Just wondering if there is any correlation between feeding a raw diet and slower growth? I thought I remember reading that somewhere but can't find it now. Drogo isn't underweight by any means, but he's growing much slower than his brother. He's just over 5 months old and weighs 32 lbs. His brother eats Beneful and is at least 9 pounds heavier; Drogo was bigger than Suzuki before being switched over to raw. Does commercial kibble force dogs to grow too fast? I know you want to avoid dramatic growth spurts, especially for larger dogs.

On a side-note, I found secreting organs at a local Asian market. So excited I don't have to continue paying ridiculous shipping costs!

How much raw food (in weight) are you feeding Drogo? Is 32 lbs a good weight for Drogo being 5 months in age?

You can't exactly compare feeding Beneful to raw food ....
I don't think kibble has anything to do with growth spurts. However, how much food you feed with depend on weight gain/loss.

Each dog grows at different rates. Koda's brother at 5 months was only 25lbs or so and Koda was around 32. Rogue at 5 month (almost) is only 15lbs, where as a lot of other people who have puppies (including on here) said their dogs were 28-32lbs [females].

I unfortunately fed Embry puppy chow until he was 6 months old because he was my first dog and I didn't know any better, he was a chunky baby puppy, but he was still under 40lbs at 5 months, his growth didn't catch up until he was around 9 months.

they all grow differently.

He's eating around 2 lbs a day. I just figured since he started out bigger, he'd continue growing that way. Like I said, he looks fine weight wise... Guess I just want to be sure I'm not doing anything wrong to stunt his growth or something. Oo

my vet told me that if they have an earlier growth spurt they slow down and pick up again around 8-10 months and then again at 18 months.

Kimberly, I don't think you can definitively determine that raw or kibble causes faster or slower growth. Dogs are individuals and they grow at different rates, even littermates. Any growth spurt or slowing of growth, I'd bet would be more than likely a coincidence rather than due to feeding raw over kibble.

Yes, a lot of protein can help dogs have a growth spurt but you can't compare raw to "kibble" in general. There are a lot more factors to take into consideration besides just protein.

Just being an overly paranoid mom it seems. Thanks guys. ^__^