[tracy b]

hello every one I am a new member here and love that there is a discussion on large/giant breed food. I have 2 great dane males who are little mates (siblings) . they are 1 and 1/2 years old now. we have always fed them Royal Canine giant breed stages right now they are on the giant junior and will soon be transitioning over to adult food. I just had them to the vet yesterday to get their rabies shots and heath exam in preparation for neutering. my vet also owns a great dane so I feel lucky that my vet knows specifically about the breed and their potential heath problems. I always thought I had made good choices in their food and yesterdays appointment had them scoring perfectly on coat, growth, teeth, heart, etc. I feel a bit dismayed about some of the negative reports on the brand of food I have chosen its score of 2.5 stars and the comments on the ingredients leave me wondering if I have made a poor choice. we did try to switch twice once at 4 months and again at 8 months to other brands (blue and arcana) each time we tried they were not happy seemed to not like the flavor had bad gas and diarrhea although not too bad with the blue brand and I did switch very slow mixing the existing brand with the new gradually. it cost me $86.00 every 6 days to feed the boys a bag of dry food plus $9.00 in toppers. I just need to know I have made the right decision
thank you

• This topic was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by tracy b.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Tracy-
Welcome to DFA! It sounds to me like you are doing a great job with your pups. I have litter mates also. Two lab mix males. They will turn three next month. What a handful! I’ll never do that again! However, I can’t imagine life without them.
Anyway, you got a clean bill of health at the vets so you must be doing something right. Most members on this site believe that it is best to feed your dogs variety. A rotating diet is recommended. It sounds like Royal Canin is very expensive for a 2.5 star food. You could definitely keep it in your rotation since the dogs do well on it if you want. You could probably add another kibble to your rotation that has more protein and even be less expensive. So far I use Victor and Natures Logic Kibbles. I also use several different toppers for variety. Such as canned, eggs, sardines, raw nuggets and even dehydrated.
When you are introducing a new food, just transition slowly and add a little plain pumpkin and probiotics to help with the change. Good luck to you and your pups!

[tracy b]

thanks for the suggestions crazy4cats, one of the boys, Bozwell, does seem to have a more sensitive tummy than the other one (Elwood) so I am leery about giving new foods being that the one they are on is working well. Everything I have read/learned about the breed does tend to lean towards sticking with the same food and not making too many changes. obviously I want to do what is best for the boys no matter what the cost I realize when we got them that this would be a huge commitment both time and money. because of their predicted short life span I want to do what will lengthen their life as much as possible. they will soon be transitioning into giant breed adult food so this would probably be the best time to make a switch. I am looking at holistic select but im not sure yet if they have for giant breed. when you give eggs im assuming raw? do you not worry about salmonella? thanks for your advice!
Tracy, Bozwell and Elwood

[crazy4cats]

I did worry about it at first, but not as much anymore. I cooked the eggs at first, both scrambled and boiled. Then I started just very lightly cooking. Now, I separate them and stick the whites in the microwave for about 30 seconds first and give the yolk to them raw. So far so good! I give them each 2 eggs twice a week. They are both about 80 pounds. In addition, they each get a tin of sardines once a week. We call it “Sardine Sunday” at our house.
I personally wouldn’t worry about finding a food that is labeled for giant breed dogs. Most of that is marketing in my opinion. I would be more concerned about buying from a reputable manufacturer. I find that large breed foods are usually lower in protein. That is why is I don’t usually feed mine the large breed foods. Also, just read the label and use common sense. It seems as though you have a lot of that! The ingredients and the guaranteed analysis are the most important to me.
What is funny to me, is that most of what I read, says it is best to feed variety, no matter what size the dog is. But, you really need to do what you think is best. Good luck to you!

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