Large Breed Dog

[vicdrg]

How many times a day would you feed this dog? And apart from Hills Dry Food for young large breeds what would you give him. Healthy, no problems, but food just seems to disappear and doesn't put on weight

[Bullbreedlover]

How many times a day would you feed this dog? And apart from Hills Dry Food for young large breeds what would you give him. Healthy, no problems, but food just seems to disappear and doesn't put on weight

without seeing a picture or knowing what the breed is........

(is there suppose to be a picture)

I always feed my large breeds twice a day, in fact i feed all my breeds twice a day.

if travelling they dont get feed if going early but get fed after we have arrived and they have settled.

Large breeds especially deep chested dogs are very susceptable to gastric torsion and one way to try to help prevent this is to feed twice a day and not one large meal once a day

[Bullbreedlover]

How many times a day would you feed this dog? And apart from Hills Dry Food for young large breeds what would you give him. Healthy, no problems, but food just seems to disappear and doesn't put on weight

the dog may also have a high metabolism. he may be exercising more than he receives in food input or he may have a thyroid problem

[Nekhbet]

twice a day, I do that with everyone. I would change from hills to something different, something that is not flavoured horse food - Royal Canin large breed and lamb flaps is a great diet for growing doggies

Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Salt, Potassium Chloride, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Vitamin E Supplement, L-Tryptophan, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, L-Carnitine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

[Starkehre]

Like the others said... plus, I have yet to see any of the larger breeds do "well" on Science Diet, unless they are mature and a "good doer" or low metabolism.

I would definitely try swapping over your brand of dry.

I am not going to necessarily suggest my favourite brand because that is what I believe my dogs do well on, but there are several of brands around that I have seen the larger breeds do much better on and they would include Nutrience, Artemis, Eagle pack and Royale Canin.

[Tilly]

My almost 7 month old GSD is fed on BARF and is on 2 feeds a day. He is putting on a average of about 1 to 1.3kgs per week and currently weighs 34.2kg!!!! He is going to be a very big boy.

I weigh him every week and check his body conditional regularly so I can adjust his food as required.

We will probably look at switching to only 1 meal a day when he is 12 to 18 months - while I would prefer to stick to 2 meals when he starts working (as security) he can't get fed at night while at work.

If I hadn't fed BARF then I would feeding either Royal Canin or Artemis.

I would NOT recommend Eukanuba as 3 dogs that I know which have been fed it have all had serious medical conditions ranging from prostate issues to large growth on the neck - may not be related but I won't take the chance.

Edited November 1, 2009 by Tilly

[sas]

You might want to research Hills a bit more, many conisder it to be an expensive useless food full of fillers that do nothing for the dog.

For a large dog you can break the feed up into Breakfast and Dinner, dogs don't need all their food at night because they're resting and don't need the energy from it.

Weigh the dog and check the food packaging as to what to feed, each dog differs slightly but you can use the packaging instructions to begin with.

I would NOT recommend Eukanuba as 3 dogs that I know which have been fed it have all had serious medical conditions ranging from prostate issues to large growth on the neck - may not be related but I won't take the chance.

Tilly I'm sure there are other reasons for those dogs conditions, a large portion of Great Danes in Australia are fed Eukanuba without any pattern in health conditions.

My dog was fed Pro Plan and Eagle Pack and has some health conditions but I wouldn't link it to the feed if you know what I mean.

Large breeds especially deep chested dogs are very susceptable to gastric torsion and one way to try to help prevent this is to feed twice a day and not one large meal once a day

There is no known reason for Bloat or torsion, even dogs fed twice a day bloat and torsion. We use it as an assumptive preventative. There's a Bloat study here that you may be interested in: http://www.dmantugs.com.au/Attachment1_Bloat_Study.pdf

Edited November 1, 2009 by sas