Dry food - Page 1

We rescued a beautiful female GSD 3 years ago she is now 12.
She is currently on Royal Canin's GSD breed formula; this food claims to cater to special needs of the breed.

We suppliment her dry food with raw chicken/ turkey liver, oatmeal cooked in liver juices and lots of love.

What does everyone feed?

You're doing well to supplement with liver, but honestly, for the price you're paying for Royal Canin, there are far better quality foods available without all the cheap fillers in Royal Canin. Why not just feed more raw food and less or no kibble at all? 

I can't disagree with Jenni, she knows what she says, but my experience, unless I made a mistake somewhere, is not good with raw feeding. I too feed Royal Canin, till recently it was the best we had in our market, then after reading a lot of recommendations here about raw feeding, I tried it for 3 months, my dogs lost weight and energy, they are back to RS and some cooking every now and then, they're getting better now. The only good thing about raw feeding was the shiny soft coats.

Ibrahim

Ibrahim, without knowing exactly what you fed at every meal, I can't say what the problem was. I've never seen a dog lose weight unless they needed it, and they get more energy, not less (which is often a downside! LOL!). I would say 75% of raw feeders don't have a clue at first and do quite a bit of trial and error until they get it right. Some will say their dogs don't do well on it, but really, if feeding as nature intended, how could they not do well? 

Yes that is what I thought but the fact remains they lost weight and energy became less, in one day I fed either of the following:
half chicken (600 grams), chicken stomack (the rounded balls where chicken food is, ofcourse I cleaned them) (200 grams).
Beef (600 grams), Canned Tuna (100 grams)
Canned beef (400 grams), chicken feet (400 grams)
Minced Mutton rolls (Frozen) (600 grams), (200 grams) Martadella (Sorry I don't know what you call it)
Sometimes I add youghert
They refused to eat fresh fruits or fresh vegetables.
But when I coock for them they eat the rice, vegs and meat.

What wrong did I do?

Ibrahim 

Google translation gave me Mortadella for my "Martadella" 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that chicken feet half coocked, nails removed.

I didn't mean you did anything wrong...sometimes it takes a while for them to get used to it. Also, sometimes you have what's called a "healing crisis." Mild symptoms of something may get worse, or new things may present themselves that had previously gone undetected as the body cleanses itself. I don't think your dogs are old enough to have a significant healing crisis, but it's a possibility if it happened after a few weeks...usually 2 or 3. I would have to convert all those amounts; I don't know how much that all is off the top of my head. 

I give both my girls Back to Basics Kibble.  I soak it first in hot water and then mash it up in their bowls.  Every Sunday I cook a stew in the crock pot with organ meats, beef stock, carrots, blueberries. sweet potatoes, green beans, a little bit of ground flaxseed, peas, and apples. It cooks all day then I put it in little containers in the freezer for the week. I mix up one half of a container with their mashed kibble. The one with EPI gets her enzymes on it.  They both are doing really well on this.  Soft and shiny coats and the 14 year old chow has never had more energy or looked so good. The EPI shepherd has not been back to the vets since diagnosed February 2012.

I must be doing something right.

600 grams= 1.3 lb
400 grams= 0.9 lb
100 grams= 0.2 lb

I don't understand healing crisis, I will look it up.

Ibrahim