# Help Feeding 9 Week old GSD



## Brandon13 (Nov 12, 2010)

well i wanna know your ideas on purina puppy chow for a 9 week old german shepherd pup will it increase the change of hip dysplacia or is it healthy for him


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## Hunther's Dad (Mar 13, 2010)

Welcome to the board!

You have unknowingly opened a Pandora's Box with your question. 

Everyone here will recommend a different brand of food, but Purina is not generally considered a good brand of food here. I don't know why, as I've never used it, but it has to do with the ingredients they use in it.

What you feed your dog will only affect his hips in respect to making him overweight. Keep him lean to help prevent hip dysplasia.

Pictures of your cute puppy, please!


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## fkeeley (Aug 31, 2006)

Hi there! How is the puppy today? Did you take him to the vet? 

IMO purina puppy chow is like junk food for dogs. Not so much worried about hip dysplasia as that is hereditary; either he'll get it or not. Yes, good food and exercise will help prevent hip dysplasia BUT...GSD have sensitive stomachs and they must be fed a good, human grade food for their sensitive tummies. Also I highly suggest that you read, under "health issues" the sticky on bloat. Especially if this is your first GSD, this is something you should know what to look for to make sure you can prevent from happening. That includes (and I can't emphasize enough) the importance of a good diet. With that said, you should look for food with NO citric acid, soy, no "by-meat products" and also NO propylene gycerol (which is anti-freeze). Yes, they use that on a lot of the cheaper treats and dog food. There are a lot of good food out there and I truly believe that you either pay now or pay later (in vet bills) if you don't feed your GSD a good diet from the start. Don't keep him on puppy food too long as it's not good for their growth. You could just go right to adult food if you want to as long as it has proper protein in it. Too much protein for a puppy is not good due to their growing sensitive stomachs but once they are older, they can tolerate higher levels of protein a lot better. In the nutritional section of this forum there are tons of suggestion on high quality food. Also with high quality food you don't have to feed as much and they don't have as many stools as they would on the cheap food.


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## Brandon13 (Nov 12, 2010)

hes doing fine i presume we have a appointment with the vet in the next 1 and a half hour i cooked some chicken breast for him with rice today he ate a little and drank a huge amount of water for now im gonna keep him off purina puppy chow until i know if its a good type of food.hes barking and playing with my neighbour's rotweiler pup i think the purina made him sick.


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## fkeeley (Aug 31, 2006)

Oh good to know he's eating a bit and drinking water! Maybe the milk upset his stomach too. And to be honest, if you were to keep him on puppy chow, I would only keep him for another month or so and then transition to a higher quality food (a little more expensive but worth the expense). If you keep your puppy on puppy food too long, he will develop joint problems later in life and you seem to be very concerned with that. If you decide not to feed puppy chow, go ahead and SLOWLY transition to whatever you decide. Everything with a GSD should be done slowly as they have sensitive stomachs. My 14 week puppy is finally doing really well on Wellness large breed puppy food; good solid stools, but it took me almost 2 weeks of slowly transitioning her to the new food and a lot of soft (not watery) stools to get to where I am today. I also think I over fed her (too many treats to be honest). In about 2 months she'll be on adult food...

Ask questions, we'll help you thru it.


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## fkeeley (Aug 31, 2006)

Not to be picking on Purina puppy chow but here are the ingredients. Notice that the first ingredient is a grain and not a meat. Second ingredient is a by-product so there isn't much protein left after it's dehadrated into dry food. If you compare that to something like Canidae all life stages, WOW what a difference!

*Puppy Chow (large breed ingrendients)*
Whole grain corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), barley, dried beet pulp, animal digest, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, fish oil, salt, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, DL-Methionine, manganese proteinate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite. 

*Canidae (all life stage) - a suggestion so that you don't have to transition from puppy food to adult food....
*Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal, brown rice, white rice, rice bran, peas, potatoes, oatmeal, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet, tomato pomace, natural flavor, flaxseed meal, ocean fish meal, choline chloride, suncured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin, sage extract, cranberries, beta-carotene, rosemary extract, sunflower oil, yucca schidigera extract, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, papaya, pineapple.


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## DanielleOttoMom (May 11, 2010)

Yes I highly suggest you change your food to Large Breed Puppy food (LBP). Like Orijen! My dog is 8 months I have change him over to TOTW (Tast of the Wild). The food you have him on currently main ingredient in corn! Its like feeding your dog McDonalds every day. Dogs are carnivores. Welcome to the site you will find lots of helpful information from everyone. Congratz on the new pup!! Just remember when picking a new food to look at the main * ingrendients.  *


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## Verivus (Nov 7, 2010)

Brandon13 said:


> well i wanna know your ideas on purina puppy chow for a 9 week old german shepherd pup will it increase the change of hip dysplacia or is it healthy for him


To answer your question bluntly, purina puppy chow is terrible for your pup and definitely not healthy for him. There are way too many fillers (which have no, or very little, nutritional value that can be used by your pup), and not enough meat. As for hip dysplasia I'm pretty sure that's more genetic then food-related. There are many more higher quality kibble options available to you, such as the before-mentioned Wellness LBP (Large Breed Puppy). I'm not an expert on large breed kibble since I no longer feed kibble, but I'm pretty sure you do need a balanced CaHO ratio. Also you have to make sure the calcium level in the food is not too high; generally people try to stay in the ~1.5% range. Just make sure you transition slowly to prevent runny stools.

I noticed you're home cooking for your pup right now and I would like to point out that home cooked and raw are better options IF you know what you're doing and the dog is getting balanced meals over time. Of course that's a whole other subject. 

ETA: 
I would take your vet's food recommendation with a grain of salt. Most vets do not recieve any courses on nutrition in veterinary school, and if they do it's usually sponsored BY one of the big commercial brands (aka Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, etc) and are taught what THEY want them to know. Many vets will recommend foods like Science Diet or Iams because of this. THESE FOODS ARE ALL TERRIBLE FOR YOUR PUP. So I personally dismiss a vet's recommendation as far as food goes, unless they actually are very well-educated in this aspect.


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## Wolfiesmom (Apr 10, 2010)

I feed Fromms Gold 

 





Large Breed Adult Gold
FOR DOGS

Naturally formulated with fresh Wisconsin duck, fresh chicken, fresh lamb, fish, whole eggs & real cheese. In addition, we enhance this recipe with probiotics to aid digestion and salmon oil for a healthy coat. This product contains no corn and no wheat.


Fresh Wisconsin Duck
Fresh Hand-Trimmed USDA Chicken
Fresh Low-Ash Lamb
Real Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese
Chicken Cartilage Rich in Natural Glucosamine
Prebiotics & Probiotics to Aid Digestion
Optimum Omega Fatty Acids Ratio
_No_ Corn and _No_ Wheat
 *Ingredients:*
Duck, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Oatmeal, Pearled Barley, Brown Rice, White Rice, Tomato Pomace, Whole Egg, Menhaden Fish Meal, Lamb, Potato, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Cheese, Salmon Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Flaxseed, Brewers Dried Yeast, Alfalfa Meal, Carrots, Lettuce, Celery, Lecithin, Chicken Cartilage, Calcium Sulfate, Salt, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Chicory Root Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcous Faecium, Vitamin A, D3, E, B12 Supplements, Choline Chloride, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Carbonate, Manganous Oxide, Copper Oxide, Cobalt Carbonate, Calcium Iodate, Sorbic Acid, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

I feed Wellness Large Breed Puppy. Good ingredients and now available at Petco and Petsmart it makes easier/cheaper to get than some of the other less commercially available foods. 

Wellness Complete Health® Super5Mix® Large Breed - Puppy Health


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## Montana Scout (Sep 27, 2010)

DanielleOttoMom said:


> Yes I highly suggest you change your food to Large Breed Puppy food (LBP). Like Orijen! My dog is 8 months I have change him over to TOTW (Tast of the Wild). The food you have him on currently main ingredient in corn! Its like feeding your dog McDonalds every day. Dogs are carnivores. Welcome to the site you will find lots of helpful information from everyone. Congratz on the new pup!! Just remember when picking a new food to look at the main * ingrendients.  *


totally agree... this is what ive had my pup on since 7 weeks... at first you might want to sprinkle it with hot water (vet told me this softens the food a little and brings out the smell)


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## Kai (Oct 27, 2010)

is nutro LBP food any good?


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## fkeeley (Aug 31, 2006)

Kai said:


> is nutro LBP food any good?


:thumbsdown: Since I had a dog that bloated on me, I stay away from anything that has soybean or beets in it (which can produce gas). Nutro does, so I'd say stay away from it. Wellness, TOTW, Canidae, Orijen are all top notch IMO. Canidae is not terribly expensive and very good food (all life stages too).


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

I have a 18 month old pup and I can tell you that we did a lot of research on food. We were almost going to go the do it yourself route until we found a holistic dog food shop by our home. We went there and they explained to us the differences in food and that the prepackaged RAW foods are great and a lot easier than doing it yourself especially because dogs need a lot of vitamins we can't easily give them without expensive supplements. Our breeders fed puppy chow and the first thing we did was switch him to Fromm's, mainly because its made about 20 minutes north of where we live. It's more expensive but if you look on the bag the recommended feeding amount is about half of what puppy chow recommends. It's clearly the better food. But if you can I'd suggest researching the prepackaged RAW stuff and if it's available at stores by you. You'd be amazed at the change in coat, attitude, and health.


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