Is my little girl too skinny?

She's still has time to grow

If the vet isn't concerned about her weight than you probably shouldn't be either. She's still young and will probably put on weight as she gets older, particularly if she's spayed. The change in hormones seems to make them put on weight.

My Sadie is 9 months old as well, she's at the taller end, for a sheltie and has reached what I'm hoping will be her maximum height, 16 inches tall at her shoulders (she's going to be competing in agility and if she gets any taller it could be more difficult for her).

Sorry, a little off topic, I was going to say that Sadie's coat is quite short too and I've been told that it can take 2-3 years for their coats to fully come in. Her parents are both show dogs with beautiful coats so I can't wait to see what she looks like in another year or two. My parent's male sheltie's coat didn't come in until he was 3 years old.

Relax and enjoy the puppy years, she's still got time to grow:smile2:
 
Sheltie Pup

Mike - I googled 'Sheltie Growth' and looked at pics people posted of their pups from month 2 - 1.5yrs to see if my Riley was growing as expected (coat and weight). Maybe that would ease your concerns? She looks like she's were she should be, gorgeous!
 
Everything everyone has posted so far is correct from everything I have seen and learned in the last year. I have 3 shelties and they are all different sizes. One is very small and only weighs 15 lbs. The other two go up slightly in size and weigh 18 and 22 lbs. Marlie is the youngest and I thought she was going to be a short hair sheltie but in the last year I have noticed in pictures that her hair has actually grown out a lot - give her coat some time.

The only question I have for you is what kind of food are you feeding her? I think 1 3/4 cups of food a day is a lot for a sheltie esp. as small as she is. I feed my girls Iams and they get a 1/2 cup in the morning and at night. One of my girls is on kidney diet but she gets the same amount. You might want to check with you vet on the amount of food b/c when she starts to put on weight she will get fat quickly and then you will have to cut her back. Just a thought.

By the way, she is very cute!!!
 
Right now she is on Purina One but I have heard bad stuff about it from a few people so I am kind of up in the air to what I am going to switch her over to. I picked up a small bag of Nutro Ultra Small Breed Adult Formula but I have not started her on it yet. I kinda wanted to see what everyone else feeds before I crack into the bag in case I need to take it back. She has been very finicky in the past with eating so I don't want to keep changing her unless I have to. I just want the best I can get for her!
 
I've heard good things about Nutro

Nutro is definitely a higher quality food than Purina One. I gave Nutro to Sadie for a while but she didn't like it (not to say that yours won't either). I hoped she would get used to it but after a few weeks of struggling to get her to eat I switched her to another brand (Identical to Iams but I think its only available in Canada).

Be sure to make the transition slowly or it may upset her stomach and bowels. Start with 1/4 new food and 3/4 old food, then gradually introduce more new food.

You may notice with the higher quality food that she doesn't eat as much. Don't worry! This is because higher quality foods have less fillers and will meet more of her nutritional requirements, therefore she won't need to eat as much. :smile2:
 
I have noticed a few people that feed Iams on the forums here.. Is this a good food? Anything in particular that they have someone could recommend? I am pretty much certain that she is not going to like the Nutro, but I figured I could give it a shot. I only picked up a small bag anyway and the lady at Pet Smart said I could actually bring it back for a full refund if she did not take to it.. I never knew they would do that or I would have returned the last 3 bags that she would not touch!
 
Iams is one of the better ones

Sadie was originally on Nutrience, she liked it but she was going to the bathroom alot so I switched her to Nutro. She didn't like the taste of it so I switched her to her current food, which is almost identical to Iams and is made at the same factory. She seems to really like it.

Every dog is different and has different tastes so food could be a hit and miss. Just because Sadie didn't like Nutro doesn't mean yours will too. Yours may not go to the bathroom more often on Nutrience the way mine did. Some good foods are Iams, Nutrience, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Nutro. I was told by my vet that Science Diet is the best one (its also the most expensive) but that dogs don't always like the taste. Probably like kids eating spinach :lol:

Pick one and give it a try. If you've already bought Nutro then try the Nutro. Or try something else, its completely up to you. Try Iams if you want, its a good quality food but just because my dog likes it, it doesn't mean that yours will to. Good luck!
 
I have heard quite a few good things about the food that they offer. What about treats? Would you recommend anything that they supply or something else? I usually just give her milkbones right now and she goes crazy for them!
 
I feed my dogs Wellness brand- other good brands are Solid Gold and Canidae, stuff with all natural human-grade ingredients and lots less fillers. Not contaminated by imported wheat from China. There are lots of good foods out there- you may have to look though. Vets tend to recommend Science Diet because you have to get the special formulas through them and they then make money from that. Vets that carry other types of food will recommend those. You should try some of the higher quality (more expensive :wink2:) foods to see what works for your pup. Also for treats- Wellness has treats and Ole Mother Hubbard makes good treats too.
 
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