German Shepherd dog

Boy, she looks very nice and proper size ..looks like you are doing good...make sure she gets organ meats   some raw liver and raw chicken necks and bones would help and add some fish oil or caps or salmon oil   ....sounds like your doing good.....cottage cheese every now and then and yogurt for treats is nice...we eat ice cream     treat your dog with yogurt....gives the extra calcium...raw bones and meats give natural vitamin  C....

I do home cooked dog food for my GSD and he thrives on it.  The Nutrionist at the U formulated it for me.  Your GSD is beautiful - but you should supplement with Balance It.  The only vit. supplement on the market for home cooked food.  Go to Balanceit.com and check it out. 

Please understand that dogs are carnivores - not herbivores, not omnivores - MEAT, that's what they are built for.  With the meat comes bone and offal. 

The two easiest means of proving this true can be found in one place:  Look in their mouths.  See any flat teeth?  Ever seen a dog chew side-to-side?  I'm certain the answer to both questions is No.  The teeth are sharp and the jaw moves only up and down in a scissor motion.  This motion, with the shape of the teeth, allows the dog to rip, tear, chomp flesh so it can be swallowed as big and as whole as possible.  Bones are simply crushed to a point they can be swallowed.  They're not chewed for easy digestion.

Dogs do not chew as a part of digestion; therefore, they do not process vegetables, fruits and grains the way humans do.  Physiologically their bodies have to work harder to digest these inappropriate foods.  They have short guts.  Needed foods are digested fully (MEAT/BONE/ORGAN) - unneeded foods make it through the gut unchanged.  Honestly.  Feed a dog a baby carrot.  For a medium sized or larger dog, I bet it comes out pretty much the way it went in.  That means it offers no significance to the nutritional needs.

People that offer to build any diet other than a species-approprate, prey-model diet are out for something.  Simple question:  If the diet offered everything it is supposed to, why do these diet experts want you to buy their supplements?  Easy answer:  The free diet preparation is a way to bait you into buying their supplements while providing an inferior diet.

Cooked foods.  Why?  What animal would ever have the smarts or desire to cook a meal?  Cooked foods, balanced meals and processed foods are all human inventions and dogs have no reason eating these.  Cooking removes virtually all of the nutritional value from the meat.  Balancing meals with grains, veggies and fruits is a result of the food pyramid used for humans.  It's a human desire to be balanced.  But, we can balance a dogs diet by giving it a variety of raw meats, bone and organs.

Summed up:  Feed your dogs a raw, species-appropriate, prey-model diet.  Add no supplements, other than perhaps salmon oil or fish body oil (both can be found in capsule form and drained onto food).  Your dogs will thank you.

AristianM, I've not forgotten about your original questions and concerns:

-  "She just HATES kibbles."  Smart girl!  Who would want their daily food intake to be cooked beyond belief, chemicals added, dried and manufactured into chunks?  That sounds YUMMY!  How much should I pay for that?

-  "I now give her cooked meat with carrots, potateos, rice and bread."  Sounds like a yummy sandwich, but I'd need some mustard.  Nix everything but the meat, but don't cook it.

- "I also add an egg every alternate day."  Now that's what I'm talking about.  Run some water over it to clean it and give it to her whole.  See if she eats shell and all!  If she doesn't like the shell, just break the egg over the food.  Bet she'll lap up the egg first (fastest acting nutrients) and then eat the rest.

-"...puppies on puppy chow or puppy food grow quickly because of  the high content of protein."  Again, a product of human concept.  Puppies don't need a specific puppy food - they need food that will allow them to grow normally and naturally.  Humans eat baby food.  This is a product made to simplify our lives, but is not a requirement.  Puppy food, breed specific food, or other speicalized food is not needed.

-  "Will my bitch's height get affected if i dont give her puppy food?"  See previous.  Feed her what her body ne

Artisan

You are very right be very careful about Raw meat  here are my learning from feeding pure raw meat especially in other countries

1)Pure meat is very High in Calcium and hence leads to phosphorus imbalance. So be very careful about feeding pure raw meat

2) Secondly Raw meat in certain countries is not even consummable by animals leave alone humans. The slaughter houses in certain places are worse than dumpyards. So they are infested with all kinds of diseases

So be very careful. You have to take all the suggestions and advice on this message board with a pinch of salt and your own common sense and local conditions into conderation.

cheers

I agree mostly with GunnarGSD.  Raw meat is the way to go   This conclusion has not come easy to me a year ago I was aghast at feeding raw but over the course of a year slowly I now feed about 95% raw meat.

Again to repeat dogs are carnivors they thrive on raw meat not kibble.   One excepion to the rule is the supplement Canine Complete if you are worried that your dog isn't getting a full and balanced diet this is the way to go all human grade organic componets   www.thewholisticpet.com.    The plant is rigfht here in New Hampshire it is a true state of the art plant.  I only wish I could find a human food made like this.   Read the customer feedback section.   Raw meat and Canine Complete in my opinion the best way to go.  

You know GunnarGSD your absolutely right! I buy kibbles from my vet. He gives me purina puppy chow which i just found out it is CRAP! He makes good money. My vet is the one who cleans her teeth, more money coming in! My bitch suffers from all kinds of health problem because of eating purina puppy crap! Money coming in AGAIN. I have already stopped giving her kibbles! I am giving her cooked meat with organ meat and vegtables. I shall now try the raw diet!

Thanks Trailrider!

And to be fair - I eat ice cream occasionally - I don't live on it.  Feeding veggies or grains occasionally will cause no real harm.  Providing those items as a daily staple, not good.  How would we look/feel/act if ice cream was a staple.  :o) - though some would enjoy that.

AristianM - please do not jump into the raw diet and expect miracles in a day or two.  This is a full change of lifestyle for the animal.  While it is easy - there is much to be understood.  I urge you to join that yahoo group I mentioned previously.  Read the archives, read about progression, what foods to start with, what to expect, how to evaluate poo, etc.  Knowing these items is as important as feeding the appropriate diet. 

Feel free to message me if you have questions about the diet.

Dave

ok, I just love reading the posts on food.  I'm kicking around the idea of raw or partial raw.  Tell me about raw beef liver, how much at a time,when just starting this, and what do i expect after the feeding?  A blow out, runny poop? Is just adding a portion of raw to the kibble at first to get them used to it a better idea?  And raw chicken, like a leg and thigh added into her kibble. bones and all?  Can you tell lol that  lucy is my first gsd? I really want to do whats best for her, but i do have to admit that she is healthy, coat looks great, alot of energy, an all around happy girl.  I have given her just tiny bites once in a while of raw beef liver, and she seems to really like it, but i've never given her any raw chicken, and it kind of worries me about the chicken bone thing,,,,,

thanks

pam