Super fluffy “runt” What next!

[Sarah]

Hello!

Our boy Finley an F1b Goldendoodle was the smallest of the litter. But, he was the sweetest which is why we picked him. He weighed 6lbs at 8 weeks. At 10 weeks now, he’s about 9 lbs. both parents were approx 60-65 lbs, and was about half the size of his litter mates, but I’m hoping he catches up! We are having issues with food (he’s not a big eater) but have found he will eat wet food, which I’ll keep him on until he catches up. We use Blue Buffalo. 

He is a ball of fluff with the upside down “V” I’ve heard about... I’m assuming that means he’ll have a beard?? Is that correct? I’m hoping he’ll wave out, but he’s just fluff and very thin hair right now. Anyone have any progression pics of their pups that maybe look similar, or anyone have experience with the smallest pup?

thanks!

Sarah

[Laura]

Hi Sarah, our boy Wrigley was 5 pounds at 6 weeks. He and all his litter mates were around the same size. I was SHOCKED at how small they were- expected much larger at their age. Anyway, he grew very slowly at first then suddenly took off. At 8 months now, he is 55+ lbs. Breeder estimated 60... when we first brought him home, the vet said he’d be much smaller. Now we think he will hit 75! Another thought- when I brought him home he wasn’t a big eater either. We had his stool tested and he had giardia. May be worth checking depending on what your vet says!

[Sarah]

Oh wow! 75! That’s awesome!

we went to the vet because he has diarrhea, and they tested the stool, no parasites. Is that what giardia is? I’m not familiar with that. They gave us some meds for diarrhea and some liquid supplement/vitamins to help him gain weight. 

[Connie]

He is adorable!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

My first dog (a Bichon Frise) was the runt of the litter and ended up being quite large for a Bichon (14 lbs) and lived 18.5 years. :)  She was a scrappy little thing, always getting to the food first at the breeders' :p  

Finley is super cute I think he'll definitely be quite curly with a beard.

[Sarah]

Aww that is good to hear, thank you!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

FYI sometimes giardia doesn’t show in the stool in a test. Weird. Get him tested again. It’s not that expensive. Did the vet say he was otherwise healthy?  New food can cause diarrhea on their little  stomachs. You should be feeding him whatever the breeder  had him on, whatever it is, for 2 weeks. If you didn’t do that, that could be a cause for diarrhea. What meds is he on? If Metronidazole then he needs plain unflavored yogurt 2 hours apart from it. Metronidazole kills all gut bacteria, good and bad, so the yogurt will help rebuild the good bacteria. Actually the yogurt would be a good idea whatever the med. 

[Sarah]

Yes, metronidazole was one of the meds. He was on his breeder food when he came home, still had the diarrhea, but he would only eat a few bites a day. I’m chalking it up to nerves at this point. He is better now and on canned food because it’s all he will eat, and with him being so tiny to begin with, I want to keep him healthy and give him a chance to catch up. The vet said he was too skinny, so they gave him some Nutri-cal too. will check with the vet for the giardia, we go back next week. Thank you so much for all the info!