Dutch Shepherd Forum

I think variety is the key, i.e. not just feeding this or that food exclusiveky. Have some raw, then some home cooked, hell, even some kibble.
I went with my two black Labs through the whole learning curve the past 13+ years. They came from the breeder with a bag of Science Diet. I switched them to Solid Gold and from there it was a journey through all the holistic dog foods out there. Cooked for them according to Dr.Pitcairn's book, then fed raw, etc. Somehow they survived it all. One Lab passed on due to bone cancer last June at the age of 12 years, 4 months and 1 day. The other is still going strong with 13 years, 8.5 months. I came to the conclusion that all the switching around and trying this and that might have been the key. I should add, I did not switch because of skin conditions or any other problems, I just wanted to give them the best nutrition I could afford.

Even if you're feeding just kibble variety of brands and formulas are a very good idea. Don't just stick to one. They all have pros and cons nutritionally and unless your dog has allergies/sensitivities exposing them to different protein sources is a good idea. The more you change up your dog's food the more their tummy becomes resilient and less sensitive to changes in diet and stress related upsets.

Choochi wrote:Even if you're feeding just kibble variety of brands and formulas are a very good idea..... The more you change up your dog's food the more their tummy becomes resilient and less sensitive to changes in diet and stress related upsets.

Yes! Yes! Yes!!! I can't stress how important I feel that is. Rotate kibble- rotate protein sources, being sure to reserve one novel protein source in the unlikely event your dog develops a probably food allergy later in life. Our 'novel' protein is going to have to be kangaroo, or Llama.... he's has everything else!) Plus- who wants to eat the same ol' crap all the time? I personally rotate between kibble and raw (always with a 24hr fast between the 2, so they don't combine in the digestive track, allowing bacteria to bloom). When I'm on a kibble phase, we've usually got 3 different types/protein sources in the house, and he'll get something different everyday. It's always different.

Wouldn't you appreciate the variety? Not that my dog cares.... he'd eat the cheapest grocery store crap you can find happily, but I like to think I'm doing him a favor by rotating.

I have heard about rotating kibble; to use different brands every 6 months as each company has their own formula of "the best nutrients" etc and your dog can benefit overall from the variety.

I've also heard that offering many foods can lead to picky eaters...although I'd like to see a DS that refused food!

Changing foods won't make a chow hound into a picky eater. If a dog already is picky, that's another story, but I always think why would you force your dog into eating some thing they don't enjoy? My experience with picky eaters is that usually there is a food they will like, or a method of preparation. I mean you wouldn't want to eat flavourless crackers every day for the rest of your life so I give some props to the picky ones, at least they have STANDARDS! Plus some times they're considered picky because their owners are trying to over feed them in the first place. Some dogs just don't eat much.

There certainly is a chance that if you start offering your dog a variety of flavours they will start to have a preference for some foods over others. I don't see that as a problem, it's a preference, if they decide they don't like food X, stop buying food X. What you could do is simply pick a few different brands and formulas and mix them all together instead of feeding them as separate meals. For my big dog I have a giant garbage can where we store his kibble and I would just empty various bags into it, stir them up a little, makes things easier. Or pour some from bag A, pour some from bag B, and C... and serve.

Koenig's never turned anything down. I doubt he ever will! The day he refuses a new, or old food is the day we're off to the E vet!

One benefit of my job is I get food that is close to the sell by date (for free...). Tonight, I brought home a bunch of Honest Kitchen 'Thrive', Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, and Ziwi Peak. Ha, I'll take it!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone for the input and experiences! I too, believe in rotational feeding. My older dogs can and will eat anything I put in front of them...I have fed them many,many brands of dry food, prepared raw, store bought raw, canned fish (no salt added) and canned dog food. The latter seems to be the most difficult for them to digest without some tummy troubles.
It's my new Puppy that I'm finding has a really sensitive gut. He is doing better on the Royal Canin for German Shepherd Puppies, than the Royal Canin for Large Breed Puppies. The GSD formulation does not have corn or wheat in it and is ever so slightly lower in calories and fiber content. I hope to be able to feed him as freely as the big guys, but at this point a little dab of raw meat, canned fish or a nibble of lettuce is all I am able to feed him aside from the kibble. He did have round worms, and had a hearty dose of worming medicine, plus got his 2nd vaccination....this also seemed to aggravate him. But, he is growing nicely and has a massive appetite!

I just got my little pup and am feeding her Nulo. I really like it for my cat and thought it'd be good for Ninja too...but she now has fatty, runny poop. Could this be part of switching dog food and her new environment? should I be worried? would it make sense to switch again?
protein = 30%
fat = 17%
fiber = 4%

appreciate any feedback

~Nicole

NULO is very high in protein, but any time you switch foods you should be mixing old and new before completely switching.

This should go without saying, but you didn't feed the dog cat food, did you?

personally, I dont see a need for rotational feeding. If you find a good food that is in your budget and the dog is healthy i would not switch

One of the best food naturaly is fresh TRIPE.

In Croatia is also speciality for people , to cook on many ways.

I give tripe with rice for second meal afternoon and in the morning Meradog exclusive line for puppy.
First I cook tripe around 01:45 hour and the in the same water I put rice fo 10-15 minutes and one egg ( every 3 days ) On weekend I made 5 - 6 meal for whole next week, and every day just in 5 minutes I warmup.

Package for people , half ready

fresh for my dog

For those of you who may have never heard of tripe:



Nutritional Info:
A 3-ounce serving of cooked tripe will provide you with 80 calories, 10 grams of protein, 1.7 grams of carbohydrates and 3.4 grams of fat, including 1.2 grams of saturated fat. This is only about 5 percent of the daily value for fat and 6 percent of the DV for saturated fat, making tripe a relatively low-fat option.

I like raw the best! My guy has been on it since he could swallow solid food. I had him on dry for about a month but he got so itchy and pooped all the time! I think raw would be a really good choice, it just sucks having to prepare it. Also really helps with teething!!

I'm sorry that I resurrect the old topic, but it's just that I myself once encountered this issue, and spent a lot of time to find really useful information,
I don't believe there is such a thing as "the best food" for any dog.i would suggest you do your research and then pick a food you feel comfortable with, that is easily available and within your price range. You want to find a food that has no corn, soy, or wheat in it. Also, avoid by-products. By-products can be anything including beaks, feet, etc. Look for meals(ie chicken meal, fish meal, etc). Canidae is what I feed and my dogs do well. Innova is also a very good food. Also, don't get anything with animal digest in it...yuck!You want to find a large breed puppy formula because you don't want him to grow too fast (too much protein like agility dog said) Meat as the first ingredient is better than anything with corn as the first ingredient IMO. I feed Fromm, but it is more expensive, and not really readily available to most people. Royal Canin is expensive and also not of good quality. Having just looked at the ingredient list of the French Bulldog version, it has rice and wheat as the first two ingredients - they are just fillers. It's got animal fat in it - no mention of what that animal is. For a dog that is prone to skin problems, it is not good.
A good quality food has the named meat source at the top of the list of ingredients and is clearly labeled - no ambiguity. The purchaser should know exactly what it contains.
Here is an article https://petapproves.com/best-puppy-food/ about the domination of the big four pet food companies and the poor quality of some of their products. There are a lot of useful videos on this topic on Youtube, I will leave here one of them, as many often have similar questions. Good Luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYVJ6Pdojrc

I’ve had Zoey on Nulo freestyle since she was about 10 weeks old and I constantly get compliments on how shiny and soft her coat is. It’s a bit expensive tho compared to other grain free brands. Tripper gets a large bag of fromm I think 40lbs? And zoeys 25 lb bag costs nearly twice that. Zoey was really picky when we first got her tho and would only eat boiled chicken for a while. When we found out she liked the Nulo we ran with it.