Looking skinny

Why do Great Danes as a breed not do well on kibble? Is it because of bloat? Just curious. One thing I do know is that I would be very careful feeding a large breed puppy. I'm almost positive that I would feed EP large & giant breed puppy formula. Diane, I know you've always fed Eagle Pack, so I think I missed something as far as you not feeding it to Gibson.

Luvntzus

Why do Great Danes as a breed not do well on kibble? Is it because of bloat? Just curious. One thing I do know is that I would be very careful feeding a large breed puppy. I'm almost positive that I would feed EP large & giant breed puppy formula. Diane, I know you've always fed Eagle Pack, so I think I missed something as far as you not feeding it to Gibson.

I don't think its just bloat.... but its the many growth problems they often have...wobblers and illnesses like that....then there is bloat. And for these big dogs....they are so sensitive to things......   And of course they can be sooo big...and they need to get big on the slow side which is why we are not too feed the normal puppy foods. I would not put any toppings on Gibsons food before now either. But he is 8 months old and other than terribly thin...he is developing quite nicely.   He just has a kind of sensitive stomach Tamara...nothing horrible....just has a problem once in a while that I can never find a reason for. Then I spoke with person who raises Danes and is very much into Dane health...and she convinced me that Gibbys problems could very well be kibble.   I decided to get him off of it to see if it makes a difference.    I still would love to go with it...but he needs to grow up healthy and well balanced...and I DO believe that EP will do that for him.  Other then his few little stomach issues...he is very fine and healthy.

I'm glad you guys are all giving your opinion...... I just purchased a bag of EP today even though I had enough of it for about a week or so....but after another day of BilJac frozen ( I am finding a few pieces of blue rubber in his stools from the kong he ate ) the last few times...although he hasn't vomited any up lately )...I am going to slowly get him back on it again...... I will give this a go again when he is all grown up and looking healthy.

Dyan- I just noticed that I misspelled your name in my post above. Sorry! The thing is, I KNOW how it's spelled, who knows what happened there. lol

Thanks for the info! Feeding large breed dogs is a scary thing to me. lol That's why I probably wouldn't veer too far off the path of foods developed for them. But, I see what you're saying about his sensitive stomach and especially when you're getting advice from an experienced Dane breeder then I totally understand trying a different approach. I hope you find just the right food for him!

Luvntzus

That's why I probably wouldn't veer too far off the path of foods developed for them. But, I see what you're saying about his sensitive stomach and especially when you're getting advice from an experienced Dane breeder then I totally understand trying a different approach. I hope you find just the right food for him!

Yeah....well I"m going back to Eagle.  At least for now. Going to try to see if I can get him to look like he didn't just walk out of a death camp.

But now I will add other things to his food also.  Perhaps I will feed EP one meal and stick with more of a fresh or frozen for the second meal. We'll see.

brookcove

There is probably a yahoo group for home feeding or raw feeding Danes (or giant breeds).

I'll have to check it out...but I do belong to a few Dane forums....one just talks about showing and breeding so I did'nt tough the conversation there..but I did ask on two others if anyone home cooked for their dogs.  On the two forums...I did get ONE person. I also got more than a few people kind of reprimanding me for thinking about it........lol!  But the one person that DOES homecook is just absolutely AWESOME..... she rescues and cooks for a ton of dogs.  She offered help and was king of like you Becca.....wrote a very large post on how she goes about it and all..... I think she is the one that said something like "add a little egg shells"....and "put in some cottage cheese" for your calcium.  

brookcove

I found two - both are VERY much on the raw feeding extreme side, but might be a starting point.  One is called "WholesomeDane" and the other is called "GreatDanesNaturally."

Thanks..I will check them out and save them for when I get to the point where I can feel safe in not messing Gibby up..

brookcove

And then of course, I'd highly recommend simply signing on to K9 Nutrition and reading for a while - just reading and learning.

I have and I am getting notifications which I am reading every day.  But as of yet....nothing is helping too much. 

So I put Gibby back on EP for one meal and kept him on BilJac frozen for the other. I think I will go buy that Fresh Pet with a coupon that is on their website....maybe give him that one meal instead of Bil Jac once in a while.  I am still giving him all the rest of the turkey and some veggies too. He is skinny so he can use the extra calories anyway.   Yesterday I baked a sweet potato that I had left over from Thanksgiving and he got that....took the skin out and just plopped it on his EP.     On thing...he doesn't ACT like he is starving now anyway.