Hello I'm looking for some advice. I have an alaskan malamute. I brought her from a puppy she is now eight years old. I have taken her to two different vets and they keep telling me she is overweight. I don't believe this is true. Her mother was small for the breed of a alaskan malamute and her father was a big fluffy alaskan malamute however my dog is small framed like her mother. She does have a lot of fur like alaskan malamute do. (Currently loosing her one coat) When she went to the vets they told me she weighs 34.2 kg this was before furr coat came out. They keep telling me she's overweight but google has said females can be between Alaskan Malamute/Weight 1 of 1 Female: 32–38 kg Male: 36–43 kg So why they keep telling me she's overweight? When I look at her she looks fine a bit chubby with her two coats but when she looses it she's small almost underweight to me! They keep telling me to feed her less food and do diets etc but I don't think honestly she needs one. When I see other alaskan malamute they look big compared to her. She is on the smaller side already without weight into consideration as she is just a smaller malamute. They tell me she's like a cuddley teddy bear but I think they failing to understand that these dogs are smaller when the second coat isn't there. What do you think?
Weight can only ever be a rough guide. It is hard to say without seeing her, and even a photo could be misleading if she is so heavily coated. I have to say that a vet should be well able to spot an overweight dog though. The best guide would be to look at her shape while she is wet in the bath, when she should have a slight waist. I also like to be able to feel the last couple of ribs on my dogs.
When she has a lot of fur the ribs are harder to feel and she does seem chubby but when the hair is out the ribs can be felt no problem
Everest at her current 15 months is 62 or so pounds and 22-23" at the shoulder... I would expect some more growth and weight gain but in comparison to some Mals i see she is a dwarf.....sen one recently that was about an inch smaller than a St Bernard as they stood next to one another. and the Bernard was pushing 180lbs and at my waist height (being 6 foot tall). Massive size variation in the breed it seems, On a side note, remember as a rule muscle is much much heavier than fat (16x?) and any Malamute conditioned for pulling will outweigh a dog of same size that is not. So gross weight is often misleading as a size indicator.
