Very small English Mastiff

[MastiffLover0912]

Hello everyone! Need some HONEST opinions! We "rescued" an English Mastiff. A back yard breeder was taking awful care of their puppies. We already have one female EM. She is 2 yrs old. She was the runt of the litter and has been the BEST dog! So we decided to go or the runt again. Her ribs were showing, along with her hip bones sticking out. We knew she was small and underfed but when we got her home and weighed her, she came in at 6 lbs!!!!!! She is supposedly 9 weeks old! Our other EM was 25 lbs by now. They had the parents on site and both were on the smaller side of 130/140lbs. Anyone have one this small that turned out to be a normal size? At this point, I'm doubting she will reach 50 lbs!!

 

[casMahn]

My girl wasnt quite that small. She was 8 pounds at 8 weeks. We just hit 40 at 4 months. So while mine is not grown yet, she is definately "catching up."

Steve

 

[raechiemay]

Our girl is also 4 months today & weighs 36 lbs. At 8 weeks she was 13.2 lbs. Have you taken your pup into the vet yet?

 

[musicdeb]

Welcome aboard~ Thank you for rescuing the baby!

 

[Crystalanya]

My boy was also the runt of his litter. Gummy Bear was 11 lbs at 9 weeks (his sisters, he was the only boy were all at about 16 or so. They were twice his size). I thought he'd be a very small male, cos even at 5.5 months he was only 42 lbs. However, he is the perfect example of controlled growing (low protein/fat/calcium/phosphorus). Since 5 months, he's been growing steadily, but a lot. He's now just about 9 months and he's 90 lbs, growing every day. Just ensure that she eats plenty, doesn't have any parasites, and if she's a bit small that's really good. Cos she'll be at a lower risk for certain medical problems. I've actually been enjoying this cos my last Mastiff got to be 95 kilos (which is about 210 pounds).

 

[Robtouw]

I've seen other rescues that were a product of overbreeding with a similar weight issue. Overbred dogs usually produce a smaller line within their breed. My friend that rescued a mastiff pup from a puppy mill seizure in CA took a pup that was about the size of yours now, Cyrus was 12 lbs at 10 weeks. After a series of vet checks and feed changes Cyrus has grown into a beautiful boy. He is underweight according to breed standard but is healthy. At 2.5 years Cyrus is about 135 lbs. He put on weight slowly, almost at an agonizing rate and it was extremely hard for Carol to be patient. But I think the slow growth was helpful, he has no bone or hip issues and is lean and strong.

 

[MastiffLover0912]

Thank you for the responses. She will be going to the vet this week. I used to work for a vet and have deepened her and given her another booster shot. She has been eating like a little pig. She's up to about 7lbs now. We wanted a big mastiff but after seeing her poor condition, knew that she was the pup for us! Her parents have produced 5... Yes 5!!!!!!..... Litters of pups. Poor momma looks ragged. They have videos of previous pups and they were all huge and grew to 180-200lbs. I would assume this litter will be the last (I hope/pray)! This "breeder" is selling pups for $500+ with no papers and this poor condition. We talked him into letting us take her for $100 (same as the shelter adoption fee). She gets along with my older mastiff and two little girls! I just hope she makes it to the 75-100lb range! But we won't love her any less if she doesn't! I'll try to attach pictures!

 

[Robtouw]

5 Litters explains her small size. Overbreeding often produces smaller pups with immune systems that take longer to develop. With proper health care and a good family life she will become a beauty!

 

[MastiffLover0912]

Just an update!! Roxy is now about 16 weeks old, a hair more. She only weighs 23 lbs. The vet thinks she will remain very small, 60-75lbs at most!! She's very laid back and shows all the signs and tendencies of a mastiff! Which we love since that's what we wanted! We call her our Micro Mastiff and everyone laughs

 

[ruthcatrin]

Glad to hear she's doing well!

 

[lexa]

we bought lexa a bull mastiff cross dogue de bourdeaux from a none loving family, she also had ribs showing and her hip,(take a look at her pictures) we took her to the vet for her FIRST injection at 10 week and she only weighed 7kg and looked very skinnyshe is now 14 weeks and now weighs 14 kg, we was worried about her but we are not eating her for chrsitmas lunch (laughing only a joke), so i dont care how much she weighs just as long as she feel loved and is happy in her self, so what ever she will weigh im sure your little baby will be fine

 

[masteneo]

Honestly, i get the feeling she will be able to recover a bit of what she is behind on. just a feeling. i bet she hits at least 120

 

[raechiemay]

Glad to hear she's doing well. She's not to far off from our girl. Duchess will be 6 months on Monday & just hit 60 lbs this week. I would imagine your girl to be 90-100 lbs. I bet she packs on lbs as she gets older. cute pics!

 

[Smokeycat]

I read a comment somewhere about a mastiff that was only 90 lbs. They called her their teacup mastiff.

 

[MastiffLover0912]

We love her and she is definitely family! We are actually kind of excited to have a smaller one! She is so laid back and it doesn't even feel like we have two mastiffs in the house!!! Here is a picture of when we brought her in!

 

[Mooshi's Mummy]

We love her and she is definitely family! We are actually kind of excited to have a smaller one! She is so laid back and it doesn't even feel like we have two mastiffs in the house!!! Here is a picture of when we brought her in!

That made me sad. Happy she has found you but what a poor little thing

 

[MastiffLover0912]

She was pitiful! Sad thing is that there were 12 puppies in this litter and we could only save one! I can only hope the rest got great homes also!

 

[ruby55]

I met a lady last year with an intact 4 yr old male EM who weighed less than 100 lbs. His littermate, a female, weighed in at about 140. This lady called her boy a "teacup mastiff". I thought it was cute.

 

[rue1975]

When we went to pick up our English mastiff Hank I wanted to take them all home. Their enviorment was not the best. I have kept tabs on the "breeder" and he is horrible! We got Hank at 7 weeks and he weighed 9lbs.

He will be 2 in January and is about 170lbs and very tall and still very lean. He has some filling out to do yet here are some pictures.

Day we brought him home 7 weeks

 

[musicdeb]

Roxy is adorable! Great pics especially with all of the sleeping babies!

---------- Post added at 03:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 PM ----------

Hank is very handsome!