German Shepherd Food

Hello.

We bought our new German Shepherd pup yesterday. She is straight backed with good breeding and in perfect health. I know I should have researched this before making a purchase but once my wife saw her that was it (although I didn't put up too much resistance!!!)

We want to make sure that she gets the best diet possible so I am asking for advice here on other peoples experiences.

We already have a Yorkshire Westie Cross and are feeding him on Orijen dry food. Previous advice here and other reviews helped us choose this food. He is a very healthy and happy dog on this food, thank God.

Whilst I'm not sure about the raw diets, time for prep and lack of knowledge being key factors, I would prefer feed a dry food.

Am I right in saying that a grain free food is superior?

Any suggestions or pm would be really appreciated.

Thank you.

Springwell

I would use orijen if you can afford to, it's a great food. Taste of the Wild or Purizon are slightly cheaper if you find yourself being eaten out of house and home by the pup!

If you would like to try a little raw you can top the orijen off with raw mince. We use the oily fish and tripe frozen mince from dogfooddirect.ie alongside Redmills Engage, Redmills Excel 32 or Lupo Sensitiv depending on the dog (6 dogs though!).

There was a theory about not feeding grain based feeds with raw but this has been debunked and when using a grain free dry it's perfectly safe (from a qualified nutritionist!).

Remember that for large breed pups keeping them lean is much healthier than being overweight.

Thanks Springwell.

The Orijen will cost alright but if its the best I don't mind feeding her that. But I'll have to monitor the costs!!

andreac

Try the grain free from dogfooddirect. It's much cheaper. They have a high meat content grain free too which is very good as well and they are all under 50 euro for a big bag.

I've used both from dogfooddirect and found them both very good. But I have my dog on raw now that was on the grain free.

Hi Andrea
Thanks for the advice.

I will look into this from dogfooddirect.

Is feeding raw the best for the dog?
Is it hardship preparing food?

andreac

It's not necessarily the best but it can be a lot better for them and esp for ones that suffer with skin issues etc.

It does take a bit more prep but depending on where you get it from some come already prepared in certain sizes etc.

my3cents

Best food to start out on is whatever the breeder was feeding then slowly introduce what you want to feed over a couple of weeks.

tk123

my3cents wrote: »

Best food to start out on is whatever the breeder was feeding then slowly introduce what you want to feed over a couple of weeks.

You don't need to do that if you're raw feeding

Springwell

Just to point out that the champion grain free looks grand but has at most 50% meat compared to 80% in Orijen

Léan

I feed my GSD X Simpsons Premium (grain free), I switched from Orijien as i felt it was a little too rich for him. He has a pretty sensitive stomach. I buy it from http://www.petfoodexpresstoyou.com/, can usually get a bit of a deal when buying more then one bag.

Satori Rae

.

TheTorment wrote: »

Hello.

We bought our new German Shepherd pup yesterday. She is straight backed with good breeding and in perfect health. I know I should have researched this before making a purchase but once my wife saw her that was it (although I didn't put up too much resistance!!!)

We want to make sure that she gets the best diet possible so I am asking for advice here on other peoples experiences.

We already have a Yorkshire Westie Cross and are feeding him on Orijen dry food. Previous advice here and other reviews helped us choose this food. He is a very healthy and happy dog on this food, thank God.

Whilst I'm not sure about the raw diets, time for prep and lack of knowledge being key factors, I would prefer feed a dry food.

Am I right in saying that a grain free food is superior?

Any suggestions or pm would be really appreciated.

Thank you.

I would use burns they stock a wide range to cover from pup to senior dog. I have experience of owning GSD's and GSD crosses and I find with this breed they can have very very sensitive stomachs that can only handle dry food with mabe some fish oil here and there. I swear by burns!!

borderlinemeath

Satori Rae wrote: »

.

I would use burns they stock a wide range to cover from pup to senior dog. I have experience of owning GSD's and GSD crosses and I find with this breed they can have very very sensitive stomachs that can only handle dry food with mabe some fish oil here and there. I swear by burns!!

Actually it's dry food that tends to upset many dogs stomachs. High quality wet food or home cooked fresh or raw is far less likely to upset any dog, of any breeds stomach. Dogs really weren't designed to eat nothing but cooked processed foods that are usually high is undigestible gluten and cereals. Burns probably suits a lot of dogs because even in it's most popular chicken/rice variety, the cereal is rice, which is the most palatable of all cereals for dogs.

Sure what's the go to food for dogs with an upset stomach? Home cooked chicken and rice - without the over processed additives that dry food contains.

OP, only you will know through trial and error what food suits your dog best. Some dogs do find the likes of Orijen too rich and it doesn't necessarily go by what is most expensive is best for your dog. Grain free certainly is the best way, as you're eliminating most of the allergens that dogs tend to suffer from - gluten, wheat, soya etc. Personally, I like to know what I'm feeding my dog so raw/fresh food is my choice. It is a bit more finicky and for the likes of a shep you would need to buy in bulk to make it cost efficient so if you have room for a chest freezer then go for it. You can buy pre prepared chubs or make and prep your own, depending on your tolerance for handling raw meat and fish!

Satori Rae

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Actually it's dry food that tends to upset many dogs stomachs. High quality wet food or home cooked fresh or raw is far less likely to upset any dog, of any breeds stomach. Dogs really weren't designed to eat nothing but cooked processed foods that are usually high is undigestible gluten and cereals. Burns probably suits a lot of dogs because even in it's most popular chicken/rice variety, the cereal is rice, which is the most palatable of all cereals for dogs.

Sure what's the go to food for dogs with an upset stomach? Home cooked chicken and rice - without the over processed additives that dry food contains.

OP, only you will know through trial and error what food suits your dog best. Some dogs do find the likes of Orijen too rich and it doesn't necessarily go by what is most expensive is best for your dog. Grain free certainly is the best way, as you're eliminating most of the allergens that dogs tend to suffer from - gluten, wheat, soya etc. Personally, I like to know what I'm feeding my dog so raw/fresh food is my choice. It is a bit more finicky and for the likes of a shep you would need to buy in bulk to make it cost efficient so if you have room for a chest freezer then go for it. You can buy pre prepared chubs or make and prep your own, depending on your tolerance for handling raw meat and fish!

Wet food made my GSD's (one is a cross) really sick as did the raw diet it really didn't suit them at all so much so one kept passing blood in his stools and refusing to eat.

Every dog is different I just go by burns due to the fact it is what I know and my GSD Cross has had no eating issues since and all my dogs have a shiny shiny coat with good teeth .

borderlinemeath

Satori Rae wrote: »

Wet food made my GSD's (one is a cross) really sick as did the raw diet it really didn't suit them at all so much so one kept passing blood in his stools and refusing to eat.

Every dog is different I just go by burns due to the fact it is what I know and my GSD Cross has had no eating issues since and all my dogs have a shiny shiny coat with good teeth .

Absolutely, every dog is different, and I find sometimes if a dog is on one particular food long term it can refine their gut and anything different can upset it. I always encourage owners to change brands, or even flavours every so often just to give some variety and ensure that the dog doesn't get stuck on one food, just in case. I recommended a food for one of my visiting dogs that the owners changed to - no wheat, soya or gluten - and immediately the dog stopped getting ear infections, even the vet commented on how little she had seen him! Now the nearest shop that sold it has closed and they're having trouble sourcing it and the ear infections are back, but it's trial and error, they'll just have to try something else that has no baddies and hope for the best.

What wet foods did you try though? It depends on the quality of the wet food, there's only a handful on the market that don't contain any cereals or additives and sometimes the protein source can be ambiguous (poultry as oppsoed to chicken or turkey or duck etc) which could cause irritation or inflammation.

Satori Rae

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Absolutely, every dog is different, and I find sometimes if a dog is on one particular food long term it can refine their gut and anything different can upset it. I always encourage owners to change brands, or even flavours every so often just to give some variety and ensure that the dog doesn't get stuck on one food, just in case. I recommended a food for one of my visiting dogs that the owners changed to - no wheat, soya or gluten - and immediately the dog stopped getting ear infections, even the vet commented on how little she had seen him! Now the nearest shop that sold it has closed and they're having trouble sourcing it and the ear infections are back, but it's trial and error, they'll just have to try something else that has no baddies and hope for the best.

What wet foods did you try though? It depends on the quality of the wet food, there's only a handful on the market that don't contain any cereals or additives and sometimes the protein source can be ambiguous (poultry as oppsoed to chicken or turkey or duck etc) which could cause irritation or inflammation.

There diet consisted of dry food mainly then as a treat then they would get a large scoup of wet food here and there maybe 3/4 times a week.

For wet food I tried unfortunately firstly pedigree before I knew better my mum gave me a few tins for xmas so I used them, after that I tried some organic wet food from the pet store I can't remember for the life of me the name of it.

So then I noticed the GSD started to refuse food one the cross started to pass blood and they were both so lethargic.

They both got so sick from it that I put them on just ID for a bit to help ease there stomachs for a bit. I tried the raw diet after that and it didn't take the cross kept passing more blood and had a lot of diarrhea also it was not a sudden change from ID to raw I did it slowly over a few weeks.

So I went around looking for food and found Burns sensitive which I just said I would try tbh as one of the other dogs I have suffers from impacted anal glands from reading up on it I thought that would be a handy buy.

The vets said I cant change his food even slowly due to the fact his GSD side is so strong in him he has a very weak Constitution to digest anything else at all. Which is horrible cause I would love him to have the odd treat.

I am sure raw works for most folk or wet food but I am just really really wary after having a bad experience with it esp with that type of breed but maybe it is just the pooches I have .