Feeding

[Pluto01]

Hi Guys,

Just need a little bit of advice. We have a 9 week old German Shepherd.

We have been trying to feed him mince and dry food, some days he is happy to have mince then the others he will refuse to eat it.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what else to feed him or how to get him to eat the mine?

[Miss Danni]

Have you contacted the breeder?

[persephone]

What was he being fed when you got him?

It is usually best to keep to that, and gradually change over to what YOU want to use . The breeder should have provided you with advice to help you get off on the right foot .

Edited December 8, 2009 by persephone

[poodlefan]

Ditch the mince unless its chicken mince with bone in it. If it's packet pet mince its loaded with preservatives - not good for any dog.

Try chicken wings or other meat on the bone instead.

What did the breeder recommend you feed?

[zoepuppy]

Do you take away his food if he doesn't eat it? Don't leave it on the ground all day long as this encourages a grazing-I'll-eat-it-whenever attitude. Always take it away after 5 minutes if he doesn't eat it and soon he'll get the message that I'll better eat NOW or else I'll go hungry.

Any respectful good breeder will be happy to talk to you about your puppy problems (I always ask my breeder if I have any concern about my dogs).

With feeding, I started 1.5 cups of Royal Canin Puppy Dry food 3x daily until about 4 months. I soaked it in warm water until partly soft before giving it to my puppy.

Then about 4 months onwards we feed her 2 cups 2x daily. You don't need to soak it. We just wet the food with water, drain the water away and give it to her in the crunchy form (good for their teething period).

I have two GSDs, one is nearly 3 years old and the other one 5 months.

Now we are on Eukanuba GSD Breed specific (remember to gradually change over). The older GSD gets some flavouring on her food e.g sardines, bit of meat etc but the main meal is the dry food. The puppy gets just the wetted dry food. I always take away their food bowl after they have finished or when they walked away from it.

Edited December 26, 2009 by zoepuppy

[Nekhbet]

I agree unless its proper pet mince like carcasses dont worry about it. It may be also very rich for his little stomach particularly if it's red meat

If he's on a good dry food ditch the mince and maybe start giving him a chicken neck or two supervised as a midday meal or evening snack get him used to chewing

[Nic oh lah]

If he's on a good dry food ditch the mince and maybe start giving him a chicken neck or two supervised as a midday meal or evening snack get him used to chewing

Is this common practice? Just asking as I was told by a few people Chicken Wings and Frames are fine for my GSD and she loves them, but just had a friend who's mum is a vet tell me not to feed them to her as the small bones in raw chicken can cause a perforation of the stomach lining resulting in crazy vet bills and possible fatality - can anyone comment?

Regards the initial poster - my girl was a fusspot too - after 20mins the food went away - eventually she got hungry and ate when she was told.

I've recently realised though that she hates her stainless steel bowl! When the foods in the bowl she picks at it, when i sprinkle it onto the concrete she woofs it down. Sigh. But yes - no dog will starve itself.

[AussieGuy]

I have a 10 week old GSD and the breeder had him on Pro Plan, but now im starting to change him on to Nutro, which in my opinion is a high quality food.

[Nekhbet]

but just had a friend who's mum is a vet tell me not to feed them to her as the small bones in raw chicken can cause a perforation of the stomach lining resulting in crazy vet bills and possible fatality - can anyone comment?

yup - stop taking 3rd hand advice dogs are meant to eat soft bones like those in wings and carcasses. My dogs eat whole rabbits head and all and no problems! The trick is to introduce slowly on things like necks that are very soft and then graduate up. Dogs that have lived on highly processed diets can have problems as they tend to have 'lazy guts' as I call it, the guts have adjusted to sloppy no work food and hence raw food can cause abdominal pain etc or if they dont know how to chew it properly.

Big bones like lamb shanks, marrow bones etc are not made to be swallowed but things like lamb flaps, chicken carcasses etc are.

ETA nutro, Royal Canin and Eagle pack are the ones I usually recommend, Pro Plan has way to high a grain content and poor ingredient quality for the price.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Nekhbet

[persephone]

be careful with chicken necks tho they are the right size/shape to , if swallowed WHOLE. get stuck somewhere!

get really big ones, or turkey necks instead.. or bash them flatter with a hammer ...

wings/thighs are fine

[Nic oh lah]

but just had a friend who's mum is a vet tell me not to feed them to her as the small bones in raw chicken can cause a perforation of the stomach lining resulting in crazy vet bills and possible fatality - can anyone comment?

yup - stop taking 3rd hand advice

Haha - yep. I told her that i sit with Sophie when she has them to make sure she's chewing them, but apparently it's better to be safe rather than sorry if she gets a rupture in her stomach lining. I know i'm listening to 2nd hand advice, but it is from a vet. She said give her femur bones and that's it - but she loves her chicken, so the jury's out at my house, hehe.

[elsa]

Cooked bones of any description are bad for a dog, and can splinter, moreso with chicken, but any raw bone is absolutely fine. As one poster said, straight chicken mince is great and it is relatively cheap to feed. I believe in a raw natural diet without preservatives. My German Shepherd bitch has recently had puppies, and to start with I fed the puppies BARF mixed with puppy milk. As they got older they tended to prefer straight chicken mince. I did also give them some soaked puppy biscuits, but they really weren't that keen on them. Then I fed them Nutro Large Breed puppy, not soaked, and they quite liked them. With the heat we have had in QLD, they weren't particularly interested in eating in the heat of the day, and to tempt them, I added a little Kangaroo Mince to their Chicken. Kangaroo Mince of course, has no fat, so is no good for a puppy as a diet, but mixed it is fine.

[Miss Danni]

but just had a friend who's mum is a vet tell me not to feed them to her as the small bones in raw chicken can cause a perforation of the stomach lining resulting in crazy vet bills and possible fatality - can anyone comment?

yup - stop taking 3rd hand advice

Haha - yep. I told her that i sit with Sophie when she has them to make sure she's chewing them, but apparently it's better to be safe rather than sorry if she gets a rupture in her stomach lining. I know i'm listening to 2nd hand advice, but it is from a vet. She said give her femur bones and that's it - but she loves her chicken, so the jury's out at my house, hehe.

Long weight bearing bones are definitely ones to avoid, as they are more likely to shatter when a serious chewer gets onto them. Pups wont make a dent in a femur bone and you also have the potential problem with adults wearing their teeth down on these kinds of bones.

The vet might have been referring to cooked chicken and just was not very clear on that point. Raw chicken or rabbit bones will very rarely give any problems, as Nekhbet said. It's also possible that the vet is a bit confused - some vets are not very good with feeding and nutrition advice!

[luvsdogs]

Dogs were meant to eat raw bones. As Miss Danni said be very careful of the long femur bones. The ends with the cartilage & the marrow but the bones can break teeth. Both my previous dogs broke off the tip of a k9 tooth on these so I will no longer give them. Here's a few myths dispelled on feeding raw meaty bones.

http://rawfed.com/myths/

[Nekhbet]

no I have met vets that still believe big marrow bones are the only safe ones. I met a dental specialist who told me outright edible bones do nothing for teeth and that toothpaste, greenies etc is superior.

Righto. I should have brought all 3 dogs in to show him their sparkling teeth and none of them have seen greenies or toothbrushes before.

[luvsdogs]

no I have met vets that still believe big marrow bones are the only safe ones. I met a dental specialist who told me outright edible bones do nothing for teeth and that toothpaste, greenies etc is superior.

Righto. I should have brought all 3 dogs in to show him their sparkling teeth and none of them have seen greenies or toothbrushes before.

Exactly. My 1st bc when she was about 9 & hadn't had many bones was told by the vet that she needed to have a scale & clean b4 too old for the anaesthetic. I changed her diet over to mostly raw chicken bones with some lamb flaps & necks. The next year when she went in for her check-up the vet said her teeth were good for her age. Saved myself over $200 at the time in vet bills.

[Nic oh lah]

no I have met vets that still believe big marrow bones are the only safe ones. I met a dental specialist who told me outright edible bones do nothing for teeth and that toothpaste, greenies etc is superior.

Righto. I should have brought all 3 dogs in to show him their sparkling teeth and none of them have seen greenies or toothbrushes before.

Exactly. My 1st bc when she was about 9 & hadn't had many bones was told by the vet that she needed to have a scale & clean b4 too old for the anaesthetic. I changed her diet over to mostly raw chicken bones with some lamb flaps & necks. The next year when she went in for her check-up the vet said her teeth were good for her age. Saved myself over $200 at the time in vet bills.

See that's the thing - everyone has a different story! Lol! And the vet was really specific that Raw chicken frames and necks will cause a perforated stomach lining, and that Femur's were the only bones she should be allowed - whereas the vet i went to for her checkup after she came home to make sure she was up to date with vacc's etc said yay the chicken, nay the femur's. GAH!!!! I might just give her my leg to chew - at least i know where it's been - lol.

anyway - she's on Uncle Albers and loving it and the teeth are still looking great - i'm thinking I just sneak her the odd chicken frame and big ol' dinosaur bone and watch her like a hawk. Sigh!!!! I figured if all else fails, listen to the vet, but they don't agree!

[Nekhbet]

Bones perforate bowels when 1) they are not chewed properly and are swallowed in massive pieces or 2) the dog does not have enough stomach acid to digest it properly.

Dogs on highly processed diets tend to have this second problem. I start these dogs off with minced frames added to the diet and watch the poo to check for constipation. Then you progress to a higher and higher proportion gradually to the diet to let the digestive system adjust to having to now work on real food not just mush or kibble. Also you buy bones in proportion to your dog - if it swallows things whole then you buy bigger, meatier cuts that it is forced to chew.

Just watch marrow bones they offer little more then pure fat to the dog.