What do you feed your GSD? - Page 2

90% raw food. and as a formal supllemtentation Martins K9 formula i also use antioxiatants, and probiotics for my breeding bitches and puppies. this food i have found seems to be the best no by products nice source of protein and fat, no beat pulp etc Steve

Thank you all so much, I really appreciate your input. I will print this out and take it to my vets office with me this week. I haven't heard about many of these diets, so I am very excited to do some research. Thanks again everyone! I will let you know what Dr. Logan says.

Print it out and take it to your vet. Ohhh No. For some reason I don't think your vet will like BARF or Raw. My Vet even says I shouldn't. But then again I don't have health problems much. :o)~

I haven't heard of many vets who endorse raw feeding. Their main objection seems to be the possibility of raw food being contaminated with bacteria like salmonella and e-coli. If you dog is a stool or dirt eater, I'm not sure that should be a big concern LOL. I feed Blitz Royal Canin GSD food topped off with a handful of raw ground turkey and some grizzly salmon oil. He likes it, but he will eat sawdust if I put in in a stainless steel bowl. I'm not at all opposed to a raw diet, I just have a few breeders friends who fed it for several years and stopped since their puppies were not maturing as well as they hoped they would. Many seemed to be undersized as adults. Given that, I'd probably be more likely to feed raw to an adult than a growing puppy. I'm sure others have had good experiences wiht puppies however.

CanaBoo, The way I (this is just my personal opinon)check to see if the dog food is good or not. First I read the ingredients on the bag and if it sounds healthy then I only purchase a small bag and sometimes they have those sample bags, take it home, take some of the dog food and put it in a glass or bowl of water. Wait for awhile and see if it bloats up in the water. JMO if it does then that dog food is filled with fillers and that dog foo is going to do the same thing(bloat)inside your dog's stomach, and to me that's not a good thing. Anyway if your vet recommends something then just get a small bag first and do what I suggested and you will be very suprised at the results. I feed all my dog's Canidae and they have different varities, so I switch here and there for them, and I also give them supplements as well. I hope this helps you choose what would be best, just keep in mind every dog is different and what might work for one dog in the family might not work for the other, so you have to try and find a middle ground for all of them.

I've been raw feeding since Jan. 2003 with excellent results. I do give them occasional kibble meals of Timberwolf Organics, Innova, Solid Gold, Wellness, Nature's Variety. But their diet is 90% raw. I give a weeks worth of faw food to my puppy buyers and ask them to give it a chance before they switch to kibble, about half stay with the raw diet. I also give them the book "work wonders" by tom lonsdale or "raw feeding" by mcdonald. I will not guarantee a pup unless they stay on raw diet or one of the above brands of food. I fed a great variety in PA for about the same cost as premium kibble, here in FL it costs me 3 times as much to do the raw diet ;-(. Btw, I used to feed Canidae lamb & rice but my dogs got yeasty ears, has anyone else has this problem? I fixed the problem with vitamin C to acidify their systems, and yoghurt. For those who are interested, the lonsdale book "work wonders" is available FREE online at www.usrmb.net

RAW bones and plenty of EXERCISE... I try using different brands so whatever the dogfood manufacturer is claiming , at least my dog had a taste of it...

Oh, I didn't think of the possibility our vet wouldn't go for the raw diet. LOL DUH! I never once thought of that, but as Blitzen mentioned, she roots and tries to eat poop in the backyard so salmonella, etc..shouldn't be an issue. LOL I'm sure she would appreciate a raw diet much better than what she's getting. Of course my fat little schnauzer would probably have to be fed in a different room. ;) I never thought about the food swelling up in water either. That can't be a good sign, can it? I already know what she is on now swells up, as she occasionally likes dropping some of her food into the water bowl then she pokes it with her nose/foot. I love her quirks. ;)

CanaBoo, Like I had said earlier, this is how I check food. To me if it bloats up like a balloon, then it has to many fillers in it that I personally don't want for my dog's. I have checked this with Canidae, and was happy with the results of my little experiment. Every dog is different, some will take to the raw food and some won't. It's the same with certain dog food, you just have to do your own experiment with it and get your own results. Good Luck!!