# What the best food brand to feed your German Shepherd?



## HI_

Hi, guys iam having hard time chooseing which food brand is best for my 
7 month old German Shepherd?


----------



## KZoppa

whats your budget like for dog food?


----------



## Brown314

Oh god this is like asking which brand of water is better?

Now, you will get many different opinions about this, from Orijien, Taste Of The Wild, EVO, Blue Buffalo, 4 Health and so many more....plus the RAW diet. 

I feed Taste Of The Wild since my dog just turned one, and he loves it, Ive noticed that he is doing much better on it than other foods.

It just depends on your budget, how old your dog is, and what you can find in your area.


----------



## Elaine

The best one is the one that your dog does the best on and that can be different from other dogs as your dog is an individual. I would start with the premium brands and go from there.


----------



## timmster

If you're on a real tight budget, I've heard some pretty good things about Kirkland dog food from Costco. Not nearly as good as those mentioned by Brown314, but hey, some people have giant student loans to pay off =(


----------



## Davey Benson

Brown314 said:


> Oh god this is like asking which brand of water is better?
> 
> Now, you will get many different opinions about this, from Orijien, Taste Of The Wild, EVO, Blue Buffalo, 4 Health and so many more....plus the RAW diet.
> 
> I feed Taste Of The Wild since my dog just turned one, and he loves it, Ive noticed that he is doing much better on it than other foods.
> 
> It just depends on your budget, how old your dog is, and what you can find in your area.


No, it's even worse than that. 

It's like asking what's the best religion! 

People who frequent dog forums tend to be very passionate about their pets, and they have strongly held beliefs about what is right for their pet, and they will try to persuade you to also feed the same food. 

Some peolpe feel that raw is they only right way, some people feel that steamed veggetables is they only moral thing to feed your pets. 

Here is a great independant website that ranks dogfoods. Be sure to check it out, I do from time to time. If you feel your dog isn't doing as well with his diet as he should be, dont be afraid to change it, but be sure to do it gradually. I currently feed all my dogs a four star rated kibble, and they all seem to be doing really well with it. It's not the best rated food, but it is by far not the worse. It fits my budget, and so it's the program I'm going to stick with.


----------



## BRITTani

I believe that Davey Benson forgot to add the link....but this is what I used to determine what to feed my puppy. Dog Food Reviews by Brand

I decided with Blue Buffalo , its in my price range and is the most available to me. I still have to drive an hour to buy it but recently Petco has been offering free shipping online with an overall purchase of a certain amount so I have been getting it there.


----------



## Dr. Teeth

Has anyone gone from an average rated food on the list to a 5 star rated food with positive results? 

I have had excellent results with my current brand Royal Canine GSD, but it ranks in the middle - the only big negative I have with it is $55 for 35lbs. Ouch.

Maybe there is a 5 star rated food, available at Petsmart etc. that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Any ideas?


----------



## BRITTani

I went from Purina One, to the Blue Buffalo and Ava actually wants to eat now. She was on Purina One up until last month, I had no idea it was such a terrible food to feed and always wondered why Ava would rather starve (and be very thin) than eat the stuff. I can definitely tell a difference merely with her food interest and weight she's put back on.


----------



## cuttingedge

Dr. Teeth said:


> Has anyone gone from an average rated food on the list to a 5 star rated food with positive results?
> 
> I have had excellent results with my current brand Royal Canine GSD, but it ranks in the middle - the only big negative I have with it is $55 for 35lbs. Ouch.
> 
> Maybe there is a 5 star rated food, available at Petsmart etc. that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Any ideas?


That is what I feed our boy and it is the only one of many foods that we have tried that actually works well for him. We have tried (Solid Gold, Orijen, Wellness, and Merrick) All of those foods gave him loose stool even after a good transition period. He had impacted anal glands because of the runny stool so we put him back on the Royal Canin GSD24 and problem solved. I don't care about the 3 star or 5 star ratings, I do care about what works best for my dog and if it were $120.00 per bag and it gave consistent results I would still buy it.


----------



## wessongsd

HI_ said:


> Hi, guys iam having hard time chooseing which food brand is best for my
> 7 month old German Shepherd?


The best food is the one your dog loves! absolutely. you will see drastic differences when feeding them food from demeanor changes to energy levels to skin or coat changes. among many other things up to and including there stool going hard to mushy to liquidy. just be sure when trying all the options you do a slow progression with the changes and dogs are like people they do need different flavors and will not eat at times like people because they just dont want to or because they are bored of there food. 

In my personal opinion on food however home made raw food diets (not cheap i know) are the best way if you have the time and energy (it is time consuming to prepare and store) to feed your dog. its cleaner and you know there is no throw away parts or any weird add ins to the food or chemicals. 


let me know if you want any more advise on the raw home made food


----------



## Samba

I would stick with as high end premium kibble as you can afford if you are going the kibble route. The higher ones are pricier at the register but usually not that much more expensive to actually feed! You can't go only by the foods they like as mine would love Gainesburger. Some people have found the Orijen Large Breed Puppy rich for their puppies but mine have adapted after awhile.


----------



## Davey Benson

BRITTani said:


> I believe that Davey Benson forgot to add the link....but this is what I used to determine what to feed my puppy. Dog Food Reviews by Brand
> 
> ....


 :hammeroh!


----------



## ChrisR2010

I have been recommending the 6 stars food i.e. orijen, totw, acana, evo, etc... on this forum because that's all my 3 years old gsd has had with good results. She looks healthy, and we have had only one really bad ear infection a few months ago. 
But very recently, I took a second look at the marketing material offered by Royal Canin GSD 24 (an inferior food according to dogfoodanalysis), and I thought that if royal canin has been addressing the same health concerns over many years by using the same specific ingredients in their formula and still be around, they must be doing something right. Moreover, the gsds that I have seen at the dog park fed with gsd 24 looked beautiful and full of energy. So I started to feed the gsd 24 formula to mine, and what I see after a month is a more energetic dog with all signs of better health (a bit leaner, stools, softer shiny coat, even though it feels greasier).
I know that dogs are carnivores and that there's a lot of talk about dogs not meant to eat corn and grains, but I caught my dog several times in the past stealing corn cobs out of the trash and eating it all.
I start to think that royal canin has a serious formula based on 30 years + of real research, and this must not be just all marketing. They would not be around if their food is as bad as how dogfoodanalysis describes it.

It's been a month now that my dog has been on a diet made of 60% GSD24, 20% EVO red meat, 20% canadae. For her GSD24 works at least as well if not better that what she has had in the past.


----------



## koda girl

My dog was on RC puppy, then RC German Shepherd. She always had very loose stools and was not gaining a lot of weight. I tried changing her food 5 times to different kibble that was better than RC according to the surveys, she still had loose stool and still not gaining any weight. A month and a half ago I switcher her to Raw, the kind you buy already made and frozen. They say you should switch a food slowly so you don't get loose stools, well she already had them so I just switched. From the very very first feeding of Raw until today she had not had one single loose stool. We are very shocked but it is true, she has also gained 4 lbs and can still use a few more lbs. The Raw I am using is much cheaper than kibble but the blood grosses me out. I would rather pay more and feed kibble if it worked for her but it doesn't. I'm not saying Raw is for everyone, but it sure is working for my girl. Not sure if I should be giving her a vitamin with it also, I will have to look into that. Good luck choosing your food.


----------

