Switching our puppy to new kind of food - Page 1

Our German Shepherd pup is 11 weeks old, we just took him to a vet appointment and he weighs 21lbs (the growth chart says at 12 weeks he should be at 30lbs...although I don't think the chart is that acurate)...I feel that 21lbs is in the normal range, however I need suggestions on new food. What have you guys fed your own German Shepherds???? We had him on Bosch (which a German brand mainly sold in Germany..that is what the breeder started him on and we didn't want to swtich him off it yet however we discovered it has been making him sick...which we actually assumed was due to worms since all the symptoms pointed to it but it turned out to be the food.)
Anyways, we want something natural....maybe Blue Buffalo? Please keep in mind that we are stationed in Germany for a couple of years and certain brands are not available here locally and certain companies do not ship to APO addresses. Also, price is not an issue...we have no problem buying the higher priced food as long as it is good for him. Thanks!

My female GSD is 12 weeks and is 20 lbs. And I think she's in a good range. Try feeding Orijen. My girls love it.

I have my puppy on Orijen, not sure if you can get it there? It's a really good food.

My pup (granted she's a bit smaller and I keep her more on the lean side) was about 15 pounds at 9 weeks. Her half brother was 22 pounds at 11 weeks and he ended up in the 90-100lb range (and he's WL)!!

I also switched to Orijen recently. Before that, I fed Royal Canin German Shepherd to my adults and Royal Canin German Shepherd Puppy to my puppies. I'm not so sure I will stay with Orijen. It is supposed to be way better than Royal Canin, which is why I switched. But honestly, I think my dogs looked better on Royal Canin and I'm contemplating whether I should go back. I do know that Royal Canin is available in Germany, my brother feeds it to his dogs. You may have to search or special order the breed specific version, most stores may only carry Large Breed formulas. I don't know if it is formulated the same in different countries, but here in the US I had good success with it.  Dogs always preferred the taste of RC to other brands when offered a choice.
Oh, and a breeder friend in Germany swears by Josera. Have you considered raw? you mau have good sources there as butcher shops are common. We used to own a butcher shop there and a St. Bernard breeder came regularily and picked up buckets full of free stuff. Good luck with your new puppy :)

Try this we site,

http://www.zooplus.de/shop/hunde/hundefutter_trockenfutter 

30 lbs!!  Our boy weighed 23lbs @ 11.5wks and he is lean.  That weight chart needs to go!  I'm feeding my pup raw...check out my post.  Lots of good suggestions and help from members about that.  I truly believe it is the only way to go after having my older dog suffer allergies on kibble.
Good luck with your pup!
Deb

Thought I'd give this a little bump and ask another question regarding changing feed - sorry OP for side tracking your thread a wee bit, didn't want to start a brand new one.

My pup has been on her new kibble (Orijen LB puppy) for 3 weeks now, and her stools are still quite soft. How long should it take before her system adapts? If she's still having issues after 3 weeks, is it safe to assume it's just not working with her? I was thinking about mixing it with Acana LB puppy, which I think is less rich, but I was trying to stay grain free as much as possible. I also really like that Orijen/Acana is committed to using natural, sustainable ingredients without all the cheap fillers, so I am really hoping I can make it work somehow.

Do you think I should persevere, or is it time to change to something else?

She gets 2 cups of food a day, btu I break it into 4 feedings. I soak the kibble in water. One thing to mention is she does tend to bolt her feed. Would that cause this problem? Maybe I shoould get one of those bowls designed to slow her down? I also sometimes feed her kibble dry in a ball that dumps out a few kibbles here and there as she rolls it around, to slow her down a bit.

BTW - I am not interested in feeding raw, I have a younger sister who is on immunosuppressants so I worry about her exposure to bacteria.

ETA: she is UTD on shots & deworming, I also had a fecal done last week which came back clear.

A fecal does not mean she is clear of parasites or protozoa. 

Also, keep your sister away from dog kibble in that case. 

Try Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy. No recalls, ever, and while it's not grain-free, the grains are high quality and the nutrients are much higher quality than found in other larger company's kibbles and I am not at all convinced that totally grain-free is necessarily the way to feed a GSD pup. It's not that I am a believer in feeding dogs grain, but I do feel it's a lesser evil to the overabundance of calcium generally found in grain-free kibbles. 

I feed both raw and kibble and I have the whole household on Fromm Gold after many emails to companies asking for complete nutritional panels. Many/most hemmed and hawed about why they couldn't give it to me- Fromm's nutritionist had them in my email box in 15mins. I can send these to people who email me at jen (at) vomeisenherz.com

No, I know fecals aren't 100% accurate. I took her for a fecal because one of the puppies from the litter has a low level positive test for coccidia (puppy played in a stream), so I tested her just to be safe and we treated her for it just in case, as fecals aren't always reliable and her stools were pretty soft.

My sister doesn't do the feeding on the dogs, so it's a low risk, but one I still worry about. I know kibble still has bacteria, but I find it easier to manage and a lower risk, if that makes any sense. :)

Orijen LB puppy ratios are:

Calcium (min./max.)	1.5 % / 1.7 %
Phosphorus (min./max.)	1.2 % / 1.4 %

 
Does this seem ok?

Acana is:

Calcium (min.) 1.6 %
Phosphorus (min.) 1.1 %
Calcium: Phosphorus Ratio 1.4:1


I will look at the feed you suggested Jenni, thanks :)

Those levels are probably "OK" though I would prefer to see them at or under 1.2% which is the high end of ideal for large or giant breed puppies. It may be that you feed so much less Orijen that it doesn't matter. You would have to compare to know for sure.  GSDs are supposed to be a medium/large-sized dog, but they share many of the same orthopedic concerns/conditions with giant breeds, so I try to stick with a middle-of-the-road calcium. Supposedly, from all I can find published and fairly reliable, .7-1.2% is ideal for large breed pups. I know Nature's Domain (Costco-manufactured in a Diamond plant) is perfect at 1.2%, the Kirkland Chicken is also ideal, but off the top of my head, I don't know of any others, and I would prefer not to feed anything made by or manufactured by Diamond if I can help it. Nature's Domain, however, having Costco in charge of their reputation, and made separately, does not scare me nearly as much as some of their other lines/brand names. I have fed it and never had a problem. I just got sick of the Diamond recalls (though this one was just a salmonella scare) and decided to order Fromm Gold for everyone and of course they get whatever I feed them raw. Stools have been awesome on both Nature's Domain and the Fromm. 

I used to feed Caleb Orijen sometimes for extra calories and while he did fine, he went through a bag in 2 weeks by himself, so I could feed him all raw for the same or less money, so that was a no-brainer. I like Orijen; I just would prefer to see a dog on it when it was just about done growing.