[merleGDgirl]

The time is almost here, I’m down to the last month before our gorgeous baby pandora comes home. We’ve got almost everything in place. Giant crate? Check. Collar? Check. Toys? Check. Great trainer lined up? Check. Food? umm….. about that…

Okay I’ll cut the melo dramatics. I fell in love with Danes years ago when I first laid eyes on the sleek giant but because of high school then college then grad school then marriage then children I have been unable to commit to what my heart really yearns for a GD fur baby! Well finally, the time is here.

As many pet parents I have done about six months of research on proper dane nutrition found some EXCELLENT information but… It is ALL contradicting. Some say high protein is fine others say it is fatal some say it doesn’t matter, others are more concerned with calcium and phosphorus levels others shun the thought of giving puppy food at all to a dane, to all of you I say….. Your giving me a headache.

Will someone, (preferably with a giant breed dog that can speak from past experience OR factual scientific information) please help me decide.

At the moment raw food diet, albeit good, inaccessible and unaffordable because our family doesn’t have the time or the massive amount of extra money it would take to feed a dane raw.

The plan is wellness CORE puppy. My sister has a Neapolitan Mastiff female who was fed wellness core puppy from the time she could eat kibble and did excellent on it. She has been moved to the adult line and rotates between core flavors.

I wont hear anything about blue buffalo because well…. You know diamond is a joke and I wont even entertain the idea.

I want the best for my new family member. She has the best toys, crate, trainer, the best kinda love but the food is so crutial and im at my witts end with the conflicting information!

Thanks.

[Dog_Obsessed]

Congrats on your soon-to-be new puppy!

I have not had direct experience with Large Breed Puppy nutrition, but here are a few resources that will hopefully help clear things up for you:
Here is a basic article about LBP nutrition, along with a calcium/phosphorus calculator: /best-dog-foods/best-large-breed-puppy-food/

Here is a link to the forum topic about LBP nutrition. In the middle of page 15, there is a link to a list of acceptable LBP foods: /forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

Good luck with your new puppy!

[crazy4cats]

Hi merleGDgirl!
How exciting a new giant puppy! I have two large breed dogs, but didn’t know about this site when they were small pups. Fortunately, their hips and joints seem fine so far at 3 1/2 years old. On this site, the creator and most participating members believe that it is OK to feed puppy food and higher protein to large and giant breed pups. It is the calcium level that is the major concern. Please check out the link that Dog Obsessed provided up above to help with the appropriate calcium levels.

I think that Wellness Core puppy food would be a great choice. It is a fan favorite on this site and better than that your very own sister has had good luck with it. You will probably want to feed your new pup whatever the breeder is feeding it for a while until everything gets settled down. There are already enough changes going on for that pup at first without changing that too!

I wish you well with your new adventure! Let us know how things go!

[Jane C]

Raising a large breed puppy can be extremely confusing. There is a website that I think will answer lots of your questions. GreatDaneLady.com. Hope this helps and good luck.

[Author]

Posts