Best food/diet for a German Shepherd

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

Thank you so much for the replies everyone.

I have seen the Nature Diet trays in Pets at Home and wondered about trying them. We would need to stick to the Puppy/Junior version since she is only 9 months and it says adult is only suitable for 1 year +. Nature Diet trays are 390gm.

I think I need to try and figure out exactly how much food she should be getting per day, we would like to keep to a mix of wet and dry as she doesn't like her food dry at all, even when we add wet food to it we sometimes need to add a little water to make it just a little more moist!

Can anyone let me know if I am over feeding her or is 500gm about right for a pup?

Just a picture for anyone that's interested:

Kit603

The amount you feed them depends on the brand, if you're looking at Nature Diet then you can find the information here:

http://www.naturediet.co.uk/advicepuppyfeedingguide.html

It says that for a 26kg puppy you should be feeding 2100g a day of Nature Diet.

The amount to feed can vary widely by manufacturer because of the differing nutritional contents etc. Therefore, when you're looking at price of different sacks of food or trays/tins of food then you need to look at how long they will last aswell.

We feed both of our labrador retrievers (6 months and 4 months) Arden Grange complete dry food and according to the feeding guide on the back the eldest should only be having 550g a day of that particular food, but if we'd kept him on the food that the breeder fed him (which was lower quality and about the same price per 15kg sack) he'd have needed 950g.

Also, I know you mentionned in your original post that you've been mixing meat in with the complete. I'd definitely stop doing that, if I were you, because complete doesn't need anything adding to it and that might be why the vet suggested that your dog might be overweight (although she doesn't look like she is in the pic!) You'd be better off feeding either just meat or just complete. If you definitely want to keep a mix of wet/dry then meat with mixer is the way to go, rather than mixing it with complete, mix it with an actual mixer (essentially biscuits) as it'll be easier to keep an eye on how much you're feeding and probably better for her

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

Wow 2100g is quite a lot isn't it?! All the brands suggest different feeding amounts which is why we're not sure how much to feed her...

I'm so confused now, I seem to remember reading on one of these posts that feeding just wet is more expensive than dry (or a mixture).

I've just looked on the Pets at Home website and they only have 1 bag of mixer by Pedigree...

Essentially we want a good quality food for her that isn't too expensive to feed per day.

cjmumto2

I highly recommend Burns Pet Nutrition, you can see thier website, it is a dry complete food, which is all natural with low protein levels (especially good for big pups as they need lower protein as they grow) It works out cheaper in the long run as it is all quality, I would never buy supermarket food, they contain a load of rubbish. Dogs love veg so add this if you want to make a change from dry, pasta etc is not very nutritional but doesnt harm if you have some left over now and again.

Kit603

2,100g is LOADS, lol, I was quite surprised when I read the chart

Feed her according to the feeding guide on the back of the particular food you're feeding her, it's no good using a different guide. I.e. I'm feeding Arden Grange, so it'd be no good me using the feeding guide for Pedigree or JWB because they'll be different. If you find your dog starts piling on the pounds, adjust the amount and visa versa

I like the Arden Grange that we're feeding now, we're paying £39 something (online) for a 15kg sack of the large breed puppy food to be delivered and both our labs seem quite pleased with it and have shiny coats and solid poops, so it seems to be agreeing with them. I like it because it's not full of additives, it's hypoallergenic (our eldest lab has sensitive skin that goes flaky when something doesn't agree with him and a sensitive tummy) and it's a minimum of 30% chicken. The food we fed before (from the breeder) was only 4% meat, and only 14% of that was turkey and the rest was meat derivitives. I also know that when they're done on the puppy food I can get the lamb and rice in a 15kg sack for about £27 which is really cheap to be honest.

Have you looked at skinners? They're quite cheap and pretty good quality. James Wellbeloved are good aswell, although they're slightly more expensive than some of the others. I've heard some good things about Burns, but i've never looked into their pricing etc so not sure how they compare

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

Right I have sat and worked out how much we have been feeding her in relation to the recommended amounts by the guides on the packs.

Pedigree tins suggest for her weight feeding her 3 1/2 tins a day, so 1400g.

Bakers suggests 380-590g of the complete food per day.

We give her 1 full Pedigree tin (400g) and 200g of Bakers per day, so 600g total, 300g per meal.

In relation to their guideline amounts I don't think we have been massively over feeding her, but obviously we could be doing much better

Does anyone have any experience of the Wainwrights Wet Food Trays? Are they any good or should I be avoiding them?

Beckyy

With regards to how much you're feeding now, it's not necessary the overall weight to work it out by. 3.5 tins of pedigree would mean each tin is just over 28% of her recommended overall intake of that food. Say her average recommended amount of Bakers was 500g, that would mean each 100g is 20% of her recommended overall intake of that.

So 2 x 100g Bakers (40%) and 1 tin of pedigree (28%) = only 68% of what she should be having.

But I could be entirely wrong about that, as I'm not sure how it should be worked out when you're mixing foods with different nutritional values.

My parents feed their lab/airedale x the wainwrights trays, and they get on fine with them. If you're going for a good quality dry food try just feeding that without adding wet food. Cereal free with a high meat content. She might not like it, but over time she'd probably get used to it, you can always add a little water if it's a massive problem, but I wouldn't encourage her to be a fussy eater unless she's refused to eat for a day or so because of it. It would just save you trying to work out the right portions from two different food's guidelines and mixing up nutritional values, so you know exactly when you're feeding her the right amount.

Try some of brands mentioned in this thread, skinner and arden grange are ones which I've heard of lots of people using.

elfen

My parents one always got a mix of dry and wet, and chews and rawhide ears for her teeth. Mum also gave her (I think) cod liver oil tablets to help with her joints, and garlic tablets to keep the fleas away (which worked surprisingly well) She died last year at about 12....here's some piccies of my lovely Sheba

zee_2

my alsatian tasha, is a 9month !!!!! was being fed pedigree puppy dry food ,her poo's were stinking and she was ss about food , did some reading on forums and have started her on waggs dry food ,she loves it ,no smelly garden for a few minutes and I think looking at formula it will be better for her 1/3rd price of pedigree is a bonus also ask butcher for marrow bone once a week that she goes crazy for

gsddusty1

I am currently on GSD number 5 and have played with most foods over the years. I have found for GSD's with a tempermental stomach the best two complete foods are Royal Canin Vet Plan GSD food or Arden Grange. I still feed Tilly my current !!!!! Arden Grange although she has guts of iron. My previous !!!!! Dusty had the most tempermental stomach ever and did well on both brands. If you ask with complete foods you can normal get a plastic cup with the measurements for that food on. The recommendation is not to feed wet food with complete but I have found that if you adjust the complete slightly you can if required feed a little wet with complete food. I was always recommended Chappie original as a good wet food and have never found it affected any of the dogs who had it. Hope it helps and it is great to see the pics of other dogs.