When owning a dog, there are some essential things you should keep track of. One of them is his weight. Knowing his expected mass is key to tell if your pooch may be going through any problem.
In addition to it, weight is a defining factor for choosing a breed when getting a dog. So, what is the average weight of Pit Bulls?
The weight of a Pit Bull varies according to his breed. A male adult American Pit Bull Terrier, for example, habitually weighs from 35 to 65 pounds. Females are a bit lighter, their mass typically ranges from 30 to 60 pounds. For Staffordshire Bull Terrier, adult males have an average weight of 28 to 37 pounds while females weigh around 24 to 34 pounds.
However, it is vital to know your dog’s expected weight, not only in adulthood but also in other stages of his life. To help you with this process, I’ve already researched this information, and here are my findings.
The Importance of Understanding the Growth Curve of Pit Bulls
Before diving into any numbers, let’s talk about why exactly you want to analyze your Pit Bull’s weight. As you may expect, the answer is simple. This is a method to control his health and see if everything is OK.
Similarly to what humans do, your dog’s mass should also be monitored. Underweight or overweight dogs may experience lots of problems in their lives. Therefore, this anomaly must be treated.
By breaking down your puppy’s expected weight by short periods of his life, it will be easier for you to correct his nutrition if you spot any problems.
Depending on the case, you may even want to bring your dog to the veterinary to get more advanced assistance.
Weight problems may sometimes not have any direct links with nutrition. Some Pit Bulls present genetic conditions that naturally prevent them from staying within the predicted amount of mass. This can explain if your dog constantly doesn’t meet your expectations, even if you change his diet.
Since that’s a slightly more serious case, your pet’s veterinarian needs to enter the game more frequently. He must monitor the dog’s case and advise you of the required treatment. Your furry friend may even need to take some medications.
The Average Weight of Pit Bulls at Different Ages
Now we get to the most important part: the average Pit Bulls’ growth curve. Considering that your dog is a puppy, this is what his weight gains should look like:
Does that mean my Pit Bull needs to be exactly like this? No, stay cool if his weight is different from this chart!
As you can see, we’re considering that your furry friend will weigh around 55 pounds when fully grown. However, every dog has its own characteristics and metabolic reactions. Some Pit Bulls can be naturally smaller, while others will grow massively.
Their gender also accounts for a lot of their weight. Females tend to be slightly smaller and lighter than male dogs. This situation also applies to the Pit Bull breeds.
How to Know If Your Pit Bull Is Over or Underweight?
I’m telling you that you shouldn’t worry too much if your pooch’s mass is slightly different from the table. But you should still pay attention to signs of any possible problem.
So… what exactly are the limits, and when can you tell that your furry friend isn’t meeting the ideal growth rate?
The most straightforward way of doing this is by bringing your Pit Bull to the veterinarian. They will quickly be able to tell if your pooch isn’t meeting the ideal mass.
I recommend seeing a vet because they’re also going to provide you with orientation. In the case of an anomaly, they will likely prescribe some remedies or advise you to change the dog’s diet. That will greatly depend on the information you give them.
The methods the veterinarian uses to diagnose weight problems with your dog are incredibly simple. Due to that, they’re easy to do at home as well.
The main ways of guessing if your Pit Bull is over or underweight are:
Analyzing the dog’s shape
Weighing
Checking the breathing
Checking the ribs
Analyzing the dog’s shape
Similarly to how you would tell if a human is under or overweight, this procedure is done by looking at the shape of your dog’s body. However, there are some differences in the analysis process.
In some cases, a dog may be thin or obese without you even noticing it. Some specific aspects may not be extremely clear at first.
To start, look at your furry friend from above while he is in a standing position. The ideal format of the body must start with a thin fat layer between the dog’s skin and ribs close to his head. Then, the amount of fat should slightly decrease as you keep touching closer to his back.
The format needs to resemble an hourglass, as the amount of fat should increase again in the last section of his body. However, be aware if this “hourglass” is very noticeable. That indicates that your pet lacks fat, which certainly means he is underweight.
On the other hand, a highly uniform body, with small variations from ribs to back indicates obesity. This means your pooch’s anatomy has high amounts of fat.
Weighing
You can weigh your Pit Bull and see if the number corresponds to the forecasted in the table. However, as I mentioned before, this may not be the best method due to possible variations, which can be totally normal.
At the end of the day, it all mostly depends on your dog’s size. Some Terriers grow more, and others grow less than the average.
For example, I’ve already seen dogs that look like miniatures, as well as another one that reaches almost 6 feet in length!
Checking the breathing
The way your Pit Bull breathes is also an excellent indicator to see if he is overweight. Generally, dogs with an excess of mass experience problems breathing.
You may see him panting a lot, walking with difficulties, and getting exhausted easily. These and some other factors are signs of obesity.
Having a heavy body compromises him on doing basic actions. Identifying these signs is simple, so you won’t have problems noticing his transformations.
However, this method is not effective to check if your furry friend is underweight. A skinny dog won’t have many issues with respiration. Maybe only if he exercises a lot and gets exhausted due to lack of nutrients.
However, their bodies’ air and blood channels won’t get obstructed as in a heavy dog.
Checking the dog’s ribs
This is, in a way, related to checking your furry friend’s body shape. When touching the front part of your furry friend’s body, you should feel a thin layer of fat and slightly sense his ribs as well.
In the case of you not being able to feel his bones, that’s a sign of excessive weight. On the other hand, if you can strongly note them, it may be an indication of underweight. The ideal is to have a balanced ratio.
You can check this article published by American Kennel Club (AKC) on how to tell if your Pit Bull is in shape or overweight.
How to Make Your Pit Bull Lose Weight?
Obesity is a serious problem. According to the U.S. Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, almost 56% of American dogs nowadays are overweight!
If your Pit Bull is included in this statistic, you must act quickly to prevent him from having severe health complications.
Here are some tips for changing your dog’s diet and habits to make him healthier:
Calculating calories
Increasing veggies & proteins
Cutting carbohydrates
Feeding healthy fats
Exercising more
Calculating calories
Before feeding your Pit Bull, you should know how much food he actually needs. On average, an adult Pit Bull (18 months of age or older) needs to consume between 1100 to 1700 calories per day. Nevertheless, you ought to calculate this amount for your pet specifically.
Each dog has its own nutritional requirements. If you rigidly follow the instructions given in a pet food bag, you may be providing a highly lazy dog with much more food than he actually needs.
To calculate your Pit Bull’s caloric needs, the right person to ask is a veterinarian once again. They’re the only professional who will be able to indicate you a precise amount based on their expertise.
You can try to do this math by yourself concerning your pet’s lifestyle. Yet, this estimation won’t be as correct as of the professional’s advice.
Increasing veggies & proteins
After identifying how many calories your dog needs, it’s time to prioritize types of food that will best comply with his necessities.
The first thing you should look for is to feed him with more vegetables and fruits. Baby carrots, bananas, celery, and sliced apples are just some examples of foods that will boost your furry friend’s health.
Even though they’re types of foods that would be normally eaten by humans, dogs can also benefit from them. However, be careful and investigate anything before feeding your furry friend. Some fruits that may seem friendly at first can actually be very poisonous.
Another thing you must increase in your furry friend’s diet is protein. This nutrient is vital for him to build strong skeletal muscles. Those are highly important for mobility, something an obese dog may have difficulties with. Protein allows your pet to lose fat while still preserving muscle mass.
Protein also demands more energy to work inside your dog’s body. That means it will burn weight more easily than fat or carbs, for example.
The minimum recommended amount for a fit diet is 75 grams of protein for every 1000 calories of food. But if you overfeed your pooch with this nutrient, it won’t be a problem.
Cutting carbohydrates
Dogs’ bodies accept a high-protein menu very well, which reduces the need for carbohydrates and unhealthy fats.
In speaking of these elements, what you also want to do is to cut them the maximum possible. Although the majority of dogs don’t need high amounts of carbohydrates, they still represent the biggest portions of their diets!
Over 60% of most pet food products are composed of carbs. As I just mentioned, this can be highly unhealthy, since you should prioritize much more protein over them.
Feeding healthy fats
Although fats should be reduced for your Pit Bull to lose weight, he still needs them to maintain a balanced diet.
However, what you must look for are the so-called “healthy fats.” They’re fatty acids and natural oils that contain crucial elements, such as Omega 3 and 6.
They are scientifically called a High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL). It helps to transport cholesterol to your dog’s liver, so it can be more easily expelled from his body. It also gets rid of the cholesterol stuck in his blood channels, reducing the risks of blockage.
This bad deposit of fat and the massive gains in mass are caused exactly by the type of fats you should avoid, the Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL).
Apart from originating severe problems to your Pit Bull’s vascular system, it is harder for him to eliminate it after ingestion.
Examples of human foods that have high amounts of unhealthy fats are fast foods, processed meats, desserts, and deep-fried foods. But I really hope you weren’t thinking about feeding your pet this cuisine in the first place!
Although it may seem obvious that these types of food are inadequate for dogs, there are others less apparent.
Many specifically-made pet foods might contain high rates of bad fats. Due to that, always be careful when choosing your Pit Bull’s meal, and research about it first.
Exercising more
And my greatest recommendation is to ensure your pet has adequate time to exercise. A great portion of cases of dog obesity is mostly due to inactivity.
Pit Bulls are evenly divided into two main groups of liveliness: the incredibly energetic ones and the highly lazy potatoes. You can identify which category your pooch belongs to just by analyzing his lifestyle.
If he is constantly running around your house and asking you to go outside, then you know you need to play with him a lot. If you don’t meet his expectations, he may get mad and start to misbehave.
Pit Bulls with these characteristics won’t be a problem to maintain active, due to their constant signaling. Just make sure you’re allowing him to have at least 30 to 45 minutes of daily exercise.
What you should be concerned about the most is if your dog tends to be sedentary and always wants to stay indoors.
Even if he doesn’t enjoy going out too much, you must oblige him to accompany you on the street just as much as a highly active pooch.
What If the Problem Is Lack of Weight?
Although rarer than overweight issues, lack of mass may be the problem your furry friend is facing. Clearly, there are practical solutions to this problem as well.
First of all, I’d analyze his diet again and see how he behaves with food. Many dogs are picky eaters and may reject a specific type of food or brand if they don’t like it.
Have you changed your dog’s meals recently? Maybe he just doesn’t like it and started to eat less, therefore becoming underweight.
Another possible cause is that you may be providing your pooch with a lousy diet. That’s not about how much food he is eating, but about its quality. His menu may be lacking important components, such as fats, for maintaining a healthy weight.
But there’s also a chance of this anomaly being generated by illnesses. Diabetes, parasites, and teeth problems are some examples of diseases that may be impeding him from gaining mass.
I advise you to seek a veterinarian to make this diagnosis in the first place. In the case of a health problem, they will clearly be the best person to recommend any treatments.
In addition to it, they will also help you change your Pit Bull’s diet. They will ask you a lot of questions to determine if his feeding is adequate, and will say what you must change to repair it. This professional is basically going to be your alpha if your furry friend is experiencing a bad moment.
My Final Thoughts
All Pit Bulls have an expected weight curve when they grow up. When they fully hit adulthood, this mass is, in general, around 35 to 65 pounds.
However, if your furry friend’s weight is different from this, don’t panic! Just because he isn’t meeting the forecast, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s unhealthy.
Telling whether your dog is over or under his expected weight is usually done by different methods. You can analyze his body shape by yourself to discover this. However, in the case of any doubt, and what I mostly suggest you do is to ask your veterinarian for help.
They will professionally evaluate your pet’s condition and tell you what to do next. They will prescribe medications if needed and will assist you with the treatment. If your Pit Bull needs a dietary change, their opinions will be highly valuable as well.
References & Citations
Policygenius
Dogtime.com
The Goody Pet
Association for Pet Obesity Prevention
Pet Health Network
PetMD
Wikipedia
Whole Dog Journal
NomNomNow
Healthline
WagWalking.com
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