How much should I be feeding?

Posted May 7th, 2008 by dbrasher3

Great Dane Health and Nutrition

How much should I be feeding Delilah? She is an 8 monthd old female and right now she is getting 12 cups a day. Which we thought was alot. But she still acts hungry. She gets 4 cups for breakfast around 7 and 4 cups at lunch around 12 and 4 cups for dinner at like 5. Should I be feeding her more???

Thanks,

Danielle

Delilah

On May 8th, 2008 rowan1108 says:

I saw her at Danefest and she looks great. She is in that normal lean, gawky puppy stage. It is common for young Danes to stay skinny until they are two or older. The better quailty food that you give, usually the less that they need. Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul is a good quality holistic food that is not real expensive. Quite a few people on the board use it and have always had good things to say. It is made with whole chicken, fruits and veggies. No chemicals or preservatives. The only thing is that they don't sell it at Petsmart or Petco. You have to buy it at a feed store. You can find a store in your area at chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com.
Alot of people feed Nutro Natural Lamb&Rice. Blue Buffalo is also something that I use as well.
~Shannon~
Zoey's Mom

Slightly off topic

On May 8th, 2008 SuperRen says:

For those feeding those hard-to-find foods, consider a delivery service. I use Balance Pet (www.balancepet.com) to get Guinness' food. They just deliver a bag once a month to my door and charge my card. It's free delivery and actually comes out cheaper than if I go to our local health food store and buy it. The guy who runs it is really nice and a student at UNT. He spent a few minutes to get to know Guinness when he dropped the food off last time and loves Danes!

I've also used Metro Pet Services (www.metropetservices.com) before for the same food and they are also good. Free delivery to most areas as well. They have a little more variety in their food selection.

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((¸¸.·´ ¸.·´ -:¦:- Lauren -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ Guinness' Mom

Thank you Lauren!!!

On May 8th, 2008 daneluvr says:

Wow!! I had no idea!! I can get my dog food for $1.12 cheaper and get it delivered for FREE!!! That is so neat. Thank you SO much Lauren!!

That's about right

On May 8th, 2008 gr8danesara says:

When I had a 6 mos. old puppy, BeBe, she ate 12 cups a day until she quit growing, then we tapered it back. She was not fat. My two big boys only eat 4 cups dry and 1/2 can wet every day. It kind of varies with each dog. Once you can still feel the ribs, but not see them, you can monitor the amount and adjust as needed.
Sara (Bubba Chad's and Shammy's mom)

Delilah

On May 8th, 2008 Susan says:

I loved Delilah at DaneFest! She is just so totally fully of energy and will make any dog play with her!
I am sure everyone is going to give you different recomendations on dog food. There are some I would
love to be able to feed, but we just can not afford them to be honest. One that we did find that Alice goes totally
crazy over is www.flintranch.com Kim C. turned us onto it. It only comes via mail order, but we are now feeding 25%
less than what we were!

Susan

that seems like alot but

On May 7th, 2008 meloncon says:

how big is she? and what are you feeding? if it is a good quality food and she isn't fat it should be ok... but the most our Mo ever ate was 8 maybe 9 cups... I feed INova Raw Alternative now but am not sure if it is good for an 8mo old.... I think someplace on this site there is a feeding guide that talks about what to look for in food..... you know % of protein how much.. that stuff

We are actually switching

On May 7th, 2008 dbrasher3 says:

We are actually switching her food right now from an ID food from the vet to Purina pro plan. Im not sure who told us to feed her that, but she seems to like it. She isn't that big at all I mean weight wise... She weighs 96 lbs and still has rib showing... everything that goes in her makes her taller lol. Is the raw diet better for them? I have always been very interested in that but never looked too much into it since she is still a puppy.

Thanks.

Great Dane Lady

On May 7th, 2008 SuperRen says:

http://greatdanelady.com/articles/amount_to_feed_large_and_giant_breeds....

Try this site. There are some things I don't like about this site and some I do, but it's a good read. There is a growth chart and recommended feeding amounts. These are just guidelines, as every dog will be a little bit different, but if you are way off, maybe something is not right. This guide is for feeding Eagle Pack foods, which is what she recommends.

ProPlan is an OK food, but for giant breed puppies, it does have a fairly high protein content (26 to 28%). For giant breed puppies, I think the most common recommendations is protein around 21-24% and fat around 12-15% although some studies are showing that that doesn't make a difference in skeletal abnormalities. Keeping your dog lean is the best way to prevent those problems. Overfeeding/providing too many calories increases skeletal growth problems. It's normal for her to be thin and gawky at this age. Don't worry about putting weight on her until her growth has slowed.

i/d is a bland diet often used for dogs with digestive problems. Has she had some tummy problems?

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((¸¸.·´ ¸.·´ -:¦:- Lauren -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ Guinness' Mom