What is the best dog food for german sherperd dog?

what brand?


to have healthy skin ?


to avoid hip problem?

What is the best dog food for german sherperd dog?
You have received a lot of pretty good food recommendations. I feed mine Canidae and they are both doing well on it.





When looking at dog foods, read the ingredients. You want a food that has more meat protein sources in it than grain sources and no more than two grains in the first five. Dog food companies often try to trick us by "splitting" grains...if the ingredients are listed as chicken, ground corn, corn gluten then both the corn and corn gluten are corn...just in two different forms...and there is FAR more corn than chicken in that food. Also, no corn in the first five ingredients (which usually means no corn at all as most foods that include corn in the ingredients list put it pretty high on the list). Look for a specified meat meal (chicken meal, lamb meal, etc) as the first or second ingredient (if second, then the first should be a specified meat). The ingredients are listed according to volume before processing...since meats are mostly water putting "chicken" as the first ingredient looks good to most consumers. However, the majority of that chicken is water, which is removed during processing, which means that there is actually less chicken in the food than whatever the second ingredient is. Meat meals are already dehydrated before processing, so if a meat meal is listed before another ingredient you KNOW that there is more of that meat meal than the next ingredient down the list. Also avoid any food that lists salt or sugar (including dextrose, fructose, and pretty much any kind of syrup) ANYWHERE on the ingredients list! These are only added to make dogs like the food more and are not healthy (and are usually covering the taste of sub-standard ingredients).





For healthy skin, you can supplement with fatty acids and vitamin E. These can be found at most pet food or human health/drug stores for a fairly reasonable price.





To avoid hip problems, your best bet is to go to a breeder that screens ALL of their dogs for hip problems and only breeds dogs with good hip clearances. Foods that include glucosamine are generally a waste of money (unless all of the other ingredients look good) because they do not contain glucosamine at theraputic levels. You can supplement with a glucosamine chondroitin supplement. These can also be found either in pet stores (you can find the liquid kind here easiest...liquid is generally easier to give) or human health/drug stores (I buy mine from WalMart and crush the pills into a powder because one of my dogs won't eat them if I just break them in half).





Another interesting option to help maintain hip health is vitamin C, particularly Ester-C. Dr. Wendell Belsfield did a non-scientific study/trial where he supplemented the diet of eight litters of German Shepherd puppies (all from parents who either had hip dysplasia or had previously produced pups with hip dysplasia) with vitamin C. During this study/trial not one of those pups developed hip problems. There have also been other non-scientific and even one double-blind study (similar to the ones used to test the efficacy of new human drugs) that support the idea that vitamin C can help with joint problems, even in older dogs and puppies that are already showing symptoms. It is also interesting to note that Cosequin, the leading glucosamine supplement sold by veterinarians, also includes vit. C in addition to glucosamine and chondroitin on the ingredients list. Vitamin C is believed to have anti-inflammatory effects as well as helping to rebuild soft tissue.





In my own personal experience with vit. C I have found it useful. My puppy (GSD) used to occasionally cry out for no apparent reason while laying on the floor. Or we'd come home and let him out of his crate and he would cry as he went down the stairs and hold one leg up as he went out into the yard to potty. He would intermittently limp on his right hind leg...sometimes he would yelp before he started to favor the leg. Supplementing with glucosamine chondroitin helped a little, but we really saw a difference when we started him on the vitamin C. He hasn't whimpered or limped once since we started it!
Reply:we feed our young germen shepherd lamb and rice nutrition first its healthy and doesn't have rat poison in it !!!!! ☺☺☺☺☺♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Reply:check this out:


http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?f...





Lots of wonderful reviews have been written about this. It just might do the trick.
Reply:I have personally been a big fan of Pedigree, used it for years (and it's not part of the recent recalls).





I read awhile back that many dogs in the US don't get enough protien in dog food and this is the reason for hip problems, the UK doesn't have a big problem with this as America does. So it suggested feeding a "raw" diet.





Many people feed their dogs raw diets, and you can find more about it by joining yahoo raw diet groups and get recipies. However I find that too expensive for me.





The most important thing is to not overwork your dog if it is still a puppy (under 2 yrs old) as this can damage the joints. Don't encourage jumping or jogging on hard surfaces.





Also, make sure you never exercise your dog after feeding it, as this can cause bloat, a potentially fatal condition.
Reply:We change every few weeks, but the ones in our rotation are Royal Canin, Canidae, and the Kirkland brand from Costco. When we first got our German Shepherd, she'd been in a shelter, and was a little underweight and had dandruff. In addition to the food, we gave her some capsules with vitamins A and E in them. The dandruff cleared up in a few weeks, and in just over 6 months, she's put on almost 15 lbs. I think she's at her good weight, now, and her coat looks great.





Have no idea how this will or will not help with hip dysplasia.





Best of luck!
Reply:I feed my dogs Nutripet, it provides 100% complete and balanced nutrition based on standards set by the association of feed control. You will not find any by-products in the food at all. It's filled with everything you dog needs! You purchase this special dog food that is not avaliable in any store at the following site:
Reply:canidae, wellness, innova, timberwolf
Reply:Royal Canin makes a food specifically for GSs... info can be found here: http://www.royalcanin.us/dogfood/germans...





Canidae is also a great all-purpose dog food - the standard for "good" foods. All organic, all natural, all human-grade with no by-products and no fillers. http://www.canidae.com/





Don't get Iams, Pedigree, etc... They're horrible. They're filled with fillers (corn, soy, gluten, etc... all bad for dogs) and meat by-products (which can include everything from the crappy parts of animals to diseased animals to roadkill and "rendered" animals from labs and euthenized animals from shelters... seriously).





It might also be a good idea to get Omega Fatty Acid supplements (human versions are easy to find and fairly cheap) for skin/coat, and a preventative amount of glucosamine chondroitin for hip problems (a little more expensive, but still not that much as a preventative dose)... ask a vet about the dosage and whatnot.





But yeah... as for brands... Royal Canin and Canidae are two very good choices. Not sure of the price of Royal Canin, but Canidae is about the same price as lower grade foods like Iams and Science Diet, but WAY healthier (it's just a little tougher to find, as only specialty stores sell it).
Reply:don't buy a food you can get at the grocery store or walmart (including iams or pedigree). get something that is only available at a pet store: science diet, nutro, canidae, royal canin, etc. the quality is much better. what makes these foods better is no corn (which dogs have trouble digesting) and no animal by-products.





also, for a german sheperd, you should get a large breed variety of food. larger dogs have hip and joint problems and need food that has extra glucosamine and chondryotin (sp?) to help prevent these conditions in the future.
Reply:A raw diet is best, but it takes some time and research to feed correctly. Here are a couple of sites on the barf diet:


http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm


http://www.canismajor.com/dog/barf.html


http://www.barfworld.com/html/learn_more...





If this seem to much trouble or you are just not interested here are a few brands that are good: Solid Gold, Wellness, Canidae, Timberwolf Organics, Innova Evo, California Natural and Artemis Fresh Mix, there are several more but these are really good. They may be a bit pricey initially but they come out cheaper because you feed less. These are 100% human grade dog food with NO corn, wheat, soy, grain fractions, fillers or by products – and naturally preserved.
Reply:i feed my gsd nutro natural choice high energy and i supplement with shedstop. Not too brag, but my dog's coat is beautiful, soft, and lusterous. everytime we go out people comment on how good he looks. I attribute it to the food and shed stop.
Reply:iams is usually the best but i've heard there is a recall on this brand. but there is no recall on pedigree that i know of.

elephant foot