CoupeDash

all this info is great - thanks guys! after looking through everyones posts and taking on board what you are advising... i think we'll stay on RC. it looks like the majority have the advice of keeping them on the junior RC instead of moving them onto the adult formula just yet. right now their getting chicken frames (absolutely loved them!!) ;) and grabbed a couple of roo tails.. for the morning. or alternating with a bone.. and in the evening having their royal canin about 5ish before their walk at night. thanks again for everything! helps to ask help sometimes...

i guess since we're trying to slow down their weight gain this will be good for them :D and do you just buy your chicken frames from the local chicken shop cause i know the main supermarkets wouldnt have them...

Hi all! we have 2 beautiful German Shep puppies who are 10-months old. currently we were feeding them Royal Canin but have now been advised by our breeder to switch to Bonnie Adult Formula as they are growing very quickly! good advice! :D Has anyone used Bonnie before? I know it's easy to get, but would just like to hear your thoughts... also been advised to cut out the dry food in the morning and replace with brisket bones or chicken carcasses. does anyone have preferences with what kind of raw bones etc the way our pups eat chicken wings as a treat im scared they get stuck in their throat!! thanks!

yeah - having a 38kg dog sit on me is painful! he still thinks he's little though the pumpkin seems the way to go so we'll try it this week, see what happens... and i'll look into Proplan Performance. so many different ideas and suggestions on this site, but good to try a few things to see what works best - so thank you! BigDaz - we thought the same about our x-rays, but he's had all 4 x-rayed now and nothing. plus going by the symptoms people have been talking about with pano, i really do think that that's what it is he's been resting all week and limp has disappeared, fingers crossed for a while!

thanks guys! im a bit scared to give them chicken necks though as i feel he'd just swallow them! (gets very excited around food hehe) wouldnt get stuck? Kynan - havent heard of Artemis Maximal but i'll look into it and his pads are all good, checked them out too. Dash stopped limping last night fully so seemed to only last a few days... thanks to no walking and resting up. He cried when his sister went for a walk but came and sat on my lap after a few minutes to sook so he was ok hehe we're taking him to a guy in Cranbourne, John Clay, on the weekend too 'just to make sure'. he's been recommended as a greyhound trainer who does doggy massage and chiro on the side. so fingers crossed! your help has been great!

i think we will treat him as a giant breed - cause like you said, growing at an enormous rate! thanks for that!

and yeah - i was just going off our breeder, vet and specialist info. thought hopping on here for more personal advice would be the way to go. thanks LizT... and thanks everyone for the advice!!

sorry Julie but i think you misunderstood me. i HAD taken him to the vet originally, then the animal hospital.... all the limping stopped for a couple of months. and it's only come back in the past couple of days. so i wanted to get advice from other dog owners experiencing the same problem. and i received good advice, which i AM taking thank you from other people. he's off the puppy RC and now on adult. feeding him chicken wings instead of raw meat too. thanks for your honest concern

we know he's a big boy for his age, but we've had nothing but positive comments from the vet about him and his health. if he was getting a bit chubby of course we would watch what he was eating... but he's not. far from it actually. i've taken your advice Tilly and bought them some chicken wings last night - went down a treat! and Adult Royal Canin you think Wylie? i've checked the package and again with the vet and been recommended to stay on the Junior till he hits the 'adult weight' on the package. thanks for all your advice though...

so chicken wings, just frozen together is ok to give them? could we give them a few with their dinner at night instead of the minced meat? dont know why i keep thinking they might choke on the chicken - gotta get rid of that thought!

the vet said he was very healthy and just a big puppy. I'm not too worried about his weight cause we were told from the start we were going to end up with a dog on the bigger side we were advised to feed them puppy mince or chicken mince at night with their food, so we do. if we give them bones, it's before we leave for work to keep them occupied for a few hours, otherwise at night they would be out there for ages!

thanks so much Miss Danni! your comments are very helpful, and it's great to chat to someone who's been in the same situation. so if i do half dry food, half cooked mash pumpkin that might reduce his weight a bit? at the moment their getting dry food in the morning, and dry food / raw meat at night. we're on Royan Canin for puppies do you have a GSD? what are you feeding your's?

yeah he IS a big boy! the vet said he was large for his age, but we're doing everything right apparently with feeding, exercise etc Vet said his weight could be contributing to growing pains that's what made them think that, rather than dysplasia. wow - you've experienced it 3 times! dont know if i could handle that, i feel so bad seeing him limping. he loves a massage at night, puts him to sleep hehe we have 2 very spoilt puppies!! oohh swimming - that would be great for him.. might see if i can find any places close by to do that. he loves the beach but can only get there on the weekends, and even then it takes a bit to coax him into the water! sook!

that's exactly what happened! it went from his left front leg to his right front leg... so that's why im scared it's coming back. think we'll book him in for another vet visit this week. the last one was a while ago and that's when everything had gone back to normal, and if they can pick it up months later, maybe it'll show up this time. guess i just feel bad not taking him for walks when the other one gets to go. but it's better in the long run for him. we do give them bones but not chicken carcasses - only beef bones from the our fresh pet meat place. i'm a bit scared to give them chicken necks etc thanks again - this is soooo helpful.

and we're feeding them both Royal Canin with the addition of some raw meat at night.... that's ok yeah?

thanks so much everyone - definitely a lot to think about. we have the 2 pups seperated today, one out the back and one out the front. With the side gate to look at each other through hehe and when we come home they usually go straight onto their mats and fall asleep - amazing how much they still sleep!! but we'll only walk Coupe (our girl) tonight and give him a rest... in re: to growing and exercise we tried to do our best with research before buying them so hopefully we're doing the right thing. they get a walk everyday for between 20-30mins or they'll tear up the backyard! Dash is growing at a enormous rate - he's 9-months and hit 38kg a couple of wks ago. with his feet and legs i'd be sore too!! they are huge!! growing pains was another thing mentioned - and what the vet and specialist ended up leaning towards rather than dysplasia in the end. but they just said he'd grow out of it. is that right??

oohh dog chiropractor might be good.... im in melbourne, do you know of any good ones?? and yeah, the 2 play together all the time, and being big pups and sometimes a bit rough... well the vet just did xrays to see if anything was broken then sedated him to get clearer ones to see if they could suss out elbow dysplasia.... really hope he's just tumbled wrong!

yeah we've done all the x-rays - the specialist actually said they ere the clearest ones he's seen and couldnt see anything wrong with him! me, my partner and the specialist even took him for a walk around the block when we were there to see if he would start limping again - but no. our last visit to the specialist was about a month ago... dont get me wrong, we have no problem with the money (already reached about $1500), but i just feel we've done everything - the vet, the specialist, the works and still no solid diagnosis. just wish i knew that this is a sprain from his tumble and not the bad news.. would like to know of any other alternatives people might know for the meantime SeaTone has been spoken about a lot and heard that it works... and also Glucosamine....

Hi everyone, really hoping you guys can help me out! desperately need advice! we have 2 beautiful german shepherd puppies (brother & sister) who are 9-months old now, soooo cute! anyway... Dash (our male) started limping at about 5-months old so of course we took him straight to the vet who put him on anti-inflamatory tablets. they didnt do anything! so we then tried injections, once a week for a month, still nothing! next was a refered visit to the animal hospital cause to my horror the words 'elbow dysplasia' was being thrown around but wouldnt you know it, as soon as he entered the doors of the hospital he stopped limping!! this is after 3-months of limping everyday!! aagghhh - in a good way. good news is - he hasnt since.... until this morning... not sure if he's sprained something (took a bit of a tumble yest when we were at the park) or it's come back i've been told SeaTone tablets work a treat. any comments on that one? want to try a few things before heading back to the hospital for a massive bill again!! anything would be helpful right now - just wanna make sure my boy isnt in too much pain