Feeding Your Dane

Raw Feeding

There are hundreds of websites devoted to raw feeding for dogs and cats. Most of them disagree with each other but have bits of “truth” in them. It is up to the individual to decide what and how they will raw feed their Dane.

One fact that can’t be dispelled is canines are carnivores. BUT they will also eat fruits, vegetables, feces, rotten garbage and most anything else they come across. This doesn’t mean the canine needs these items to give it a complete diet. As humans we always try to give our pets “human” qualities and feel we are not doing them justice if we don’t add all sorts of things to their diet. If it is not listed as do not feed to dogs, then it won’t hurt them. It might not necessarily benefit them either.

GDROMN is supported by, and recommends Raws For Paws.

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Dry Dog Foods (kibble)

Since part of our mission as a rescue is to bring the Danes that come to us back to good health probably the most crucial aspect of this will be what we feed them. For those of you who do not feed raw, our first choice, here is a list of good quality dog foods ranked by the Whole Dog Journal. The list is in alphabetical order and some brands may not be available in our area. It is up to you to do further research as to protein etc. The manufacture is in parentheses.

Addiction Foods
Artemis Pet Foods (Diamond Pet Products/Eagle Pack)
Back to Basics
Bench & Field Pet Foods (Eagle Pack)
Breeders’ Choice Pet Foods
By Nature
Burns Pet Nutrition
Canidae (Diamond pet Foods)
Canine Caviar (Pied Piper Pet Foods)
Castor and Pollux Pet Works
Della Natura Commodities
Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance
Diamond Pet Products
Dogswell LLC (Tuffy’s)
Drs. Foster & Smith
Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food
Fromm Family Foods
KLN Enterprises/Tuffy’s Pet Foods
Life4K9 Pet Food Corp
Lincoln Biotech
Merrick Pet care
Natura Pet Products
Nature’s Variety
Perfect Health Diet
Pet Chef Express
Petcurean Pet Nutrition
Peton Distributors
Precise Pet Products
Smartpak
Solid Gold (Diamond Pet Products)
Taplow Feeds
Wellpet
Verus Pet Foods

Not Recommended

Beneful (Purina)
Dad’s Bite Sized Meal
Diamond Original Formula (Diamond Pet Foods)
The Goodlife Recipe, Beef Formula (Mars)
Gravy Train (Del Monte)
HiPro (Purina)
Iams ProActive Health Adult Lamp Meal & Rice (Procter & Gamble)
Kibbles’ n Bits (Del Monte)Max Adult (Nutro)
Natural Choice Adult Lamb & Rice (Del Monte)
Nutra Nuggets Adult Maintenance (Diamond)
Ol’Roy (Wal Mart)
Pedigree Complete Nutrition for Adult Dogs (Mars)
Purina Dog chow Complete and Balanced (Purina)
Purina One Total Nutrition Beef & Rice (Purina)
Science Diet Adult original (Hills)

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Feeding Recommendations

Feed your Dane raw meaty bones. This means RAW uncooked, not smashed or splintered, whole bones. We often feed ground meat and bones, which is fine. We do not feed weigh bearing bones such as chicken drumsticks whole. The bones in the weight bearing area of an animal are “hollow” and will splinter, causing possible problems for the dog. These bones are best fed ground. To maintain good health feed a variety of meats and fish. This includes everything from beef to buffalo, chicken to caribou. You are feeding raw to provide your Dane optimum health. This means you want to feed meat that is hormone and antibiotic free, free range if possible and from a known source. If purchasing meat in bulk buy from a facility that has a USDA inspector in the plant and meat that is human quality. Fish are wonderful for your Dog. However, do not feed Pacific Salmon, Sea Trout etc. as they carry a parasite deadly to your Dane. If you must feed these be sure the meat has been frozen for several days and then cooked. If you are feeding fresh caught fish be sure they are parasite free.

Fruit and vegetables can be fed also, although the Dane doesn’t need them. An easy way to prepare them is put leftovers or fruits just starting to go bad into a plastic bag with some water and place in the freezer. Add to it until you are ready to feed it. Simply remove it from the freezer, let it thaw, mush it up inside the bag and serve. Danes cannot break down the cellulose in plants; by freezing and mushing you are doing this for them. Or you can run the food through a food processor. There is a long list of fruits, seeds and vegetables that are toxic to animals and cannot be fed and you can find the lists on the internet.

Organ meat needs to be a part of the diet. It can be the organs from most species. Liver is important and should be your main organ meat. Heart is not an organ meat, it is a muscle.

How much to feed depends on the dog. You want to feed approximately 3% of the healthy weight of the dog. Puppies are fed 10% of their weight, so the amount increases as their weight increases. If the dog is underweight, increase the food. If overweight, decrease the food. An adult should have the ribs visible just below the skin.

Supplements are a much discussed issue and general consensus is if the dog is getting a variety of raw meat supplements are not needed. That being said it appears that glucosamine, msm and chondroitin help older dogs with arthritis. Eggs, fish oils and other supplements can also be benificial to your dog. Read up on raw feeding and visit with folks who have been feeding raw, they will be happy to guide you.

This information is what I have learned over the past 20 years feeding over 100 Danes raw. Some will agree, some will disagree and each person will have to decide what is best for them and their dogs.