Food recommendations for Great Danes?

Hey everyone,
So I recently got a Great Dane...I've been wanting one for awhile. I've done plenty of research on everything about them including the foods to feed them. Here's basically what I've read
http://www.all-about-great-danes.com/ho ... -food.html

So there's so many ingredients to avoid...even Purina wouldn't fit these standards. They recommend Innova and Wellness. I feed her 2 cups 3X a day. We go through food fast and buy 50lb bags at a time. A 30lb bag of Innova was around $60 I believe. (pretty expensive)

I was just wondering if anyone has had experience with Great Danes and what food brands you would recommend

Thanks!

 

Hello Fellow Dane owner...

So what's your Dane like... color sex etc....?

Currently I have one male and one female both rescues. FYI Males can be really hard to keep weight on especially if intact... That said Dane's tend to be difficult to keep weight on them anyway... I half wonder though if people like to keep them fat because they forget that the Dane descends from the Greyhound... :shock: Personally I'm happy with a Dane who looks like a sight hound as far as how fat they are or aren't... Can't see ALL their ribs or spine but towards the rear there's a rib or two showing, some spine an hip ridges... :y_the_best:

As far as what to feed... I'm thinking you'll find raw feeding to be a cheaper alternative to all that expensive dog food... you can find chicken leg quarters at wal-mart for something around $.50 a lb...or you can search around for deals if you have any place that butchers etc... If you choose to go the raw route do your homework especially with the Danes because calcium can be an issue... They need their calcium and with raw it's easy to mess up and not get them enough...unless you do the research.

If you want to go this route I think I can find some of the Dane breeders who feed raw and get you a link... What I figured in cost last fall was that feeding raw to my dogs was equivelent in cost to feeding them premium dog food at $35.00 a bag for 50lb bag... Can't really get the quality of raw food in a bag much less in a bag that costs that... ALSO there's no documented cases of bloat in raw fed dogs... Dogs who get fed ground raw can become obstructed.... the meat and bone that a dog and wolf eat when fed whole etc...are meant to be crushed up and gulped down...so the ratio of meat to bone that are going to end up in the system at one time is more balanced than when you grind it all yourself.

Hope that helps... *hint* cottage cheese is great as an extra source of calcium and added fat on these guys...

Sara

 

Couldn't help it... Here's some links for you... First is barfworld... If you take a look at the tabs at the top there's a breeder area and you can find breeders of specific breeds... Looks to be a LOT of Dane breeders since I last looked at it.

http://www.barfworld.com/

Here's a Raw Feeding faq that I link to on my website, nice information and good recommendations for reading and whatnot...nice start on research... learn as much as you can and it'll seem very daunting...once you choose to feed this way though...you'll find it's much simpler than you thought at first...in fact when I first started feeding raw I made it way more complicated than necessary.

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html

Sara

 

I had a dane rescue and he was bad bad skinny with horrible allergies. I put him on ProPlan Selects shredded blends, the chicken and rice formula and supplimented him with NuVet Plus and he did awsome!!! His owners have kept him on that and he's still doing great. Looks good and has gained alot of weight since.

 

Sara-
Thanks for all your input. I have a vet appt Friday and I'm going to ask what they think about raw diet. Bella (girl) was born Oct 14th 2008 making her almost 5 months old. Could you give me specifics like exactly what and how much and how often you feed your girl. Since she's growing is there anything I should adjust? Can I just switch her right to a raw diet or do it gradually still using kibble? Can I buy the chicken legs that come in bulk in those bags at Walmart? What besides raw meat do you mix in? LOL its a lot of questions....I just need to know everything and get directions from someone doing it rather than reading tons and tons (even though I'm still doing my research.

Bella is 5 months, female, pretty lazy, black although she seems to be turning more brown. I'll post a picture soon.

Samsintentions-
Check out that link I put about Great Dane food. This is from ProPlan Selects Chicken and Brown Rce:
Ingredients:
CHICKEN, BROWN RICE, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, PEARLED BARLEY, CHICKEN MEAL (NATURAL SOURCE OF GLUCOSAMINE), DRIED EGG PRODUCT, ANIMAL FAT PRESERVED WITH MIXED-TOCOPHEROLS (FORM OF VITAMIN E), OAT MEAL, FISH MEAL (NATURAL SOURCE OF GLUCOSAMINE), BREWERS DRIED YEAST, DRIED BEET PULP, NATURAL FISH FLAVOR, FISH OIL, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, SALT, L-LYSINE MONOHYDROCHLORIDE, DRIED SWEET POTATOES, BLUBERRY POMACE, DRIED TOMATOES, CALCIUM CARBONATE, VITAMIN E SUPPLEMENT, ZINC PROTEINATE, CHOLINE CHLORIDE, MANGANESE PROTEINATE, FERROUS SULFATE, L-ASCORBYL-2-POLYPHOSPHATE (SOURCE OF VITAMIN C), NIACIN, COPPER PROTEINATE, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B-12 SUPPLEMENT, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, GARLIC OIL, FOLIC ACID, VITAMIN D-3 SUPPLEMENT, CALCIUM IODATE, BIOTIN, MENADIONE SODIUM BISULFATE COMPLEX (SOURCE OF VITAMIN K ACTIVITY), SODIUM SELENATE

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Protein 30
Crude Fat 17
Moisture 12
Crude Fiber 4


According to that website this food wouldn't be good either. I haven't found food that would fit their standards. (avoid gluten, anything corn, barely etc)

I'm seriously considering switching to raw feeding.

 

Most Vets don't like Raw and will tell you so. They'll let you know the dangers of the bone but honestly I've not heard of any problems with bones in feeding raw when the bone is not ground or cut up for the dog... Basically if you feed the dog a big chunk of meat and bone for them to crunch up on their own and don't try to make it easier for them this is a safe way to feed as long as you watch because there's always the gulpers who generally will have issues no matter what you're going to feed them.

With raw and a growing Dane I would recommend feeding 3% of the projected adult body weight the dog will likely be at... Basically what my own Dane's would be eating for raw would be something like 3 to 4 lbs a day. I have adults over four years of age too so I'm not worried about their growth... I know excess protein can be an issue for growing Danes so you might contact a breeder to see what they feed their growing pups.

My feeding was basic...leg quarters from wal-mart in those big bags are fine. It's good to change up with fish if you can and if you have any hunters in the area you can do that too. Hunters can tell you if you need to have any game in the freezer for a certain time frame regarding parasites etc...before feeding.

Switching straight over to raw is recommended and generally isn't a problem as long as you don't feed organ meat. I'd give it a month before you add organ meat which is high in protein and CAN cause stool issues. Since you're only feeding one dog you can monitor poo easier than I can and that's a good way to keep ratios right as well. Too much calcium/bone makes their poo white and hard...too little calcium/bone will give you a softer stool. usually if you figure the ratio roughly you'd feed one ten lb bag of leg quarters to your dog in a five day week. You can split up the feedings that way by just throwing them a leg quarter every day or two a day... Easier to keep clean than if you cut it and actually weigh out each portion. Feed dog outside too or in their crate...after feeding you can use a spray bottle of peroxide to spray and a bottle of white vinegar over top of the peroxide and wipe away...that'll kill any of the bacteria left from that raw chicken. You can google that and find an actual test was done on that method for cleaning that is "natural" rather than using bleach etc...

Once the dog gets used to that chicken you can start adding things like protein and changing up meat types. You can check your local grocer's and see if they've got older meat they have to sell and see what prices you can get on that too. If you need to add calcium you can either find something with a higher bone to meat ratio or you can add calcium via a suppliment or cottage cheese etc... Watch the stool though because too much calcium can pose problems as well as too little, especially in the danes.

You can feed one or two times a day depending. usually I did a leg quarter or two twice a day and once or twice a week I'd add some organ meat to the diet. I'd usually stick a fish oil caplet in the chicken for each feeding too. I generally never fasted my dogs either. you'll read about doing that too.

There are TONS of ways to feed raw...you can do a gorge and fast method where you feed three times a week or so and let the dog eat as much as they want/can...

I follow the "whole prey" model of feeding where no veggies or fruits are added, the vit. and whatnot come from organ meat and I've added veggies or fruits as snacks but not in the regular diet. With the Whole prey model you can fast and gorge and for these big dogs it's easy because you can just feed them whole chickens from the store and they basically get all the stuff they need right there...organs and all. (minus the little pouch the organs are in).

Hope that helped. Keep researching it and pick what method works best for you. Currrently my budget won't do the Raw stuff so I'm feeding Beef n' More which will make you cringe but it does get an a+ for a grade...the Danes get four cups twice a day and are kept crated for at LEAST an hour after eating and 30 minutes before eating... Can't wait to get them back on raw though... I highly recommend cottage cheese, again, for fat content because a Dane burns right through that protein it seems like...another FYI... Add according to what the dog looks like...and you'll do well...also pay attention to the stool too.

Let me know how all goes for ya...keep researching and learning too.

Sara

 

Most Vets don't like Raw and will tell you so. They'll let you know the dangers of the bone but honestly I've not heard of any problems with bones in feeding raw when the bone is not ground or cut up for the dog... Basically if you feed the dog a big chunk of meat and bone for them to crunch up on their own and don't try to make it easier for them this is a safe way to feed as long as you watch because there's always the gulpers who generally will have issues no matter what you're going to feed them.

With raw and a growing Dane I would recommend feeding 3% of the projected adult body weight the dog will likely be at... Basically what my own Dane's would be eating for raw would be something like 3 to 4 lbs a day. I have adults over four years of age too so I'm not worried about their growth... I know excess protein can be an issue for growing Danes so you might contact a breeder to see what they feed their growing pups.

My feeding was basic...leg quarters from wal-mart in those big bags are fine. It's good to change up with fish if you can and if you have any hunters in the area you can do that too. Hunters can tell you if you need to have any game in the freezer for a certain time frame regarding parasites etc...before feeding.

Switching straight over to raw is recommended and generally isn't a problem as long as you don't feed organ meat. I'd give it a month before you add organ meat which is high in protein and CAN cause stool issues. Since you're only feeding one dog you can monitor poo easier than I can and that's a good way to keep ratios right as well. Too much calcium/bone makes their poo white and hard...too little calcium/bone will give you a softer stool. usually if you figure the ratio roughly you'd feed one ten lb bag of leg quarters to your dog in a five day week. You can split up the feedings that way by just throwing them a leg quarter every day or two a day... Easier to keep clean than if you cut it and actually weigh out each portion. Feed dog outside too or in their crate...after feeding you can use a spray bottle of peroxide to spray and a bottle of white vinegar over top of the peroxide and wipe away...that'll kill any of the bacteria left from that raw chicken. You can google that and find an actual test was done on that method for cleaning that is "natural" rather than using bleach etc...

Once the dog gets used to that chicken you can start adding things like protein and changing up meat types. You can check your local grocer's and see if they've got older meat they have to sell and see what prices you can get on that too. If you need to add calcium you can either find something with a higher bone to meat ratio or you can add calcium via a suppliment or cottage cheese etc... Watch the stool though because too much calcium can pose problems as well as too little, especially in the danes.

You can feed one or two times a day depending. usually I did a leg quarter or two twice a day and once or twice a week I'd add some organ meat to the diet. I'd usually stick a fish oil caplet in the chicken for each feeding too. I generally never fasted my dogs either. you'll read about doing that too.

There are TONS of ways to feed raw...you can do a gorge and fast method where you feed three times a week or so and let the dog eat as much as they want/can...

I follow the "whole prey" model of feeding where no veggies or fruits are added, the vit. and whatnot come from organ meat and I've added veggies or fruits as snacks but not in the regular diet. With the Whole prey model you can fast and gorge and for these big dogs it's easy because you can just feed them whole chickens from the store and they basically get all the stuff they need right there...organs and all. (minus the little pouch the organs are in).

Hope that helped. Keep researching it and pick what method works best for you. Currrently my budget won't do the Raw stuff so I'm feeding Beef n' More which will make you cringe but it does get an a+ for a grade...the Danes get four cups twice a day and are kept crated for at LEAST an hour after eating and 30 minutes before eating... Can't wait to get them back on raw though... I highly recommend cottage cheese, again, for fat content because a Dane burns right through that protein it seems like...another FYI... Add according to what the dog looks like...and you'll do well...also pay attention to the stool too.

Let me know how all goes for ya...keep researching and learning too.

Sara

 

Thanks so much for all the information!

So I took her to the vet today. She got her last distemper/parvo and rabies. I've been noticing a few milky drips after she pees and I told the vet. We tried to get a urine sample while there but she wouldn't go (figures). She gave us antibiotics and probiotics for it. As soon as we got home she peed and I ran to catch it and took the sample to the vet. There was a stringy white mucus thing in it. They were busy so I just dropped it off. Hopefully they'll get back to me asap. Also, I jsut took her out again and after she peed she had a long mucus string hanging from her vagina. I called the vet but they were closed already. I'm guessing it was the same thing that was in the urine sample. I almost threw up wiping it off her lol. Anyway, she has a spay appointment Monday. Hopefully I get the results of the sample when I take her in. If you guys have any idea what it is or have experience with it before please let me know. I'm a little worried.

 

Also, here's a link to some pics! (she's a little bigger now and a month older)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... id=1949877

 

sounds like vaginitis. Can be cleared up with antibiotics.