Which food is best for German Shepherd puppies - rating of the best dry food, how to feed a puppy correctly

What you need to know about dry puppy food?

All dry food intended for German Shepherd puppies and other dog breeds are divided into four categories - economy class, premium and super-premium class, holistic. What are their differences and features inherent in each line, further in the article.

Economy class is an inexpensive option. Economy granules are produced by grinding bones, cartilage and various vegetables. There is no meat in their composition. Of course, this option of feeding a German Shepherd is categorically not recommended.

Premium class is the next “step”, which is also not recommended for puppies. There is very little meat (or rather meat by-products) in the composition - no more than 20%. The main component is rice. Additionally added cereals and vegetables. Almost always there are dyes in the composition.

Super-premium class is one of the best options for a German Shepherd puppy. Only holistic ones are better. Super premium contains real meat and nutritious by-products. They have an ideal balance of vitamins and minerals, and are free of chemical flavors and additives to enhance taste. Only natural substances are used in the composition.

Holistics win in all respects. Such dry food contains meat, vegetables, berries, offal, as well as cereals - wheat, barley, etc. This is the best type of feeding for German Shepherd puppies.

Super premium food

This class includes nutrition, which is practically no different from holistic foods in composition; they are also made from high-quality meat products and supplemented with vitamin and mineral complexes. May contain cereals and egg protein in small quantities.

The premium class includes food from the brands Brit Care, Gina Elite, Monge, Arden Grange, Eukanuba and Bosch.

Super premium food

How to feed German Shepherd puppies dry food?

Features of feeding dry food to small German Shepherds:

1. The first rule is that you can’t skimp on a dog.
2. It is necessary to buy a product designed specifically for puppies.
3. You cannot overestimate or underestimate the serving size of dry food indicated on the package.

How much dry food does it cost to feed a German Shepherd puppy? It depends on the age of the baby:

1. At two and three months of age, the baby is given an average of 240 grams of dry granules, divided into six doses. It is permissible to soak them in low-fat kefir before serving.
2. At four months, a baby German Shepherd already needs 300 grams of granules, divided into five meals a day.
3. At six months the baby is given 350 grams of food. It is necessary to divide them into four steps.
4. At eight months - 420 grams on average, for three to four doses.
5. At ten months - 430 grams per day, three times a day. At 12 months the pet is considered an adult.

More accurate indicators are indicated on the packaging of dry food purchased by the owner for the German. The serving volume rate is calculated based on the puppy’s weight and age.

Diet

So that the puppy gets used to eating properly and does not beg from the table, teach him to eat at the same time. After your pet has finished eating, remove and wash the bowls. Clean drinking water should always be available.

Veterinarians recommend the following feeding regimen:

• from one month to two months – 5 times a day;
• from 2 to 4 months – 4 times a day;
• from 4 months to one year – 3 feedings per day;
• after one year – 2 feedings per day.

Rating of the best dry food for a German puppy

There is a huge selection of dry food for small German Shepherds on the market. But it is necessary to find a high-quality product that will not harm the baby’s health or disrupt its development. An honest rating will help you find out what is the best food to give your tiny German.

Premium class

As it turned out earlier, the premium class does not contain the best ingredients; real meat is replaced by offal. The main nutritional value of such dry food comes from cereals and vegetables. In addition, premium granules contain artificial colors and unnatural flavors.

However, among all the brands on the market, you can find several optimal ones. There are five relatively good premium brands of dry food for German Shepherd puppies:

1. Royal Canin. The main components are rice, poultry (protein) and flour. The manufacturer produces different product lines adapted to the specific needs of the German Shepherd. For example, dry food to maintain the health of German joints and bones.
2. "Eukanuba". The composition of products from “Eukanuba” includes poultry meat, grains and rice, yeast, and mineral additives. Often such granules are prescribed to children with allergies, dental diseases or digestive problems.
3. ProPlan. ProPlan contains corn, so some children may have allergies. The mixture also includes chicken meat, rice, mineral and vitamin supplements, antioxidants and preservatives. The brand is quite popular in Russia.
4. "Pro Pac" One of the most inexpensive brands. It contains natural chicken (offal), rice, vegetables and fruits. In addition, fish has been added to the Pro Pack.
5. Hill's. The composition of "Hills" is relatively good - chicken and turkey, cereals (oats, barley, flax), rice, vegetables (carrots, peas). But the downside is that all the ingredients are flour. Not every German puppy can digest meat and vegetable meal.

Super premium class

The best representatives of the super-premium class line include products from the following brands:

1. Brit Care. The composition is good: meat, minerals, essential amino acids, vitamin E. In addition, the granules contain calcium and phosphorus. This brand is often recommended by veterinarians. You can choose a mixture for pets with different health conditions.
2. Duke's Farm. German dry food contains chicken and chicken meal, fish (namely salmon and trout), algae, rice and grains. There are no by-products, only meat. The included seaweed makes the kibble valuable for German puppies.
3. "Bosch". Rare but high quality product. Its peculiarity is its high content of omega-3.
4. "Arden Grange". Hypoallergenic food consisting of chicken flour and chicken, rice, yeast, vitamins and various microelements.
5. "Nero Gold" Consists of lamb meat, rice and barley. In addition, dry food contains fish meal and chicken liver.

Holistics

The best dry food for dogs in the holistic class are:

1. "Acana". Suitable for selective and capricious German children. Akana granules are not boiled, but steamed. This allows you to retain much more nutrients. It contains chicken, turkey meat, as well as chicken by-products (namely liver, hearts and kidneys). The granules contain herring, beans, flounder and seaweed.
2. "Grandorf". This product is suitable for German puppies who lead a very active and intense lifestyle and exercise regularly. “Grandorf” is quite high in calories, so it is not suitable for sedentary dogs. Contains 60 percent lamb, turkey or fish.
3. "Now." The peculiarity of this brand is the absence of barley, oats and beef. These ingredients often cause allergies in puppies. “Now” contains turkey, duck and salmon fillets, various vegetables (for example, carrots, pumpkin, beans, etc.), fruits (including bananas, pineapple), berries (for example, blackberries and blueberries). The food also contains cottage cheese.
4. "Go!" The food is easily digestible by Germans, even those with sensitive digestion. During production, the granules are not subjected to strong heat treatment.
5. "Orien". This product contains almost 85 percent meat. There are no by-products. An excellent food option for the development of sculpted muscles in German Shepherd puppies.

Features of feeding shepherd dogs

Of course, feeding a large breed dog is much more difficult than feeding a dachshund or lapdog. Therefore, the decision to get a shepherd should be balanced and conscious. A proper dog diet satisfies two basic requirements:

• covers the body's energy needs;
• provides the animal with 100% essential nutrients, primarily a high amount of complete protein.

On average, the energy requirement of an adult dog is 40–50 kcal per 1 kg of body weight. Please note that these figures are approximate: in practice, much depends on the type of work performed, living conditions, age, and reproductive state. Energy expenditure increases significantly during pregnancy and lactation, and during sports activities. In winter, dogs that spend a lot of time outside or in an unheated room should receive more calories than those kept warm. In old age, as well as after surgery to remove the sex glands (sterilization, castration), energy needs, on the contrary, become lower.

Not only the total amount of daily calories is very important, but also their sources. If the shepherd gets the lion's share of its energy from carbohydrates, it will not be able to gain sufficient muscle mass to effectively perform the work, and risks becoming overweight and even becoming seriously ill.

The nutrition of a shepherd dog, like any other breed, must be biologically appropriate. In practice, this means that the first violin in her diet should be played by proteins and fats of animal origin, because this is how representatives of the canine family feed in nature. Natural food for dogs is meat and animal entrails, poultry, and sometimes fish and eggs.

Cereals and food made from them, despite their widespread availability, are completely unsuitable for a shepherd dog: they contain too many carbohydrates. In addition, plant products are less easily absorbed by the body and do not contain all the nutrients vital for a predator. Protein from grains and soybeans is deficient in amino acid composition, and vegetable oils have a suboptimal Omega-3/6 ratio.

We believe that at least half of a shepherd's diet should consist of meat and other sources of animal protein. Fiber-rich plant products can only serve as a complement to the meat base of the feed.

If a shepherd dog performs intense muscular work, there may be more fat: in active dogs, it is not deposited on the sides, but is converted into energy. With minimal walking, you should be careful with fats, but you cannot completely remove them from the diet: this risks vitamin deficiency, decreased mental abilities, hormonal imbalance, deterioration of coat condition and other health problems. A low-fat diet is especially dangerous for puppies and young animals.

Types of feed

For bones and joints

In order for the German Shepherd's musculoskeletal system to develop correctly, the puppy is often given dry food to help strengthen it.

An excellent option is a product from Royal Canin, designed specifically to strengthen the bones and joints of a baby German Shepherd. It contains rice, which also makes it hypoallergenic.

To improve digestion

A line of products to improve and stimulate digestion is produced by many, “Purina Pro Plan”, “1st Choice”, “Brit Care”, “Nutra”, etc.

For German Shepherd puppies, they try to select dry food that will be similar to the composition of their mother’s food. The only thing is that the granules themselves must be very small. This will help the baby quickly get used to this diet, make chewing easier and improve his digestion.

For healthy skin and coat

Nutrition directly affects the condition of the skin and coat of a German Shepherd puppy. Often, due to a lack of certain nutrients, the dog’s coat begins to thin out, loses its shine and stiffness. The skin begins to peel and itch. Therefore, there are dry foods that support the health of your pet’s coat and prevent the occurrence of skin diseases. A striking example will be the product “Purina Pro Plan Optiderma”, which contains specially selected components.

Hypoallergenic food

Allergies are common among German Shepherd puppies. To feed such a baby, you will need a hypoallergenic product. Such dry food is produced on the principle of completely eliminating the allergen from the feed mixture. For example, if a puppy is allergic to chicken, it is replaced with turkey or lamb. If you are allergic to soy or corn, add rice instead.

Excellent hypoallergenic foods suitable for German Shepherd puppies are produced by Brit, Eukanuba.

Top 11 best industrial food for shepherds

If the owner cannot decide which food to choose for his pet, he can trust the reviews of the owners and the advice of veterinarians, according to which the rating of the best ready-made food has been compiled.

Choosing the best dry food for your pet is a responsible task for the owner. You should not experiment with your dog’s health by choosing food at random. And, if the shepherd dog refuses the food offered, perhaps it does not like the owner’s choice and it is worth choosing a different brand of food for the animal that the pet will like.

Can German puppies be fed wet food?

Most manufacturers additionally produce a line of wet food. This category includes various pates, canned food and meat stews. The method of their production is actually similar to the production of dry food. All raw materials are crushed, ground and mixed thoroughly. After heat treatment, pieces are formed from the resulting mass.

Wet food contains a lot of water and additional additives that are responsible for its moisture. This explains the name of the product. After production, the pieces are not dried, but left moist.

Wet food is also divided into premium, super-premium and economy. However, regardless of which category it belongs to, you cannot feed your baby German Shepherd wet food on an ongoing basis. The point is that it is not balanced. Rather, it is a small treat that is given to your pet no more than once a week.

Norms and feeding schedule

As already noted, the nutritional needs of different dogs are not the same. But we still recommend taking as a basis the daily feeding rates specified by the manufacturer. For Acana Sport & Agility complete food they look like this.

The same information is duplicated on the product pages on our website. As you can see, there are two versions of the daily diet: for active and inactive dogs. If a shepherd weighs 40 kg and has more than an hour of exercise per day, its norm is 640 grams. With minimal loads, a dog of the same weight and breed will need 450 g.

The daily norm is usually divided into two equal parts. Food is given to an adult shepherd dog in dry form, after a walk and a half-hour rest. If the dog has not finished the entire portion, the bowl is removed until the next feeding. Drinking water, on the contrary, must be kept freely available around the clock and monitored for freshness.

Questions and answers

Which dry food should I choose for my German Shepherd puppy?
Industrial dry food is ideal for German Shepherd babies because it contains the right balance of substances, amino acids and vitamins. The main thing is that the product chosen by the dog owner does not belong to economy class. The best is super-premium or holistic.

How much dry food should you give your German Shepherd?

The volume of the daily portion depends on the body weight of the German Shepherd puppy. Calculation instructions are located on the packaging of the dry food purchased for the dog.

Economy dog ​​food

Economy feed dry granules contain a mixture of ground bones, cartilage, vegetables and grains. They do not contain meat; instead they use food additives and flavor enhancers. This food does not have any nutritional value for German Shepherds. Moreover, veterinarians warn owners against choosing economy-class food, as it can harm the delicate and sensitive digestive system of dogs.

Economical and cheap food is manufactured by Happy Dog, Chappy, Purina One and Pedigree.

Economy class food

Treats in the diet of shepherd dogs

It is better to completely exclude human dishes and high-calorie treats: they provoke problems with appetite and are not always balanced in accordance with the needs of dogs. Most of them contain too much salt and spices, excess fat and (or) carbohydrates. Sometimes foods that are harmless to humans turn out to be real poison for dogs - for example, onions, garlic, chocolate and avocado.

If treats are used as rewards for work and training, it is better to take special meat-based dog treats. They are safe for the shepherd, rich in animal protein and moderate in calories.

Acana and Orijen dog treats are made from 80-100% fresh meat and poultry, prepared using a freeze-drying method that does not involve high-temperature processing. This allows you to preserve maximum benefits and meat taste, which predators like so much. The packages of treats indicate the caloric content of one piece, which helps keep the shepherd dog’s daily diet under complete control.