Puppy Weight
With puppy weight now 5 kg, age in weeks 16 weeks, puppy weight comes to 10.4 kg — predicted adult weight. It is reached in 4 steps, the last of which is 5 / 0.4815399, and each one is printed on the page with its numbers filled in. The formula is the one published by Salt C et al. Growth standard charts for monitoring bodyweight in dogs of different sizes. PLoS ONE 2017;12:e0182064, not an approximation fitted to it.
Adult weight from a puppy's weight and age, on growth curves that differ by breed size — small dogs finish at eight months, giant breeds at eighteen.
Formula and sources checked · How we check
Puppy weight now 5 kg, Age in weeks 16 weeks, Expected breed size Medium — 11 to 25 kg, done by 12 months
10.4 kg
Predicted adult weight for the example below. Editing a field recomputes the calculator below; this figure holds the answer the page was loaded with.
It is written into the HTML rather than drawn by a script, so a search engine reading this page without running JavaScript still finds an answer.
- Predicted adult weight
5 / 0.481539910.383 kg- Percent of adult weight already reached
0.4815399 * 10048.154 %- Weeks of growing left
max(0, 52 - 16)36 weeks- Still to put on
10.383355 - 55.383 kg
Ask about this in the chatPuppy Growth Chart by Age
Worked example
A 5 kg medium-breed puppy at 16 weeks is about 48% of its adult weight, predicting roughly 10.4 kg grown. The estimate carries a real margin — mixed breeds vary widely, and the puppy's parents are better evidence than any formula.
How to work it out yourself
- 1.Weigh the puppy properly. Bathroom scales holding the puppy and then not holding it is accurate enough; a guess is not.
- 2.Pick the breed size from the parents if you know them. For a mixed breed with unknown parents, paw size and the vet's estimate are the usual guides, and the prediction is correspondingly rougher.
- 3.Wait until 14 to 16 weeks for a prediction worth much. Before 12 weeks the growth curve is too steep for a single measurement to say much.
- 4.Expect a margin of roughly 15% either side for a purebred and more for a mix. The formula describes an average curve, and individual puppies deviate from it.
- 5.Do not overfeed to hit a number. In large breeds, growing too fast raises the risk of joint disease — the target is a steady curve, not a fast one.
Adult weight predicted from a 5 kg puppy, by age
| Age in weeks (weeks) | Predicted adult weight | Percent of adult weight already reached |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 16.0 kg | 31.33 % |
| 10 | 13.9 kg | 35.98 % |
| 12 | 12.4 kg | 40.29 % |
| 14 | 11.3 kg | 44.33 % |
| 16 | 10.4 kg | 48.15 % |
| 18 | 9.7 kg | 51.8 % |
| 20 | 9.0 kg | 55.3 % |
| 24 | 8.1 kg | 61.92 % |
| 30 | 7.0 kg | 71.1 % |
| 36 | 6.3 kg | 79.61 % |
| 44 | 5.5 kg | 90.16 % |
The prediction is least reliable before 12 weeks and settles from about 16. A 5 kg puppy at 8 weeks and a 5 kg puppy at 24 weeks are heading for very different adult sizes, which is why the age matters as much as the weight.
The formula
- Predicted adult weight
5 / 0.4815399 - Percent of adult weight already reached
0.4815399 * 100 - Weeks of growing left
max(0, 52 - 16) - Still to put on
10.383355 - 5
Source: Salt C et al. Growth standard charts for monitoring bodyweight in dogs of different sizes. PLoS ONE 2017;12:e0182064, Waltham Petcare Science Institute — puppy growth charts by breed size, Salt C et al., full text — growth standards for dogs of five size categories (PMC)
Questions people actually ask
- How big will my puppy get?
- Divide the current weight by the share of adult weight typical at that age. A medium-breed puppy is about half grown at 18 weeks, so double its weight then. Small breeds mature sooner and giant breeds much later, which is why the same rule gives the wrong answer applied across sizes.
- When do puppies stop growing?
- Toy breeds by about 8 months, small by 10, medium by 12, large by 15 and giant breeds by 18 months or later. Large and giant dogs also keep filling out in the chest for months after their height stops changing.
- How accurate is a puppy weight prediction?
- Within roughly 15% for a purebred measured after 16 weeks. For a mixed breed of unknown parentage it is a rough guide at best — the parents' sizes predict better than any calculation from the puppy alone.
- Is my puppy underweight?
- Body condition beats the scale. You should feel the ribs easily under a thin layer of fat, and see a waist from above. A puppy that tracks below the curve but has good condition and energy is usually just a smaller dog than predicted.
- Does neutering affect adult size?
- It can. Neutering before the growth plates close tends to delay their closing, so early-neutered dogs often end up slightly taller with lighter bone. The effect is small and the timing decision is a veterinary one, not a size one.
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