What do you feed your GSD? Diet

What does everyone feed their GSD, i find it hard to find a food that suits Duke, although he seems to be doing ok on arden grange sensitive.

Mine has been fed raw since before I got him at 7 weeks and ever since. He loves it and does brilliantly on it. He is 6 years old.

I fed my last GSD Holly Burns because she had food allergies etc. Daisy got too thin on that so she was fed Arden Grange.
However, she wasn`t that keen and I was adding all sorts to get her to eat it and then Razzle arrived with the terrible dire rear so I switched them all to Raw and they`ve been fine ever since. Their poos are firm, their coats are glossy and they love their dinners.

My GSD and GSD cross are both fed raw. Casper came to me on CSJ and was doing fine on it but Kiki (the cross) has never maintained a good weight on kibble, tried various types, adding wet food, etc. so decided to take the plunge and switch to raw. Haven't looked back, they're doing well on it, really enjoy mealtimes, and Kiki's weight has been a lot more stable.

Mine is only a GSDx but he seems to have inherited the typical senstive GSD stomach. He went through a load of kibbles but was plagued by bright yellow sloppy stools. He was on Royal Canin GSD and Chappie for a while, which was better than other kibbles but still didn't really agree with him. Also switched to raw and never looked back His tummy is great now.

Mine were on F4D (and still are) for over 2 years now and had always, always done well on it, glossy coats, stable weight, lots of energy, perfect poops, but then as you know, I had problems with Zena with their kibble.

I have been cooking for Zena for 2 weeks now, and have to say, she hasn't once been sick, she's lost the bit of weight I wanted her to, poo's are less but firm (which is a surprise coz I thought kibble was supposed to produce LESS poo!) plenty of energy WITHOUT being hyper, she easily settles now, much more easily than when on the kibble, which is also interesting. I think I will be sticking with this home cooking at least with Zena for her main meals, although she does tolerate a handful of kibble last thing at night scattered over the floor coz she's hungry then and if she eats quickly, up it comes again (and that's even my home cooked food!!! That has to be spread all over a big dinner plate now!! )

Shepherds and their tums!!!! I remember my old ones of years ago had cast iron guts why haven't they now???!!!

Chappie went straight through her I would add, which is a shame, and raw, she isn't particularly keen on it, but when they've had the odd mince and marrowbones, no stomach upsets or diarrhea, so I know she'd do well on it, so it will be considered further on down the road if the cooked gives us problems.

Less poo than what? I'd say it depends on the kibble - what goes in, must come out, and if it doesn't come out as energy then it comes out as wastage. Kibbles with poorly digested ingredients like grain tend to produce more waste (and the cheaper/less digestible the ingredients, the more waste obviously)

Raw seems really popular with GSDs..i did consider it but im not always at home and my step dad isn't too keen on the idea. There family dogs so not just mine.
Helena, duke wants to come yours if he gets home cooked food . What home cooked food do you feed, is it meat veg pasta etc?? I just wish i could find a food he enjoyed and didn't poo soo many times a day on!!

Alot of gsds do seen really sensitive, my mix terrier can eat just about anything and he is normally fine which is a good job with some of the foods he has stolen behind our back lol

Less poo than any other food that is the correct food for the dog's weight!

She gets either chicken or mince or if I've bought some cheap braising steak, that goes in the slow cooker, enough for two days. Today I bought some chicken livers which I boiled up, but they only got one each with their meal (not coz I'm mean, but I don't want any runs!) With the main part being meat, I then add a cooked carrot (coz she gets raw ones all the time anyway), fresh greens because I have them myself every day or cabbage, runner beans if they're on offer or peas, a half teaspoon of oat bran (coz the vet told me to). The beauty of my slow cooker out in the bootroom is, I can have that on with the meat, and nearer feeding time, I just throw in a potato and the carrot etc. Blimey she's eating better than my husband coz he lives on salad every night!!!!

I'd much rather cook than do the raw thing, one because of storage, two because when I've offered her cooked or raw she's always opted for the cooked, three because I can't really be a*sed, four because bones scare me to death, I've had a dog who got a big chunk stuck in her esopheogus (sp?) and another dog who had splinters in her intestines, so although I can cope with them eating a big marrow bone, I just couldn't cope with any of the others, but that's personal to me. If you gave Zena a chicken wing she'd gulp it down in one go I do know that! and finally because Zena adores my home cooking, plus I've got the time and the inclination to do it for her. Georgie gets to share some of her delicacies too of course;-) be it mixed with his boring old kibble, but he has to have it due to his skin.

I'm seeing the vet in a couple of weeks with old Georgie and I'm going to ask his opinion on it all, plus I've ordered a doggy cook book to help me get the balance right. It's not really time consuming if you plan ahead and cook more each time so you've got 2 day's respite sitting in the fridge. I tell you what though, it's gotta be the most expensive way of doing it!!

Yesterday, the big block of mince I got out of the freezer wasn't defrosted, so I stuck it in the oven on a fairly low heat, and it came out as a big loaf with crispy edges, and boy did they enjoy that! Must have been like having a McDonalds treat only so much nicer lol!

My GSD has cast iron guts!!!!!!

Csj, same as the collies. She can eat absolutely anything (except for half a vindaloo curry ) without it affecting her tum, and boy does she scavenge!

Locky ....... He is fed on wafcol rite weight,

Ella .......... She is fed on wafcol salmon and potato, she has lots of allergies and the only meat/fish she isnt allergic to is salmon.

Bear ........ He has too much bad bacteria in his gut and for the last week we have changed his food to Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal on the advice of our vet ............ I don't want to tempt fate, but a miracle has happened, he has put on 1kg and is only doing 2 poo's per day.

Mine are the same, given the choice between raw chicken or some cooked chicken, they always go for the cooked...maybe because it has a stronger smell?

Duke does really well on naturediet and enjoys it but to feed just that is over my budget. Im not sure if it could be mixed with mixer biscuits or something maybe

Your lucky!! When i worked at a kennels it was normally a GSD that ended up going vets due to diarrhoea

Which csj does she have?

So was bear getting diarrhoea alot then before starting the new food, is that how you knew there was something not right?

Mine are fed on Royal Canin GSD. Hannah can eat anything & it does not affect her, When I just had her she was fed on raw but when I tried him on raw he was really ill with diarhea tried him on several & Royal Canin GSD is the only one that suits, When we picked up a bag of Royal Canin sensitive once as they had no GSD he was ill with that. Afraid I feed them both the same as its easier & she'll eat anything. Just occasionally give her a pigs ear or something last thing at night as he sleeps with me & she sleeps in the other room.

So was bear getting diarrhoea alot then before starting the new food, is that how you knew there was something not right?

Hi,

It wasn't diorrhoea that Bear had, it was that he was goint between 6 and 8 times per day, they were soft and he never put on weight. He always looked a normal weight but that was because of his coat being longer.
We had numerous trips to the vets, and numerous lotions and potions, mainly antibiotics.
He had a blood test for epi, thankfully that wasn't the problem, it just showed he had lots of bad bacteria in his gut.
The results from changing his food were just about instant and our fingers are crossed that this is going to do the trick/

Hmm thats interesting to know, My gsd goes quite a few times a day, i swear if i took him 6 different parks in 1 day he would have to go at each park lol.

Wonder whats different in the GSD one then...i always thought the different breed foods were abit of a con :?

My raw feeding mentor is a GSD owner and (probably obviously) raw feeds all of hers.

If she is having problems with any of them on the completely raw diet then she uses Orijen