AM I worring too much?

So yesterday my partner and I took two of our dogs to the vet. Alex our Great Dane for a small staph infection on his skin and Beep our mix for a cough. anyway Alex is about 16 weeks old and 3 weeks ago when he went to the vet he weighed 40lbs, yesterday he weighed 65! I am not naive so I realize this is a giant breed and they are huge dogs, but is 25lbs to much weight to put on in that little of time? ( I mean give me some food and I could do it) but he is a 16 week old baby! Is this growth going to impact his joints or hips? My vet checked out his hips and joints and said do far he looks great, and my partner told him i was paranoid... but should I be? I have seen giant breeds with disfigured legs due to poor health and careless owners. My dog is beautiful and healthy and I want him to stay that way. he is on a GOOD ADULT food and is not taking any supplements. is there anything i should do or give him that can or will ease my worry? Alex: http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii220/ashly302/l2.jpgYA BFF- please read the WHOLE question dear- i was JUST AT THE VET! Good try, but i have to give you a thumbs down :(IE PUPPY FOODI have always been told by vets to never give a large breed puppy food for puppys even for large breed dogs. I have been told that by my personal vet and a vet I worked for. Now that you put me on the spot i cant remeber exactly why but it has somthing to do with TOO much grow stimulate. of cource there is more to that but like i said, it just flew out of my brain.Kris- Alex is a GIANT breed, too much calcium will hurt his bones and joints. I have read this and heard it from vets, i did extensive research on it even before I got my puppy. He is on a good food, I did the food thing.... lol so I am not worried about what he is eating.ASPCA just answered your puppy food questions guys!! thanks!!!Stephanie- I have thought of a raw diet for my dogs and even cats, as of right now i cannot afford it, but am looking into it! Thanks for the Great advice!!!

you might ask a vet

He'll be fine but if you have gut feelings you should do somethingAnyone help me on this I really need help:http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081029092127AAvqYQM

Maybe if he continued to gain weight at that speed for a long time it would be bad, but he is still young and growing, so a one time gain of weight, even that much is not something to be so worried about, especially if the vet sees no problems resulting from it. Just continue what you're doing, remember to give him plenty of exercise and love and if no problems arise, don't make one for yourself!

Put Alex on PUPPY FOOD and do it today. You just explained his weight gain and also told me that he can have the 'deformed bones' and bad problems you see in other large dogs. Puppy food has more calcium and minerals that a puppy needs to have healthy bones and teeth throughout the dog's lifetime. Yes, the puppy food is more expensive, and you'll probably have to feed the two dogs separately while Alex is a puppy ... but Alex is just a baby, and like a human baby, you wouldn't want to feed it 'adult food' ... until he's a year (52 weeks) old, he needs to eat puppy food.

I'm just curious [by the way he's adorable] why you have him on ADULT food and not large breed puppy? Puppy food, especially large breed puppy, is formulated for dogs that have huge growth spurts like Danes and has the nutrients it needs to make sure their legs and bones get the proper calcuim and nutrients to grow big and strong. I think at 16 weeks Adult food is too harsh for them.Also what consitutes Good food to you? Go to www.dogfoodanalysis.com and find out if what you are feeding is good or crap.If the vet says he's fine then you might just be an over protective mommy

You should put your puppy on good puppy food. hes a growing puppy and needs puppy food to develop properly.

I think you are doing a great job and at his age that rate of weight gain is perfectly normal. They need to eat so dont withhold food. Keep up with the checkups and everything will be fine. Congrats on being a good doggie owner!keep up the the doggie exercise and all will be wonderful !Alex and Beep are lucky dogs

I have a lot of expeirience with Great Danes and other large breeds, danes are beautiful dogs, and grow very, VERY quickly, like the vet said, it is very wrong to feed a great dane, isrish wolfhound, saint bernard, mastiff, or any other gigantic, rugged breed puppy food, even food formulated for giant breeds, always feed the breed young dog large breed food. Now... don't worry about Alex, like I said, this is a Giant breed and grows fast, so their maximum weight can be up to at least 190lbs. so feed the same food, this is normal, my danes and other danes that I have heard about have grown a lot in just 1 week!Good Luck!

listen if you got the time and money take him off dog food altogether great danes eat less any way and should be eat three samll very small meals a day as a puppy great dans get blot which can kill your dog if not noticed in time ALL DOG FOOD IS CRAP DOESN'T MATTER WHO MAKES IT OR WHATS IN IT . would you eat a meat baked cookie that stayed on a shelf for a week or more. i feed my dog mixtures of aporoved meats rice and approved vegies i make a weeks worth and freeze it in ziplock bags i also give a vet approved vitamine also since he is giant breed do not get him fixed until he is at least 2 years old 4 being the best becasuse most of there grow hormones come from the reproductive organs and it messes with the growth plates and also causes bruned out thyriod glands one reason you see so many fat dogs and cats i have looked into this my self about getting your pets fixed and they are finding that it many cause an early death from thing like over weight hip dysplaisa from being over weight and so on hanni my german shepherd is 26 inches and weight is 75 pounds to the tee on what a shepherd should be his litter mate sister who was on puppy food and was smaller is now two inches bigger then him makeing her unshowable in comformation since females should only stand at 22 - 24 iches at the shoulder but any way don't listen to the people who wrote you and said to but your puppy on puppy food listen to the vets and look it up on the net too call a great dane breeder and ask them if thats the norm i think that it is to tell you the truth i too have seen what you say is bone deformities and i think that is just gentics and some of the great danes pull ligaments and get arthritis witch also makes the bones funny looking in the legs too

Emily,You sound like you're doing fine with him. He doesn't have much of a mask, but still a pretty boy.No dane should EVER eat any brand of puppy food, not even large breed. Puppy food is way too rich, and high in protein for a dane. www.dogfoodanalysis.com is a very good resource. You want to grow him slow. Fast growth b/c of too many nutrients can lead to HOD, PANO, or OCD. My boy was weaned onto crap food, and by 9 weeks couldn't walk at all. For 2 days he had to be carried everywhere. I switched him to Eagle Pack Natural (per www.greatdanelady.com) and the supplements she reccommends, and he was on his feet within 12 hours. He had HOD in the left front leg, and very severe OCD in both shoulders. 3 operations later he's still gimpy.I worried b/c EPN is lamb based, so I switched him to Chicken Soup For The Dog Lovers Soul. He did excellent on that until last month when I think they changed the formula a bit. He also has a sensitive tummy and had the runs for weeks. Now he's on California Natural Chicken/ Rice and doing awesome. He eats less than either of the other 2 foods call for, and my yard looks like it should again ;-)I wouldn't worry about him. He should be lean, but not skinny, you want to easily see the last rib on his side. He'll go thru growth spurts and get taller overnight, and his hip bones will stick up. Don't freak out and increase his food intake. Too many calories is bad. He'll even out again.Good luck!