Great Dane x Mastiff

[Scrappi&Monty]

Yeah he's a skinny minnie!

We feed Black Hawk too, not at the moment, but we have for a few years.

For perspective:

Our 13kg corgi x terrier gets 1/2 cup of kibble for breakfast and maybe 200g (?) of raw at night, I can't remember exactly because I'm lazy and do it by eyesight, but he maintains a good weight so I'm not too worried about perfect measurement. Although since you need to put weight on him, I'd suggest you measure it.

Our 21kg amstaff/staffy gets 1cup kibble for breakfast and he gets maybe 300g (?) or so of raw for dinner. Usually the container fits about 500g and we split it so Monty gets the bigger half. (Sorry for vague measurements...)

He gets 2 chicken drummies for bones and Scrappi (smaller) only gets one. 

When Monty was getting too lean and bony we made up some meatballs to add to the regular food to beef him up.

(crush a few cups of kibble to crumbs in food processor so it becomes like a flour/thickener, some cream cheese or cottage cheese, tray of mince meat, some grated veg (optional), and then mix it up to be little patties and freeze raw, add a few to each

meal. Not something to feed as a balanced diet forever but it might be a good "fattener-upper")

 

Here are some links for feeding calculators: 

 

http://perfectlyrawsome.com/pmr-barf-dog-cat-raw-feeding-calculators/

 

http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.htm

 

BlackHawk calculator:

http://calculator.blackhawkpetcare.com.au/

[Ethangreatdane]

Yeah I really appreciate everyone's assistance. And have taken in and read as many links as possible. Just getting a good idea for his breed and not over feeding him is our main agenda. And as I am new to this site I just posted to the general forum as assumed it would get a lot of attention. Again thank you everyone for the support and advice. As @LaCie provided me this link http://www.greatdanerescue.com.au/Docs/Love is a Great Dane.pdf I read they fed their Rescue Danes 500grams of kibble 3-4 times a day I am wondering if this is good practice until he gets to a suitable weight? Or should I stick to the amount of kibble he gets and add meat and vegetables.

[Loving my Oldies]

I would be adding meaty raw bones, but I am a teeny tiny dog person LOL.  I consider 8kgs big !!   Unless there is a medical problem dogs of all and any size love meaty bones.    

 

[persephone]

Feeding dogs is an individual thing ...

my take on it is to feed so as to provide a nice variety of goodness, in as small an amount as possible ... Dogs are lucky in that their meal can be calorie/nourishment dense ..not bulky . 
of course, this also means less poo patrol ..a good thing!!

There are good kibble brands out there .. do not go by the ads ..go by word of mouth ..and what YOUR DOG does best on ..ie: satiety/weight levels and waste produced  
With skinny dogs here (koolies & kelpies ) they get more fatty meat meals , and eggs , and some cheese  meat is usually fed on the bone , so as mentioned ..lamb flaps are great ..as are brisket bones ..and a good pet mince
Chewing a meal off a large soft bone regularly will also help with muscle tone  ;) 

[tdierikx]

I have a Staffy/Dane girl who is around 33 kgs... a whole large chicken carcass daily keeps her at that weight. When she used to get kibble, she got fed about 500g a day to maintain her weight/condition.

 

I'd probably give your boy a frame for breakfast and dinner, and maybe a bit of kibble in the middle of the day - if that's feasible for your lifestyle (if you are at home most days)... and adjust the amounts as needed to maintain a healthy condition/weight.

 

T.

[dididog]

He's definitely on the thin side but that's better for a growing large breed than the opposite. So while I agree he needs to be eating more than that you don't have to go too far overboard and you should still keep him lean (to what a lot of people might seem too thin). Seems like others have pointed you in the right direction with the Great Dane rescue resources which is a good start!

 

I have a dog also labelled as a Dane x Mastiff by rescue but don't get too hung up on that or expect that size. Mine really doesn't have mastiff in her and is basically just a Bull Arab with a fair whack of Dane in the mix which I think might be true with your boy too but he looks a bit more daney than mine. We thought she would end up at 60kg or something but she's only 45-47kg fully matured which while still a large dog is definitely not in the same size league as a purebred Dane. He probably won't reach his final weight until the 3 year mark as they take a long time to fill out so he will probably look scrawny for a while yet and that's quite normal. I'd suggest picking up a high quality kibble (although you don't have to worry so much about phosphorous to calcium ratios at his age as he's probably almost finished growing skeleton wise) and slowly upping the quantity. My girl was only eating a bit more food than yours at a similar age (2 cups of high quality kibble and a chicken carcass a day). I suspect because she was desexed very early she's always had a very low metabolism and I currently feed her much less than recommended as she really doesn't need much and gains weight easily. My girl was eating raw meaty bones like chicken carcasses since quite a young age so I'd recommend trying that also, good for teeth and stimulation.

 

He's almost at an age where you could probably feed him raw if you wanted to and it not be too risky (feeding a giant breed puppy raw when you're a novice is not recommended as the balance is very important) but that might be a bit overwhelming for the time being!

 

Good luck though, sounds like he's in good hands

[dididog]

4 minutes ago, tdierikx said:

I have a Staffy/Dane girl who is around 33 kgs... a whole large chicken carcass daily keeps her at that weight. When she used to get kibble, she got fed about 500g a day to maintain her weight/condition.

 

I'd probably give your boy a frame for breakfast and dinner, and maybe a bit of kibble in the middle of the day - if that's feasible for your lifestyle (if you are at home most days)... and adjust the amounts as needed to maintain a healthy condition/weight.

 

T.

What kind of chicken carcasses are you feeding? The chicken carcasses I have always bought are mainly bone with a small amount of rogue meat and skin... definitely not appropriate as a complete diet and not very calorie dense. 

 

I don't think this dog would need more than one carcass a day, Didi is a similar size and breeding and if I gave her more than one she would struggle to poop! 

[tdierikx]

The carcasses I get have a good portion of bone, meat, and skin... I could cook them up for my own soups if I was so inclined... quite chunky... *grin*

 

All 3 of my dogs and my 2 foxes are doing really well on them... and they are dead cheap!

 

T.

[Danois]

Dane owner here. 

 

Yes hes lean but don't get too hung up on that - some just are that way while they are growing especially and that's despite how much food you're giving. 

 

Get him on to a decent high quality kibble. Black Hawk is not fantastic - check out The Balanced Canine as they share the best kibbles around (Stay Loyal, Canidae and another) and also info about raw feeding. 

 

I would not be necessarily switching to raw while there is still growth going on. Aim is to grow them slow and steady which kibble can help do.  A digestive enzyme might help too. 

 

I would not switch to 3 meals a day at this point - 2 meals of sufficient size and quality will do him fine. 

[Scrappi&Monty]

6 hours ago, dididog said:

What kind of chicken carcasses are you feeding? The chicken carcasses I have always bought are mainly bone with a small amount of rogue meat and skin... definitely not appropriate as a complete diet and not very calorie dense. 

 

I don't think this dog would need more than one carcass a day, Didi is a similar size and breeding and if I gave her more than one she would struggle to poop! 

Yes that's what I thought too. They can't just have bones, needs meat & organs too, or else it'd be imbalanced and clog them up...?! 

[dididog]

15 hours ago, Scrappi&Monty said:

Yes that's what I thought too. They can't just have bones, needs meat & organs too, or else it'd be imbalanced and clog them up...?! 

Yes they need organs and a much higher overall ratio of meat to bone than the average chicken carcass would have. Might be cheap but it's a very unbalanced way to feed raw when you consider only around 10 to 20 percent of a diet should be RMB and not suitable as a complete diet. 

 

Sorry to go slightly off topic OP!

[RuralPug]

5 hours ago, dididog said:

Yes they need organs and a much higher overall ratio of meat to bone than the average chicken carcass would have. Might be cheap but it's a very unbalanced way to feed raw when you consider only around 10 to 20 percent of a diet should be RMB and not suitable as a complete diet. 

 

Sorry to go slightly off topic OP!

Agree. Whole carcasses are a completely different kettle of fish than frames. I have the bad habit of saying "carcass" when I really mean frame. Feeding a whole carcass means they are getting EVERYTHING except the feathers or fur. But someone feeding nothing except frames would find their dog was in deep trouble, sooner or later.

[dididog]

1 hour ago, RuralPug said:

Agree. Whole carcasses are a completely different kettle of fish than frames. I have the bad habit of saying "carcass" when I really mean frame. Feeding a whole carcass means they are getting EVERYTHING except the feathers or fur. But someone feeding nothing except frames would find their dog was in deep trouble, sooner or later.

Yes good point thanks for clarifying that haha I'm also in the habit of calling frames carcasses too!