“Dr. Randolph, how big do you think he’ll get?” I wish I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that when they adopted a pet from our humane shelter,
And how many times have I been right? Let’s just say if I got a dollar for each correct answer I still couldn’t afford a Big Mac meal at Mickey D’s. It’s that hard to predict adult weights for adopted puppies about whom we know nothing of either parent.
I finally got smart and quit trying.
After a few visits one can make an informed estimate of eventual adult weight based on growth patterns, but even then it’s not an exact science.
Today. when Mr. “K.” brought Sammie in for her monthly weigh-in he said, “When she was a puppy from the shelter they never told me she’d be this big!”
Notice that I’m not the only person who has difficulty in this feat.
I’m reminded of the very first time I made a really bad mistake estimating eventual adult weight. Frisky was a tiny puppy when he was an adopted pup, and I bravely went out on a limb on the very first visit.
When asked, “How big?” I said, “There’s no way this puppy will grow up to be bigger than ten pounds.”
As Maxwell Smart would say, “Would you belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeve…forty pounds?
And, of course, one’s foibles are slow to go away.
Frisky lived a long, happy, healthy sixteen years.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph
