Commercial Raw, Freeze-Dried or Dehydrated Options for Large Breed Puppy

[Karyn S]

Hello,
I originally posted a similar message to the Large Breed Puppy forum and am re-posting to this forum hoping to gain more feedback.

I will be welcoming a German Shepherd puppy in about a month and have been trying to determine the best dehydrated, freeze-dried or raw diet to start her on. (I do not have the capacity to do an entirely raw diet, but could add raw toppers to meals.)

I’ve read through all pages (in the Large Breed Puppy forum) and just when I feel I have a direction, something changes it.

I started with Hound Dog Mom’s latest list, which includes some Raw and a couple of The Honest Kitchen dehydrated options for large breed puppies. Since the list is a bit older, I reached out to a couple of the companies (for far, Stella and Chewy’s and THK) specific to average/maximum calcium and received conflicting information, which leads me to believe formulas have changed since list was compiled.

Does anyone have recommendations for a dehydrated, freeze-dried and/or raw option(s) that would have safe calcium/phosphorous levels for a large breed puppy?

Thank you in advance!

[pitlove]

Hi Karyn-

I would recommend contacting Nature’s Variety and asking if one of their nutritionists can write you back. They offer dry,canned, raw, and freeze dried meal toppers. They are probably the only brand I would trust with a growing large breed. I’m sure they would be willing to answer some of your questions about your concerns with overfeeding too much calcium/phos. One of the nutritionists on their staff is renowed holistic veterinary nutritionist Dr. Susan Wynn.

[Karyn S]

Hi Pitluv,

Thank you for the response! I will definitely reach out to NV for more information and did not realize Dr Susan Wynn was on their team. 🙂

In your opinion, do you find people keep their puppies on an appropriate dry option (from the recommended list or Editor’s puppy list), until they are old enough to safely transition to a commercial raw/freeze-dried diet? In the various forums, I see where people transition to homemade raw right away, but I do not have the capacity to do this.

Thanks again for your feedback!

[pitlove]

I can’t say for sure, but it seems most folks are keeping the pup on an appropriate large breed puppy food until maturity and then beginning to add in extras.

If it were my pup, that is personally what I would do unless you consult with one of NV’s nutritionist and they offer you a solution that will not compromise your babies optimal growth.

One of the regulars on here said something once that really stuck with me about large breed growth. She said essentially that you only have one chance to get a proper orthopedic structure. I thought that was such an eye opening way of looking at this topic.

[Karyn S]

Thanks again, I appreciate the feedback!

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