Best diet for GSD?

[King Herald]

citizensm1th said:

how are we supposed to give a proper diagnosis with out pics?

dogs not stools!

[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/yNKUSAwL[/url]

[King Herald]

Fingers crossed tonight is less adventurous.

Neither of them touched their kibble this morning, until my daughter poured a little juice out of some tinned hot dogs onto them, then they got wolfed down.

She seemed very lethargic and down yesterday but definitely seems brighter and more enthusiastic and playful today.

I'll give it a few more days and see if anything improves. If not, it'll be a change of kibble to one of the suggestions above. If the watery diahorea persists I think a visit to the vet will be required. Just registered them at 'Vets for Pets' today.

Panning for pet insurance too........

[easy_rider33]

We feed ours on a raw meat diet. Typically 1.5kg per meal of minced chicken, turkey or beef. We also give him bones and other bits of animals. He ate a full duck carcas yesterday instead of the usual. We have also given him a rabbit which he ate everything but the head.

[ctdctd]

Lovely pair of dogs!

Cassie will only nibble at dry dog food - add a good splash of water, wait 5 minutes and then stir in 1/6 a tin of Chappie or other meaty topper and she wolfs it down!

She's currently on James Wellbeloved Lamb & Rice which is the same as the rescue kennels fed her.
She also likes the cheaper Harrington's Lamb & Rice but developed a skin rash which might be down to the corn (maize) used to bulk it out.
Turkey based dry foods seem to result in more stomach upsets.

It has taken me 3 months to work this out with various experiments and it may take a bit longer before I find her ideal diet.

So, don't expect miracles in the first couple of days and please continue to update us with photos!

[King Herald]

easy_rider33 said:

We feed ours on a raw meat diet. Typically 1.5kg per meal of minced chicken, turkey or beef. We also give him bones and other bits of animals. He ate a full duck carcas yesterday instead of the usual.

I'm a bit curious when and why dogs went from eating meat to eating biscuits. Is the sensitive stomach GSDs are well known for something we humans have caused?

Anyway, I woke up at 4am and came down to check them out, no mess, rejoice, so I let them out into the garden for ten minutes.

My alarm went off at 6:45 and I awoke to the heady smell of dog dung....

Explosive diarrhoea in the kitchen.....

Now we have no carpet tiles in the kitchen, just the ceramic that was underneath.

Not sure whether to remove the food for 24 hours as Andy suggested? First I'll call the kennels as they cover us medically for the first week and I'd rather get some feedback from their own vet before I go any further.

[easy_rider33]

IMHO I think the introduction of processed food and the "bulking" it out with lesser product is half the problem with industry in general. Why add more meat when you can get to the same weight by adding gravy, peas and carrots.

Also in another note by feeding raw is that the stools are a lot smaller and predominantly dry.

[King Herald]

easy_rider33 said:

IMHO I think the introduction of processed food and the "bulking" it out with lesser product is half the problem with industry in general. Why add more meat when you can get to the same weight by adding gravy, peas and carrots.

Also in another note by feeding raw is that the stools are a lot smaller and predominantly dry.

I guess dog food is treated the same as the sort of stuff we humans get, filled with packers, preservatives etc.


I'm wondering whether I should introduce some raw chicken and liver etc into their diet?

Unfortunately I've decided to move their sleeping area out into the conservatory for the moment. I'll leave the outer door open far enough for them to get out if they feel the call of nature.

I called the kennels today and they said that it is fairly common for their rescues to have a runny load for a week or so after leaving, and that most of the digs in the kennels are like it because they survive mainly on charity donated food and tend to have to mix and match with whatever dog food is given to them.

[easy_rider33]

I would just go with chicken initially or maybe some diced beef. Liver can be rich and trigger a bout of diarrhea if the stomach is sensitive.

[a]

Our old GSD would have regular stomach upsets. Usual course of action was wet rice to restore fluids with a few bits of chicken breast for as long as required - it usually cleared up within a day or two. She loved the rice/chicken diet so it wasn't really an issue.

Our current dogs eat Acana (Cobb Chicken and Greens - but all Acana varieties are very similar so we sometimes mix-and-match with no adverse effects).
It's made in Canada with only locally sourced ingredients (no Chinese/Indian crap of questionable quality).
The ingredients list is all real human-grade food that can be understood by anyone - you don't need a food science degree as with some dog food ingredient lists.
And it works out a lot cheaper than you'd expect. It's expensive by the bag, but each bag lasts ages because there are no "filler" ingredients so you feed them less volume per meal.

Been using it for 5+ years with no stomach upsets.



Regarding raw food diets... I've never been a fan of feeding pet dogs raw meat. Even if their stomachs can handle it, they chew and spray raw meat juice all over the floor/walls and then jump up and give me big "kisses" full of festering raw meat bacteria...
No thanks.

For outdoor/working dogs, fair enough.

Edited by a on Tuesday 9th May 16:57

[FiF]

Andy_stook_2k said:

If watery diarrhoea is daily then initially I would recommend a reset of the dogs system. This would involve no food for 24 hours until system is cleaned out, then introduce boiled white rice and cooked and shredded chicken breast in small amounts for a couple of days. Then slowly introduce small amounts of kibble with rice and chicken until it's just kibble. Our vet recently told us that current thinking is not to starve the dogs any more but in my experience it does work.
If watery diarrhoea persists then a few tablets from the vet may be needed to clear up an infection (unlikely but we had to do this once).
Good luck.

Tbh this is where I'd be going if still an issue. Some folks swear by things like sweet potato, and natural yogurt to get decent bugs into the gut after a fasting clearout.

Certainly a 24hr fast and then small servings of poached chicken and boiled rice several times a day has worked for us. Slight problem was dog preferred the chicken and rice significantly above the kibble, at times he'd root through for the chicken and spit out any kibble.

[Andy_stook_2k]

Looks like rice and shredded chicken time to try and calm the dogs system down. You may have a dog with intolerance to certain foods but this is probably unlikely. Don't be alarmed if you see some blood after a prolonged bout of diarrhoea, it will be due to them straining a lot to get the pooh out.
If they are left unattended in the garden just make sure no slug pellets etc are about (I'm sure you have already) as GSD's love munching rubbish off the floor.
Our dogs go mad for dried bark chippings, it's like bargain basement pork scratchings
I very highly recommend you look at getting some Protexin Pro-Kolin Enterogenic sachets (available on Amazon) it is a godsend if you have a dog with a sensitive system. It has literally got us out of the st on many occasions. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[King Herald]

Guess I'm off to buy some rice tomorrow then.

Oddly enough, our dogs in the Philippines ate rice every day, with some Argentinian corned beef and Pedigree biscuits mixed in.

I bought them a couple of pigs ears today, they liked them, but they will probably be pebbledashed all up the conservatory wall tomorrow.....

And no, no slug pellets or anything like that in the garden, just a tattered, brown-stained lawn and a couple of demolished flower beds. Who would have thought the best grass and weed killer was a spray of liquid dog poo?

Edited by King Herald on Tuesday 9th May 17:55

[FiF]

And be strict with the rest of the family, none of this juice from tin of hot dogs or can of Tuna or whatever, just because they've got cute faces and look hungry.

[Andy_stook_2k]

No pigs ears, no rawhide bones. You can always introduce much later once everything is settled.
I forgot to mention we also add a spoon of tinned pumpkin (available in tins from Amazon as I can't find them in the shops, pure pumpkin only) to the rice chicken mix too.

I like to put food out for the birds so have to be vigilant if a chunk of fat ball ends up on the floor as it's instant bottom explosion if eaten by the dogs

[King Herald]

FiF said:

And be strict with the rest of the family, none of this juice from tin of hot dogs or can of Tuna or whatever, just because they've got cute faces and look hungry.

Oops, I did it again today, added a bit of hot water to a spoon of sardines to moisten their kibble.

The kennels told us to add some water, just enough to soften it. I guess it is back to basic kibble then. I did find some respectable logs in the garden this morning, not sure who they belong to, probably Blue. A bit of chilli con carne, but no more watery stuff.

I shall continue to observe.

[King Herald]

I heard that deer horn is good for them to chew on, to occupy them etc, as it tastes and smells good, but they don't actually digest it?

[Andy_stook_2k]

I've never given deer horn to my shepherds as I heard it can splinter, don't know how true this is.
We obtained a piece of coffee tree root which is mentioned in the 'puppy chewing furniture' thread and to our surprise it's really good. Our old GSD has no interest in it (she likes soft stuffed toys) but our pup is giving it a good bashing. It does not splinter just sort of turns to a fine dust.

[King Herald]

Hmmm, ours are five, so not sure they'd be into it, but they do like chewing their balls. Well, my balls.

I mean balls I bought, neither of them has any balls of their own.

This is coming out all wrong, isn't it.


Had a little bonding session today in the yard. 20 minutes with a dog comb...... this is one and a half dogs, Blue wouldn't turn over.

[Boosted LS1]

Definately cooked rice for a couple of days with a small amount of chicken. They'll enjoy it and it's easier to clean up if it passes onto your kitchen floor.

If they ever produce yellow stools then that's a sign of a urinary infection.

[King Herald]

It is actually the male, Blue, who has the loose bottom. I thought it was Sky as she is on medication. It is more like heavy chilli than watery soup though, so not really too much of a problem....unless he decides to release the chocolate prisoners when we are out walking them. I have NO idea how you cope with that mess.

We tried them with some rice added to their dampened biscuits today, they ate most of it quite happily.