When I was feeding our German Shepherd 'Raven', firstly raw, and then home-cooked food, the vet recommended vitamin supplements such as, for example (Bio-Vites) and a good source of Omega oil, with the correct ratios of Omega3, Omega6, etc.. The most valuable tool in the kitchen is raw pumpkin (not the pie mix)..It is amazing stuff, and controls the "output"....

She said, that 10,000 years ago, dogs were roaming the wild, but thousands of years of domestication separate the domestic canine from the wolf, in dietary needs...

Feeding raw, while it lasted was no doubt beneficial to Raven, (coat, teeth, sleek profile) but a GSD is not the most "fastidious" of eaters, and the way she "gulped" down the raw (chicken thigh for example), it would only have been a matter of time before she would have choked on an piece of bone that had not been chewed., which does happen, by the way..

Now, for teeth, she gets a raw marrow soup bone, two or three times a week. The bone itself is so dense, that there is no chance of it splintering, and provides hours of gnawing entertainment..

Have a good week

Richard

elizabeth said
This is a very interesting article. I had Tanner on an all home cooked diet (recipes out of a well known dog cookbook) and we started noticing he didn't seem to have any energy. Like Richard, I also fed raw chicken legs 1-2x a week for the calcium and he would gulp the whole bone down. I switched him to Acana (which is what I fed Jake), mixed half and half with regular food (meats/veggies etc) and it's a much better combo for him. He's back to his high energy self. 

Acana is great food. It would be even better if it were a "tad" less expensive !! I actually weaned Raven off the additional cooked food added to the kibble. Now, they just get one egg, (scrambled) for lunch, or sardines, or whatever is freshly left over (veggies, potatoes, meat and all !!). I agree with Elizabeth, that cooked food, in terms of balancing the nutrients is a very big hit and miss exercise...

I found that Raven would not touch the kibble unless there was cooked food with it, and then she would pick out the cooked bits, and leave the kibble. (Little Serge was beginning to do the same, copying her) ...She also began to put on weight..

After she went hungry a couple of times, when I didn't fall for the "imploring" look in her eyes, and took the untouched dish away (one has to be "mean" to be kind on occasion) she now relishes her kibble.. I switched to Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete.. (I also get a good deal from the breeder !!!)

As for the "pearly white teeth", it is called toothpaste !!!...

Regards

Richard

I cannot get my 2 off the Freshpet. It is a refrigerated food. All food no fillers. It does have some rice. From the research I have done, it appears to be ok. Chandler is allergic to wheat, corn and chicken so that makes it a bit harder. This food was all I could get Ty to eat at the end. Well and scrambled eggs, but he would scarf this down most of the time. Now these 2 refuse to eat dry food. They have gone for 3 days. I finally caved.

Even before I had the confirmation of the OSA diagnostic, I had already switched Johnnie and my female golden (Pepa) to a low-carb diet, since he had to lose weight.  When the diagnostic was confirmed I switched totally to home-cooked with a low-carb ratio and no grains:  3 parts animal protein + 2 parts cooked vegetables + 1/2 part carbs (sweet potatos, yams).

Johnnie is allergic to lactose and milk protein, but Pepa gets some unsweetened yoghurt over her food (2 spoons per day).

We have managed to buy cheap and healthy options at the street markets, such as chicken necks, gizzards, chicken hearts.  The fish monger has been supplying us with salmon parts that are not put to sale (salmon belly and that part close to the head) and are loaded with Omega3.  

Johnnie has been eating very well.  From January to the week of his surgery in May he had managed to shed 15 lbs and is now very well within the 90-92lb range. Since the surgery, and now with chemo, my goal is to keep him eating, so we have been trying to be creative with the options: one day fish, the other meat, then chicken.  

By far, his favorite dishes:  bone marrow soup, and liver steaks.  

It's true that here in Brazil fresh food is cheaper than in the U.S., and the "Super Premium" dog food brands are imported and thereforemore expensive than in the U.S., but the home-cooked is costing me about half what I was spending with the hypoallergenic dog foods, like Royal Canin.