Food For Your GSD

When it comes to keeping your GSD happy and healthy, food obviously tops the list of concerned. Then exercise. Yes… I have always tried  to strike a balance between the food and exercises for my shepherds. I have rarely purchased commercial dog foods for them, but have been able to keep my shepherds as healthy as a few others. In my previous post: Diet Management For German Shepherd Puppies I have talked in depth about what your puppy’s food should contain.

Keeping your GSD in perfect health is no strange formula, but a passion to see them moving around healthy. Its not just about feeding them good quality food in huge volume but, feeding them right kind of food in right proportion with the calorie they loose.

It is a myth that German Shepherds must be given meat everyday. Remember that dogs are not lions… they are not carnivorous animals. They are omnivorous creatures just like you and me. The major difference is that our dogs are less capable to digest complex food. Therefore it is recommended providing your German Shepherds with food that they can easily digest.

Myth about Meet-full diet for your dog

You may be wondering, if wolves are ancestors of today's canines, and if wolves in the wild live mostly on meat, then why not giving Rex a diet filled with meat? Do they really need greens added to their diet at all?

Well there are two schools of thoughts. (i) the first group for instance, AKC and experts at Hills believe the fruits and veggies should be included in your dogs food - either as treat or in the main diet. Wolves in the wild attack chiefly herbivorous animals, and they consume the stomach contents and the intestines of those animals that mainly contain vegetable matter.

(ii) There is one second group, like RawFed that considers dog as purely carnivores. According to these people, based on the dogs' dental configuration, physiology and internal and external anatomy they are not omnivores.

However, with all supportive documentations and research works, The National Research Council of the National Academies and some larger dog food companies consider dogs as omnivores.

Therefore, when it comes to food for your German Shepherd, it has to be a right mix of meet, fruits and veggies. However, not all food that are good for humans are good for your shepherds. Here's a read on some of the human foods that should be added to your shepherd's diet.

If you are more into home made food for your GSD that’s quiet appreciable, but the food should be well balanced, nutritious and can provide them with adequate amount of energy. Failing to provide your GSD with meat for a couple of days should not be a matter of concern. Meat is one of the essential components, but not the only essential component of his food. His food must contain some green, ground up fruits, eggs, yogurt and cottage cheese. Lentil, apple gourd or ridge gourd, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, a few pieces of sweet potatoes, turmeric, and a few drops of vegetable oil, chicken/turkey and rice can be mixed together and boiled together for a few minutes until they are properly cooked.

Some veggies you should consider in your GSD's diet

Sweet Potato: Low in fat and contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, and manganese. Sweet potatoes are rich in the powerful antioxidant beta-carotene

Lentil: Although some of the legumes can be harmful to dogs, but thankfully lentil does not fall under this category. Homemade lentil soup is a great addition to your GSD's diet. It helps alkalize your shepherd's body by balancing its pH level, manage blood sugar level, manage cholesterol level, maintains heart health, maintains digestive health by promoting growth of healthy microflora, helps you maintain your dog's weight, provides energy and improves immunity by preventing deficiencies in critical minerals like iron, folate, zinc and manganese.

Ridge gourd (also known as  Sponge Gourd): Lentil is rich in dietary fiber and enriched with all the vital elements that include Vit-C, Zinc, Iron, Riboflavin, Magnesium, Thiamin and traces of another minerals. It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol and calories that aids in weight loss.

Indian Round Gourd / Apple Gourd: Apple gourd is a rich natural source of Vitamin A, Calcium, Vitamin C, Iron, and Potassium

Pumpkin: The potassium and vitamin C content in pumpkin support your dog's heart health. Pumpkin is a rich source beta-carotene, which is a powerful antioxidant. Pumpkin is high in dietary fiber which helps bowel regulations - whether the dog has diarrhea or constipation.

Asparagus: Properly boiled into soft stalks, the asparagus, as is packed with vitamins and minerals, can be a good addition to your dog's diet a few days a week.  It is rich in vitamin K, folate, copper, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and vitamin E. It is also a good source of manganese, phosphorus, potassium, choline, zinc, iron, protein, and pantothenic acid. NOTE: Asparagus fern (plant part) is toxic for dogs.

Brussel sprouts: Brussel sprouts are good for your German Shepherds as long as they are fed in moderate amounts. sprouts are rich in vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6 and vitamin C. It is also rich in antioxidants that helps reduce inflammation and improve blood circulation. Please note that too much of sprouts in your dog's diet is not recommended. Sprouts contain a high level of isothiocyanate, a substance that improves the ability of the intestinal muscle's to push food and waste through the gastrointestinal tract. This builds up excess bacterium, which forms gas.

Spinach: spinach is an immune system booster, restoring energy and vitality. Spinach in your dogs diet in moderate amount once or twice a week may be a great idea. It prevents cancer and is good for the his heart. Spinach is a natural source of vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C and vitamin K. It is also a great source of natural calcium, iron, potassium, fiber, manganese and folate. 

It is not recommended to shift from your food to this recipe all at once. But once they are habituated with this kind of foods you can offer them this occasionally.

A good diet for your German Shepherd can be easily made at home. You can keep your dog healthy, fit and active with easy to make homemade recipe. All you need to do is to make a routine of what to give today. Not all veggies should be given everyday. Choose as per your will and as per the guide above. Just make sure what you want to put in Rex's feed bowl. Chop the veggies properly, put in fresh meat (chicken/turkey/beef/lamb), put in rice and lentil, add a pinch of turmeric, boil them properly together until they are well cooked. Bring it to room temperature and feed Rex fresh.

Read more...

What Are Premium And Super Premium Dog Foods?

A Brief Guide For Dog Food Buyers

Often times dog owners, while looking for right kind of dog food, come across the phrase - "Premium Dog Food". What this word "Premium" indicates, when it comes to food for your pet? To keep it straight forward, it actually does not signify any kind of specialty in terms of quality and/or nutrition. According to Cailin R. Heinze - MS, VMD, DACVN, an assistant professor of nutrition at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, there is no official definition for the term "Premium" related to dog foods. Words like "Premium" and "Super Premium" are mentioned on the pack and are used just as marketing tools. There are no guidelines and standards set for the dog food manufacturers to be met to make something called "Premium" and "Super Premium" stuff. In the US, all pet foods are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) establishes standards on which states base their feed laws and regulations, but AAFCO itself doesn't have any enforcement authority and doesn't perform any kind of analytical testing on pet food.

A discussion with one of the marketing executives of a reputed dog food manufacturer turned out to be kind of an argument, when he defined a "Premium Dog Food" as the ones where additional care is taken to ensure the overall nutritional needs for a pet. This means the pet foods that are not labeled with tags like “premium” and “super premium,” are the ones for which no such care is taken. Why are those products that are not formulated with care marketed, at the first place? On asking he said that the all products have almost same quality and kind of ingredients that that are accepted in the human food chain. Generally such ingredients includes food grade materials from beef, lamb, poultry, pork, fish, rabbit and game, vegetables, cereals etc.


So why should there be any reason to label dog food as "Premium"?

If, in the pet foods labeled as "Premium", there are no different ingredients of any higher value there is no reason to sell certain products with the tags: "Premium" and/or "Super Premium". Pet foods should only be sold with one single tag - "complete and balanced products"? Why using the tag "Premium" and/or "Super Premium" if a food is not "complete and balanced"? Why sell any food that does not meet the basic requirements to be considered as "complete and balanced"?
These are just words and phrases used to influence the buyers' purchase decisions. Hence it is not wise to blindly trust on what all are mentioned or pictured on the pack.


So what do you need to check for while purchasing pet food?

You should be aware of this fact: The federal law requires all dog food manufactures to list all the ingredients of a product in descending order of their pre-cooking weights. This means the most important and abundant ingredient, according to the federal law, needs to top the list... the second most abundant one should follow that and then the third one, and so on...

Being a responsible dog owner you should look for meat based protein that is easy to digest. As per the legal requirement, as discussed right above, such easy-to-digest protein should be mentioned only in the first few ingredients - means, as top of the list as possible. If you find higher quality protein mentioned within the top few ingredients, but if it is not easily digestible, then it is simply pointless to consider it as a good ingredient, suitable for your dog. The ingredient (despite being high quality) does not have any biological value for your dog in a real sense. You should not purchase the product - as simple as this!

However making a perfectly correct decision based on such analysis may not always work well. Making correct analysis of the dog foods is very hard. More so because dog food manufacturers hardly reveal the factual data regarding the quantity/volume of each ingredient used in a particular dog food.

Here are a couple of resources that you should read out:
 
FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) Pet Food Labels

Legislation Laid By PFMA (Pet Food Manufacturer's Association of UK)

Read more...

Is Feeding Raw Food to Your Dogs Safe? - FDA

Risk of feeding raw food to your dogs.

The U S Food and Drug Administration - FDA has circulated an article about the risk of feeding raw food to your dogs. The raw food for your dog is composed of primarily uncooked bones, meet and organ meet that can be responsible for serious food poisoning. Here is what FDA has to say about feeding raw food to dogs:

Read more...

Diet Management For German Shepherd Puppy

Diet management for German Shepherd puppy is one of the trickiest dispositions. Whatever good and nutritious for you and your kid may not be enough for your dog, or at times may also be harmful for them.


Making food for your GSD at home can be a real fun and a big responsibility at the same time. Good nutrition is always more than important during his growth period. Diet management for your puppy doesn’t only mean giving him the right kind of food with right percentage of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins, but it also mean feeding him right quantity of food at the right time. The most common mistake noticed in many dog owners – especially in newbie is a tendency of overfeeding, which may be detrimental for your growing puppy. It is rather wise to invest time on planning a healthy feeding routine for your pup. Rather than feeding in bigger volumes, it is advisable to break your puppy’s food into 5 to 6 feeds a day and gradually decreasing the feeding frequency and increasing the volume as he grows.


What Should Your puppy’s Food Contain?

Keep a close eye on your puppy’s health condition and growth rate. Remember a fast growing puppy gives you an indication of impending anatomic problems. Promoting optimal health starts with giving him the right kind of diet that is well balanced, at right quantity. A balanced diet may promote good growth in your German Shepherd puppy.


Let’s think of it a bit different way. Instead of feeding your puppy those so-called ‘puppy food that are available in the pet stores, let’s plan your puppy food that will promote optimal growth and build strong immune system. Well balanced diet with all necessary nutritional factors can be prepared at home with right quantity of fat, protein, carbohydrate and minerals. Planning a diet with very high protein to promote excessive growth is not a wise decision. However, planning a low protein diet for your puppy is not wise either.


The base of your puppy’s food can be chicken and vegetables, which are readily available and not much expensive as well. Fresh chicken, eggs, cheese, fruits and vegetables (not all types of veggies and fruits are permissible though) are a great source for carbohydrates, fats, minerals, proteins and vitamins that are required for your puppy’s growth. Organ meats are simply as nutritional in your GSD’s diet as the muscle meat itself.

What I prefer personally and it proved to be quite healthy…


Meat - 

Organ meats are rich in B vitamins, vitamins A, D, E and K, and important minerals like phosphorus, copper and iodine. To complete 100% of the meat side in my dogs’ diet, I prefer a combination of organs, muscle meats and bones. I mostly give chicken, where I prefer the combination as follows:

• 15% organ meat (mainly heart, liver…)
• 45% lean muscle meat
• 30% chicken neck bones (safest way to give natural source of calcium – no risk of splinters)
• 10% chicken head


Organs like heart, brain and eyes are concentrated source of taurine – an essential amino acid that forms the main constituents of all proteins. Hence this promotes good growth. However, muscle meat also has taurine, but just not enough as in the organ meat. By planning home made diet with components like fresh meat, necks, heart, liver and brains you already make sure that your puppy is getting enough of essential nutrients and growth promoting amino acids.

Please Note: Although organ meats are a nutrient dense food and good for your GSD puppy, but too much of it is not recommended. 10% to 15% of heart and liver with 80% of other types of meat each day is a good combination or 20% to 25% every alternative day may be nice as well.


Fruits and Vegetables - 

Fruits and vegetables are rich source of antioxidants and reduce the risk of cancer in dogs, though not all can be included to his diet chart. Just like fruits and vegetables are good for us humans, they are also highly effective to promote a healthy life of your dogs. Fruits like orange, banana, apples, watermelons, guavas, mango, papaya, cucumber, cantaloupe, cranberries are mini powerhouses of antioxidants and are great for your dog’s internal health.


Vegetables like carrots, broccoli, green beans, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, spinach, bottle gourd, ladies finger are a great addition to your dog’s daily diet. Cooking and steaming these veggies will break down the cellulose walls, making them easily digestible for your GSD puppy. Apart from lycopene, tomatoes also contain concentrated vitamins A and C. Occasional inclusion of tomatoes in your puppy’s food may be a good decision. However, if your dog may develop acidity, you should consider stopping tomatoes in his food.

Read more...

My German Shepherd Puppy Takes Her Meat Pieces And Hide Them For Future Use

Sometimes this indicates that you are not good at diet management for your dog. This gives an indication that your German Shepherd is being over fed. He/She is trying hide the extra amount of food for the future use. It is hence important for you to understand the right quantity of food for your dog. Some dogs eat up everything even though they are given extra, while a few refuses to eat, and some of them are smart enough to hide their favorite part of the extra food so that then can have them later.

However, there may be other reasons to this behavior as well. Some dogs tend to eat at their own choice of time. Many dogs have been noticed to hide their food to be eaten whenever they would prefer, and not on the schedule you want to set for their meal.

Diet management for your dog doesn’t just involve planning the food components, but also includes planning the feeding time and food quantity. Failing to set time/ schedule for feeding your dog and managing quantity will eventually create lot of mess, and end up with health issues.

Managing the food quantity

Over feeding your German Shepherds, as for any other breed, may turn out to be quiet detrimental. Most overfed dogs tend to develop irreversible anatomic problem. Digestive and hepatic problem are also quite common in dogs that are overfed. Quantity management for your dog’s diet should be based on the science of giving your dog correct amount of food that provides right kind of nutrition. Whether you give your GSD raw whole foods or you want to keep him on homemade diet, it is important that your dog should finish it within 15 – 20 minutes of serving it. Take off the amount left and do not force your dog to eat or allow him to take her favorite meat piece to hide it for future use.

However, gulpers will finish off even the extra food within a few minutes of serving it. It is important to understand how much should your dog be fed at her age.

Manipulating your dog’s hunger

Set your dog’s biological clock according to your will without jeopardizing her health. The moment you bring your German Shepherd puppy home, it is important that you set the meal times, play times, and repose times. These are all part of basic training. It is easy to teach your dog when to expect her meal. Fixing a specific time for her diet will help teach your dog not to hide part of his food to be eaten on his own schedule. She should know her time for meal. All you need to do is to be consistent about your dog’s feeding time. If you offer food to your puppy at a fixed time, her biological clock will be set on that particular time for the meal. This is how you can manipulate your dog’s hunger – you already knew this.

Managing the food ingredients finally

Most owners prefer chicken heavy diet because they think breeds like GSD, Rotties, Mastiffs dobs etc. require very high protein. BIG NO. Meat heavy diets cannot be considered as balanced diet. Give your dogs some green as well, like spinach, carrots, pumpkin, bottle gourd, parsley, green papaya, ladyfingers, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and also fruits apple, banana, ripen papaya, cantaloupe (in small quantity), mango (in small quantity). It is a misconception that dogs are carnivorous animals. They are rather omnivorous, like us humans. A more related read could be found here: German Shepherd Food

Read more...

Science of Food and Nutrition for German Shepherds

All pet food companies claim to offer perfectly balanced nutritional benefit through their commercial food brand, but not all of them do as they say. While most of them are engaged in ballooney talks, some ethical manufacturers try to offer perfect nutritional values in their foods. Most of the commercial dog food manufacturers use more fat and protein in their food, which helps them easily convince the owners by showing faster development. Most dog owners have been accustomed to believe in the myth that high levels of fat and protein is important for their dog's perfect growth. Big Mistake!

The science of choosing the dog food for your German Shepherds should neither be based on the higher level of fat and protein, nor on the cost. It is unwise to believe that higher the cost is, better the food. On the other hand, low cost food should not be considered economical. Higher levels of fats and proteins hugely magnifies the chance of dogs getting obese, and more prone to conditions - especially related to heart. Low cost foods, however, are mostly of low quality and lack in nutritional values and eventually lead to a series of nutritional deficiency disorders.

German shepherd Dogs were bred for working. But they have found their space in the drawing rooms in apartment. In most cases the amount of exercise that are given to the GSDs in families are much below the required level. It is hence important to understand how much fat, protein and carbohydrate does your German shepherd Dog need, based on the volume of calorie it burns each day. Germans Shepherds are easily prone to gain weight - especially if they are kept on high level of fat and protein and does not get enough exercise.

It is also important to understand the digestive system of German Shepherd Dog breed. German Shepherd has a short colon. Comparatively high fiber diet is a great option for this breed. This reminds me of William D. Cusick who published his first book - "Canine Nutrition & Choosing The Best Food For Your Breed Of Dog" in the year 1990 states: "The German Shepherd originated in the Alsatian Region of Germany..." He says, "The German Shepherd is unique because it has a very short colon in comparison to other breeds of the same body weight. For this reason a high fiber diet is required to slow the movement of food through this breed’s digestive track, thereby allowing more time for the nutrients to be drawn out. This high fiber diet will result in a larger stool but better assimilation of the food." In this context I would like to mention that high fiber is not always a very good option for your German Shepherds, or any other canine breed. Fiber, which is an insoluble carbohydrates, blocks enzymatic digestion in the small intestine of the animals. High fiber sources are almost the sources for carbohydrates too, such as soya, rice, oat etc. Hence, it is suggested not offering too much of high fiber diet - especially soybean, corn are not very good for dogs. Give him green! Veggies are also rich in dietary fiber and is important for dogs! okra (lady's finger), leafy greens like cabbage are important ingredients. Most important of all is Spinach that very high nutritional value. Spinach is the significant source of antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, iron, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, folic acid, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin and most importantly omega-3 fatty acids. If you choose to pick a commercial food, it is important to choose the one that comes closest to the recommendations by AAFCO.

Correct food for a particular dog

With unlimited number of choices it becomes really tough and confusing to choose the right food for your German Shepherd. Remember the selection of food may vary from dog to dog within the same breed. If you have more than German Shepherds, it is not necessary that all dogs should have the same food, just because they are all GSDs. But the dog food should be "complete and balanced" for "a particular life stage", according to AAFCO. There is no standard for phrases like "good quality food" and "premium food". Choosing the correct food for a particular dog involves a series of factors to be considered.

• Choose the food according to the body weight and overall health factors of individual dog
• Evaluate your dog's weight, body condition, life stage and overall health
• Most commercial dog foods have protein, fat, vitamins, and mineral levels more than what is actually required
• Check if your dog is allergic to any specific ingredients in the food. Not all your dog may be allergic to a particular thing
• Evaluate how much energy a particular dog burns during the exercise
• Feeding diet with higher level of fat and protein will consequently lead to obesity and related problems, and German shepherds are highly prone to such conditions

Read more...