How Much Weight Should a Puppy Gain per Week? Normal Gains by Age and Size

Newborn puppies should gain roughly 5–10% of their body weight a day and double their birth weight in about 10 days. After weaning, weekly gain depends on expected adult size, so compare the trend against a growth curve instead of one fixed number.

If you're weighing your puppy and wondering how much weight a puppy should gain per week, the frustrating truth is that "normal" moves as your puppy grows. A Chihuahua adds ounces and a Great Dane adds pounds. What matters is a steady upward line. To plot yours, use our puppy weight calculator.

How much weight should a puppy gain per week? (short answer)

It depends on age and size:

• Newborn to 3 weeks: measure daily. Expect about 5–10% of body weight per day.
• Weaned puppies (8 weeks to 6 months): roughly 1–2 lb (0.5–1 kg) a week for a Lab-sized pup, less for smaller breeds and more for giants.
• 6 to 12 months: gains slow down. A large breed might add about 0.7 lb (0.3 kg) a week, and a small breed just a couple of ounces.

The rest of this page explains where those numbers come from.

Newborn to 8 weeks: daily and weekly gain

Veterinary neonatal guidance, summarized by dvm360 and the Veterinary Nurse Journal, gives these rules of thumb for nursing puppies:

• They should gain about 5–10% of their birth weight each day.
• They should double their birth weight by about 10–12 days.
• Another guideline is about 2–4 grams per kilogram of expected adult weight per day.
• Birth weight is a strong predictor of survival, and puppies far below their littermates' average need close watching.

In the first 24 hours, a puppy may lose a few grams. After that, it should hold steady or gain, and steady daily gains should start within a day or two.

Worked example. A large-breed puppy is born at 400 g (0.9 lb).

1. At 5% a day: after 4 more days, 400 × 1.05^4 = about 486 g.
2. At 10% a day: 400 × 1.10^4 = about 586 g.
3. Doubling in 10 days works out to about 7% a day: 400 × 1.07^10 = about 787 g.

So by day 5, this pup should be somewhere around 490–590 g. If the pup is losing weight or flat across a day or two, call the vet or the breeder's vet right away.

These numbers come from vet teaching sources, so ask your own vet if you're raising a litter. Neonatal puppies are fragile.

8 weeks to 6 months: weekly gain by breed size

After weaning, puppies grow fastest. Gains per week vary a lot by breed, but here's an anchor. Using the midpoints of one published Labrador chart, a female goes from about 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) at 2 months to about 40 lb (18 kg) at 6 months, and a male goes from about 12.5 lb (5.7 kg) to about 47.5 lb (21.5 kg). That's roughly 2 lb (0.9 kg) a week.

Smaller breeds gain less, and giants gain more. Instead of a single number, use the expected adult weight to sanity-check:

• Small dogs reach about 75% of adult weight by 6 months.
• Medium dogs: about 66%.
• Large dogs: about 60%.
• Giant dogs: about 50%, and they keep growing to 18–24 months.

Those percentages come from AKC's growth chart. For a puppy weight chart by size, see our puppy weight chart. For Lab specifics, see the Labrador puppy weight chart.

From 6 to 12 months, here's the average weekly gain computed from AKC's percentages:

How to weigh a puppy accurately at home

Bad measurements make good puppies look like problems. A few tips:

• Use the right scale. A kitchen scale (in grams) for tiny puppies, a baby scale for small ones, and a bathroom scale for bigger ones. On a bathroom scale, weigh yourself, then yourself holding your puppy, and subtract.
• Weigh at the same time. Before breakfast is ideal.
• Use the same scale. Different scales disagree.
• Write it down. Use a notebook, or log it in our weight tracker.
• Weigh weekly for puppies over 8 weeks. Do it daily for newborns.

When slow or fast gain is a problem

Too slow. Watch for flat weight over two weekly weigh-ins, or any loss. Common causes: worms, poor appetite, illness, stress or not enough calories. See how to help a puppy gain weight safely, and check your puppy's food target with how much to feed a puppy by weight.

Too fast. Puppies who pack on weight rapidly, especially large and giant breeds, put extra stress on growing joints. If your pup is well above its size band and losing its waist, ask your vet to adjust portions. Overfeeding is the usual culprit.

A quick body check helps: ribs should be easy to feel but not see, and there should be a visible waist from above.

Track the trend (worked example)

Let's use a medium-breed puppy expected to reach 40 lb (18 kg). At 6 months, AKC's medium curve says about 66%, so about 26 lb (12 kg).

Rio's weekly weights (lb): 20, 21.5, 23, 24, 25.5, 26.5.

1. Weekly gains: 1.5, 1.5, 1, 1.5, 1. Average = about 1.3 lb a week.
2. Rio's 6-month weight of 26.5 lb is about 66% of 40 lb. On track.
3. Gains should now slow to roughly 0.45 lb a week. If Rio keeps adding 1.3 lb a week, he'll overshoot.

Now try your own puppy. Enter the weights in our puppy weight calculator, and compare against a growth curve. To turn weight into meals, use the dog feeding chart by weight and age.

When to call your vet

Call your vet if you see:

• A newborn puppy that loses weight, doesn't gain for a day or two, or is much smaller than its littermates.
• No gain across two weekly weigh-ins in an older puppy, or any weight loss.
• Vomiting or diarrhea for more than a day, or any blood.
• A pot belly on a thin puppy (worms).
• Lethargy, weakness, shaking or not nursing/eating. In small puppies, these can signal low blood sugar and are emergencies.
• Rapid gain, a round shape or trouble moving in a large-breed puppy.