the individual pup. One that I did for Orry, was to take his weight at 14 weeks, multiply it by 2, and then add half of the starting weight. In other words, Orry weighed 17.5lbs at 14 weeks, so this method projects his adult weight to be 43.75lbs ((17.5*2)+(.5*17.5)). If you know some of his earlier weights, you could you use this method as an estimate.
Some more "rule of thumb" type methods that I've heard: a pup weighs about 45-50% of its adult weight at 4 months and about 65-70% at 6 months. Again, these are just loose estimates for medium sized breeds...they may be way off for other breeds, but at least in Orry's case they seem to be pretty reasonable.
I've been feeding Shelby Bil-jac and she gets a little over 1 cup twice a day. I've been feeding Bil-jac to my other dogs as well. My Shiba (she's a bit on the petite side, judging by everyone else's weight and size comments for Shiba) weighs about 16lbs and she eats 3/4 cup a day. This is enough for her to be full and happy.
Hope this helps you gauge Ginko's growth.
Koda was 51 pds. by 9 mos. of age. He will turn 4 in April and is still there. Lately he's a piglet, so he may have gained a pound. He's so thin though that it's a good thing.
Now that the bag is pretty much gone, I was thinking about switching to Blue Buffalo grain free. Any thoughts? I would have to order Earthborn, it's not available near me. I checked the website.
And Ginko weighs 22.3 lbs, and stands 17 inches tall at the shoulders as of today. Thanks for all the input guys, wasn't sure what to expect.
These are the best dry foods: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/best-dry-dog-foods
I think he's a pretty good size overall.
Just find a good food you lik that fits your feeding philosophy and agrees with the dog, and go with it, but don't try to find something to make them grow faster.