Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am just a few weeks away from owning my first GSD, and I have been researching Dog Foods. I've heard some horrible things about Iams and Pedagree, but I'm not sure they are true. I have also learned about the B.A.R.F diet which I love the idea of. Does anyone have some input on what dry dog food works best for your GSD? How much raw meat can a GSD eat in a week? What Suppliments (if any) should I purchase to give my dog a healthy start? Thanks ahead of time for your thoughts and Ideas.

Congratulations!! You've picked a wonderful breed!

Here is a link to a website that has information about dog food and feeding regimes. A little research goes a long way.

http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html

Tammy
Link

At minimum, at training we recommend a food with no corn, no sorghum, and no preservatives. Believe what you read about Iams, Pedigree, Purina, etc. I would also throw Eukanuba, Science diet, and other "premium foods" in that list.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB15

Is there something wrong with Iams dog food?
I've been using it for 17 years. Let me know about it.
Craig

>>Is there something wrong with Iams dog food?
>>I've been using it for 17 years. Let me know about it.
>>Craig

Iam's contains a number of ingredients that are fillers and metabolize to sugars, which affect both health and behaviour (corn, sorghum). In addition to the sugars, these foods have an incredible amount of grain as fillers. Tthe meat source (by-products in the chicken versions) is not a quality source -- hard to digest and not the most nutritious. At training, as a minimum, we recommend foods that contain no corn, no sorghum, and no by-products.

Thanks for the info Lisa.
Are their brands of dog food that you could recommend?
Craig

since I don't feed dog food, I'm not up on all the recent good foods out there, but at training we have dongs on the following foods --

Healthwise, Health Food for Dogs, Avo-Active Care foods, Canidae (can be rich for some dogs), Innova (can be rich for some dogs), Wellness, Kirkland lamb and Rice, Nutro Ultra, Natural Balance, California Natural, and I know there are many others out there without the corn, sorghum and by-products.

In the past, I had a dog that did best on the healthwise and the Avo-active care lamb and rice. The Health food for Dogs is a Breeder's Choice food (is are the avo-diets), and I've always liked their upper line foods.

I don't know if that helps.

please ignore all the typos and grammar mistakes -- I really should learn to preview my messages!

Lisa, I'm still missing something here. As I mentioned previously I've been feeding my dogs Iams for 17 years. They were very healthy and virtually never a digestive problem. What exactly is the problem with Iams dog food? When I read about other dog foods being so great one of the things people always mention is that certain problems disappear such as yellow stool etc..... My dogs have had none of the problems that a raw meat diet or some of the others seem to cure. Are there some health signs I am missing. I'm hoping to give my 3 year old GSA the most nutritious and healthy diet I can. Another problem I have with some of the dietary information I read about dog food, is that different dog breeds react a lot differently with a specific dog food. When I read about this dietary information most of the time I don't know what breeds they are referring to. A specific example is the rawhide issue. I have read information from Vet's that claim 50% of stomach surgeries are caused by rawhide. Now, are those dogs GSD's or are they Yorkies? I used to give my previous GSA an occasional piece of rawhide until I saw here runny, creamish stools. I haven't given any of my dogs rawhide since. Yet in every pet food store rawhide seems to the predominant offering for a dog treat. I apologize for my rambling, and I thank you for your help. I would really like some specific information about the damage Iams dog food might be doing to my dogs health and the particular ingredients that would be doing that.

Thank You
Craig

this is an excellent kibble that I highly recommend.

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Lesya & Sophie

A Dog Owner's Prayer

Author unknown
Thanks to Pattie Lawler
http://www.behaviour-problems.freeserve.co.uk/2/Poems/dogownerpray.htm

Nutro Natural is what my bf's dad feed his GSDs, and they do really well on it.. I personally love Canidae, my boy (GSD/corgi mix) is so healthy and he just loves it..

My dogs eat raw, my 18 month,70 pound male eats around 2 lbs. a day and my 50 lbs female gets a tad over 1 a day. It works well with chicken leg quarters, 1 big one is a pound. I also feed yogurt, pumpkin, cottage cheese, rabbit, deer, fish duck and turkey.
I will never use "dog food" again.

Lisa

How much do you spend a week on your female?

Id say for just her I would spend about $10 a week, but I buy bulk when I can so it gets cheaper.

>>I am just a few weeks away from owning my first GSD, and I have been researching Dog Foods. I've heard some horrible things about Iams and Pedagree, but I'm not sure they are true. I have also learned about the B.A.R.F diet which I love the idea of. Does anyone have some input on what dry dog food works best for your GSD? How much raw meat can a GSD eat in a week? What Suppliments (if any) should I purchase to give my dog a healthy start? Thanks ahead of time for your thoughts and Ideas.

I feed my dogs a raw diet and I will never go back to dry food again. Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/ and
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfedgsds/ They are great sites and can help you make the desision. I think raw feeding is the way to go. Also check out rawlearning.com and rawfed.com. I have a smaller gsd about 70-75 pounds and she can eat about 1pound or less of meat and bone a day with a day or two of fasting is she wants. It also is really not expensive. I get all my meats for $1 or less.
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Anna

Vegas, Lab/Pointer mix (male)
Nevada, German Shepherd Dog (female)
Shorty, Bassett Hound (male)

The three bad kitties, two crazy ferrets, and all the reptiles, little fuzzies, noisy birds and fish.