# Raw Diet HELP!!



## adam1969 (Sep 2, 2008)

I have a 2 year old gsd who has had his share of skin issues over the last year and a half. He had mange and now is cured. However, he continued with excessive shedding and crusty skin. OUr vet had told us to give him a raw diet and we have been using chicken livers and giblets along with legs and thighs. Raw ground meat and olive oil. His skin has improved and the shedding is better but not perfect. My concern is he has lost 20 lbs. I have been giving him the above along with ground veggies, sweet potato, squash, zucchini. What can I do to beef him up again. Any other ideas without breaking the bank. Any suggestions on any type of kibble that might be benign?


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## tracyc (Feb 23, 2005)

How much are you feeding daily, and what is the dog's weight? 

A normal-sized GSD eats around 2 pounds of food a day on a raw diet. The amount is calculated by taking the dog's ideal weight and multiplying it by 2-3%. That's the amount of food to feed each day.


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## adam1969 (Sep 2, 2008)

He started at just under 100lbs and lean. He now weighs 82lbs and is noticeably thinner. We are feeding him according to the Celestial diet. He is being given about 11/2lbs daily.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

So all you may have to do is increase his daily rations. Each dog is an individual, there is no set formula that fits all.


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

100 pounds is a lot does he need to weigh that much?

What is the Celestial diet?
I haven't heard of that before


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## Maedchen (May 3, 2003)

With being 100lb he was probably overweight. You should be able to easily feel the ribs, but if they are sticking out, you might add some more food.
I would ditch the olive oil and rather supplement with high quality fish oil capsules (atleast 2 at 1000mg/day) and VitE.
What's the celestial diet? Or did the vet maybe mean ketogenic?


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

How active is he? It seems like most male GSDs eat about 2 lbs of food. The more active ones, more. Sometimes, much more.


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## adam1969 (Sep 2, 2008)

Celestial it is a raw diet by Dr. She has a website celestial raw diet . Com


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

Is this it?
http://www.celestialpets.com/cat_dog_recipe.shtml#dog


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## KCandMace (Apr 8, 2008)

"Medium to large sized dogs can eat up to a pound of food a day." 
That part worries me. My pups all get 2-2.2lbs a day.


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## adam1969 (Sep 2, 2008)

this is the website


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: KCandMace"Medium to large sized dogs can eat up to a pound of food a day."
> That part worries me. My pups all get 2-2.2lbs a day.


My male gets 2.25lbs of raw food a day; My female eats between 1.75lbs and 2 lbs a day, depending on her activity level.

My guess, if you are only feeding 1.25lbs of food, is that you need to increase the amount of food you are giving. I would feed a 60lb dog 1.25 lbs of food, not an 85+ lb dog. That is probably why he has lost so much weight.


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## Atlantaworkingdogs (Jul 20, 2010)

*Raw Diet*

Hi, I know this post is old, but I have a free tutorial on a simple way to do the Raw Diet on my website. We feed this to the competition dogs at our Schutzhund club. It keeps them lean but thick and ready to work

http://atlantaworkingdogs.com/RawDiet/

Click on Raw Diet.


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

Interesting....but what about MM? is that enough using the chicken quarters???


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## Relayer (Apr 29, 2010)

2 to 2 1/2 lbs of raw should be just fine. How much of that weight is in the veggies? The veggies pretty much do nothing, so I wouldn't count them, in case you are.


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## Relayer (Apr 29, 2010)

LOL... I just realized that I posted to a 2 year old question. I hope the OPs dog did ok.


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

right, so the "sunday" meal is OM and yogart/cottage cheese....seems to simple?


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Atlantaworkingdogs said:


> Hi, I know this post is old, but I have a free tutorial on a simple way to do the Raw Diet on my website. We feed this to the competition dogs at our Schutzhund club. It keeps them lean but thick and ready to work
> 
> Raw Diet for German shepherd puppies and dogs
> 
> Click on Raw Diet.


Ok, I'm going to disagree with your tutorial on several things.

First, you say to use "a tub" of several things. What size "tub"? 6 oz? 8 oz? 16 or 32 oz?? You really can't use non-specific descriptions like that.

Same thing with using a "ladel" (sic) to measure out amounts. I have 3 different sized ladles in my kitchen drawer - which one would I use??

You also cannot feed items based on count. The chicken leg quarters I see at Walmart are about twice the size of the ones at my local grocery store and the ones I buy in bulk.

The vegetables, just being chopped, won't give the dogs much (if any) nutrition. Vegetables need to be 'pre-processed' before feeding them to dogs. You need to cook them (steam or boil - but you may lose some nutrients) or freeze then thaw them or run them through a juicer (and mix the juice and pulp back together) or in a blender (with some type of liquid).

Also, once puppies are weaned there is no need for dairy in their diet. Yogurt and cottage cheese are not necessary. Yogurt CAN help with gut issues but I would not feed it as a daily part of a dogs diet.


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