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Feeding Great Dane x Foster


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I have just picked up a 14mo Great Dane "Roo Dog" x

He is 14 months old, around 80cms tall, 51kgs and around 5kgs underweight.

He possibly may have a little height to go but not much.

He apparently has had a myriad of issues with food and upset tummies. No underlying issues were found.

He was getting beef mince and supercoat Large breed. Not enough.

What sort of things should I be looking to feed - as long as he tolerates them of course. 

Large breed adult dry foods? Large breed puppy? - from reading I am sure that is a no.

And what is the latest info regarding practices to help avoid bloat?

 

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I'd be trying chicken carcasses whole, so he has to chew them up before swallowing - 2-3 a day until you get a weight (read body condition) on him that you like, then feed to maintain that weight/condition... supplement with fruit and vegetables for roughage. You can cook the veg with stock to make them more appealing if he's a bit fussy about them at first.

 

T.

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To avoid bloat, don't feed immediately after exercise - this can be difficult with boisterous dogs excitedly awaiting dinner, sigh. Also don't permit strenuous exercise immediately after a meal - wait an hour. Split daily intake into two or three meals. Also try to avoid major guzzling of water. 
If you have the freezer space, buy 10 or 20 kilos of chook carcasses and for one of his meals, give him two or three carcasses (assuming that he tolerates chicken.) The other meal could be a decent kibble plus a bit of mince or fish or eggs in rotation, whatever he tolerates.

A lot will depend on whether his issues are actually food intolerance, or worming (or lack of it) or even the old inhale the food too fast, throw it up and try again which could be addressed with a slow feeder bowl or food dispensing toys.

Photos are required!!! :)

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Oh .....be still my heart ........... *remembers Kieran* 

photos are ESSENTIAL .

I second/third chicken frames ..and maybe turkey necks whole?

Bloat is a sneaky mongrel of a thing - I did all the right things by Kieran for 7 years . One night he grabbed 6 meatybites off the ground - and that was that . :cry: 

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I tried to do photos but need to squish them. I have an app so will do it in a bit.

Apparently he couldn't tolerate minced frames.  He has been eating Beef mince with no worries.

He isn't a gutz. Eats methodically but not quickly.

Yep know about not feeding when hot etc. More along lines of if you feed dry should you add water, max amount of food per meal and elevated food bowls etc.

I haven't had any bloat prone dogs for a number of years so haven't kept abreast of the latest ideas.

 

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I feed my greys dry food without added water. I do raise their bowls but the jury is out on whether it actually helps or not. I don't do enforced exercise within about an hour either side but my lot are inclined to do post tea zoomies so i tyr to be mindful of that. Otherwise I cross my fingers and hope. So far so good. You could try lamb flaps to put on the weight.

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 Visit Great Dane Rescue's resource page here: http://www.greatdanerescue.com.au/downloads.htm

 

You say he has a myriad of issues including an upset stomach but not a lot more detail on what they are.  Can you be more specific?

 

Switching from Supercoat to something like Ivory Coat, Canidae etc should help. The resources above have the lists of recommended foods on it.  I would not be rushing to put him on chicken frames. Danes at that age can be pretty skinny as they go through growth spurts. The trick is slow and steady on weight gain. 

 

Sounds like you also should be looking at a gut health supplement. 

 

 

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4 hours ago, OSoSwift said:

I tried to do photos but need to squish them. I have an app so will do it in a bit.

Apparently he couldn't tolerate minced frames.  He has been eating Beef mince with no worries.

He isn't a gutz. Eats methodically but not quickly.

Yep know about not feeding when hot etc. More along lines of if you feed dry should you add water, max amount of food per meal and elevated food bowls etc.

I haven't had any bloat prone dogs for a number of years so haven't kept abreast of the latest ideas.

 

Put all that aside re bloat concerns. I've never heard the don't feed when hot, there is nothing I've read that supports adding water to dry (if you do it is likely to destroy the nutrients in the coating) and feeding elevated and 2 meals a day is simply about ensuring their comfort. 

 

I walk mine before his dinner and he does zoomies. I don't feed immediately after a very active walk, simply for the same reason people don't eat big meals after vigorous exercise. 

 

If a dog is going to bloat then it is probably going to bloat regardless of any of those things!

 

Just saw you're in WA. The GDLAWA (Great Dane Lovers Association of WA) is a very active group and on FB. I'd suggest joining that FB group as they have some very knowledgeable people there. 

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Nice looking boy! He may be a tad underweight but his coat looks in reasonable glossy nick, so I'm not sure that his diet was all that bad.I have had dogs (and cats) that vomit after eating minced frames, but do not vomit after eating the frames themselves. I'm not sure if there is more fat in the mince somehow or if the carcass chewing starts off the digestive process more thoroughly, getting mixed with drool as it goes down or something,

If you are certain that he will not tolerate chicken, see if you can get hold of roo tail ends, nice lean chewy meat there. I realise that fresh bits can be a bit hard to come by, you might see if you can order some salmon heads from the fish market, they usually come cheap and freeze well.

Elevated bowls do not make any difference to the chances of bloat (unless they are too high - then the chances increase) but it does make it easier for the older giants especially.

 

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He doesn't look underweight to me... decent coverage over the hip bones looks good. He may be a bit ribby, but he's also still growing at his age I'd say.

 

At the boarding kennels I work at, we have had dogs that didn't tolerate minced frames, but were competely fine with whole ones... no idea why that is, but they would get squirty on the minced version, and nice solid poops on the whole ones. I wouldn't discount frames until you at least try a couple of days and see how he goes. If he is allergic to chicken, you'll know soon enough.

 

My 32kg Dane cross girl gets one frame a day, and is maintaining her condition/weight just fine... so if your boy is nearly twice her size, I'd try at least 2 frames a day, and add other supplemental foods as required - like Royal Canin large breed Junior (as he's over 12 months and doesn't really need puppy feed any more).

 

T.

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I would suggest not feeding Royal Canin - it is a very low quality food for the price you pay! It is not a recommended food in Dane circles due to the lack of quality proteins and quantity of fillers in it. 

 

Stay Loyal is a lot cheaper and a better quality for example. 

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Fair enough on the Royal Canin Danois... I used it as an example because my Dane cross girl did well on it as a young'un is all... also, my example here was more as smaller meal to supplement the frames...

 

T.

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He is underweight, he has been underfed not starved, so he has muscle but needs more cover. His coat does look shiney.

Apparently any food that doesn't agree gives him the squirts. 

Finding out exactly what he has had is not easy.

My understanding is he can have supercoat, has had Alert with no issues (horrible stuff) and had Black Hawk no worries.

Can't eat tinned food - no biggy, I think they have tried Chum and Pal - shudder.

He got liquid poo on chicken frames minced, but was fine on raw beef.

As he is a foster it will work best if I can feed him on a dry food reasonably readily available here.

Those are Black Hawk, Advance, Natural Balance, Nutro and the Stocky stuff like Bonnie etc.

I currently have him on Optimum and beef mince which is the closest I had to what he is used to being fed. I will change him over onto a higher quality food over the next little bit.

He was getting around 3 cups of Supercoat large breed and 500gms mince a day. So just not enough food for him.

I have been feeding him twice a day starting at 3 cups each meal and will put up to 4. I will try adding frames etc once he has settled in a little. I find often changing too much at onc

He has an elevated food bowl, not really high but makes eating easier.

He is in a kennel after eating so no worries about keeping him quiet afterwards. He isn't too highly strung in that respect.

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Generally speaking Black Hawk is not on the recommended list for danes.

 

Did you look at the list in the link I provided?

 

All the foods you have noted above are average at best foods and if you're trying to get him back on track then you need to find a better alternative or move to a full raw diet.

 

Growing danes can get through around 8-10 cups of a high quality dry food a day.

 

If he also inclines more to the dane in his breeding then you may need to factor in the kennel environment too.  They tend to be a breed that needs to be with their family - especially the boys.

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No I didn't see a link. Will go back and look. Not so good at this new phone DOL.

He does spend time with family. He is locked up after eating.

He has currently been on Optimum and Advance and not having any tummy issues.

I will order different food, but it will take time. I am in a remote regional area.

 

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I'm not sure if it's a good idea to let him put too much weight on quickly, but a friend adopted a rescue boxer who was skinny and ribby like that and they gave him meatballs to fatten him up. We tried them for Monty too when he was a bit scrawny.

Mince, cream cheese (or cottage cheese or something. Can't remember), kibble (crushed up to crumbs/powder), and some grated veg if you want. And you mix it to a meatball consistency and make patties and freeze them, defrosting as needed. For a dane I suppose you could add a decent portion to his regular meal? The cheese might be a bit rich on his tummy though. 

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