# Recommendations for Premade Raw Products?



## MassiChewSits (Mar 10, 2009)

Doing research for my future GSD (in utero), I aks my local small pet supply store owner for his food recommendations. He suggested a raw premade product over kibble. 
My breeder suggested Blue Buffalo kibble, but this gent has me thinking about trying my new pup on a premade raw. Premade of course, I don't have the culinary skills to make my own- nor the stomach for puree-ing beef lungs and chicken heads.

Anyone out there use premade raw? This gent sells Robert Abady premade Raw. Anyone else out there like Abady?

*What brands do you prefer? Why? How much does it cost you? *


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

I like Bravo and Primal b/c they come in big tubes. I get the Bravo chicken grind for $16 for 10 pounds. The Primal chicken is 5 pounds and costs me $12. 

If you are feeding patties it's easier but way too expensive for most people.


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## MassiChewSits (Mar 10, 2009)

How many pounds does a single GSD individually consume per week?
Thank you for the response by the way.


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## LJsMom (Jan 6, 2008)

I feed a mix of kibble and Bravo patties to my husky and a mix of home cooked and Bravo patties to my GSD. I paid $15 for 5 lb. of beef patties today.

Bravo's calculator http://www.bravorawdiet.com/howmuch.html

Primal's calculator http://www.primalpetfoods.com/canine/feeding_safety.htm#calculator


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Lol... I don't puree beef lungs or chicken heads either. My dogs' raw diets don't require much in the way of culinary skills. Sooo.. consider starting with premade, but keep in mind that you may want to transition to "real" raw meat. It's cheap and gosh, it's relatively easy once you read up a bit on it (surf around here for a while and you'll get the hang of it).

(I'm a vegetarian and freaked out touching meat for the first two months or so. I still get a bit weirded out by organ meats. If I can do it, anyone can!







)

For premades, Primal is good. I've used that, as well as Nature's Variety. I've tried several dehydrated brands. Honest Kitchen has a good one. Addiction is the best I've come across, but it cost about $21 for a box that makes 6 lbs of food







so it's hardly affordable. 

My adult male 87 lb GSD consumed 4 lbs of meat per day, which is *considerably* higher than average, as he was a very active working dog. The general guideline for DAILY food consumption is 2-3% of the dog's adult weight. You should be able to look at your pup's dam and sire and get some idea how big s/he will be (I presume you know if you're getting a male or female?). 

If, for example, you are getting a female, and her mother weighs 60 lbs (and her sire is a standard 75 or so pounds), you should expect she will weigh about 60-65 lbs too. So you'll feed your dog, as an adult, approx 1.2 lbs of food per day. 

With a puppy, read Lauri's post here: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1050588&page=1#Post1050588


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## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

I do half pre-made raw, half kibble. For raw, I use either Primal or Nature's Variety nuggets (meat, ground bones, fruits, veggies, etc all mixed in). I prefer this because it takes away the issue of adding the veggies separately and in proportion. For kibble, I use Instinct from Nature's Variety. I also add some tripe to the raw food most of the time. A 4 lb bag of Primal costs around $18, NV is little bit more expensive. According to the feeding chart on Primal, you would basically be feeding 4% of body weight to the pup. So that would give you some idea about how much it would cost for you.


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## MelissaHoyer (Sep 8, 2006)

Oma's Pride (www.omaspride.com) is also a good one...also look for raw feeding co-ops in your area. That is how I get a lot of my food. We do bulk orders from a local meat supplier, an Ohio company, Oma's and a local raw supplier.


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## MassiChewSits (Mar 10, 2009)

Thanks for all the responses.


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## greenleaf2001 (Mar 1, 2009)

I use Stella and Chewy's, made by a farm in Wisconsin. They are a bit expensive (about $ 4 pound when not on sale). We feed Buddy, our 5 month old, 2 8 oz patties per day and one chicken quarter.

Buddy has a VERY sensitive stomach, so we are trying to wean him off the patties by introducing more quarters, etc. However, he never has any issues when using Stellas.

Beverly


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