Feeding Great Danes

The feeding information listed about raw diets is not breed specific. There are, however, some unique nutritional kibble requirements for Great Dane puppies (see our kibble page).

We have had a lot of positive benefits from feeding raw and feel it is the healthiest way to feed. Raw diets are not for everyone, which is why we have included a page about choosing a quality kibble.

What we Feed

We feed a raw diet, consisting of raw items like chicken backs, turkey necks, pork neck pones, chicken leg quarters, fish, beef/chicken liver, raw eggs, and more.

We've recently discovered Tripett - canned tripe. It's the best way to feed tripe!

We also feed AFS meat (a mince meat pre-packaged raw food). In order to make it available for us, we are distributors for AFS meat. AFS has all the necessary components of a raw diet, all ground up into a convenient mince meat.

The product comes frozen or freeze dried, the later being extremely convenient for travel (no refrigeration needed). While I love the AFS product, I also like chewable bones in my dogs' diet, so the mix of AFS with the rest of what we feed works well for us.

Feeding AFS is merely a convenience, not a necessary step in feeding raw. (AFS can also be fed as a complete diet.)

Frozen 5 lb roll of AFS meat

Raw Diets for Dogs

When people first hear about raw feeding, inevitably, there is some surprise and sometimes aversion. It is so different than what we have been taught to feed our dogs (no "people food"! no bones!). However, upon further research, many people have begun to understand and appreciate the benefits of feeding raw foods to their pets (cats, too!).

Raw feeding is not a new fad. In all reality, kibble is the "new fad", as it's certainly not been around as long as people have had pets. Still, feeding kibble has been mainstream for many decades now, so thinking about feeding our pets something else seems strange at first.

Raw takes some upfront research and one should have a good grasp on the concepts prior to starting. That said, raw feeding is not rocket science. It's not difficult, it just takes some study.

The daily feeding regimen also simple, especially once a routine is developed. Although some forethought is required when feeding raw, it is very simplistic once you get the hang of it.

Why Raw?

I switched to feeding a raw diet for various reasons. The concept behind a natural diet really made sense to me. The testimonials from other raw feeders were amazing - reports of better coats, less health issues, better appetites, cleaner teeth, less waste coming out the other end, and more.

It was the results, however, that have made me a firm believer in feeding raw! We had a Dane that had severe canine acne on his chin. It was an unpleasant mess. His acne sores would become large and infected, frequently breaking open. We went through several rounds of antibiotics and topical medications, plus followed all the "normal guidelines" for dealing with canine acne (food/water only in clean stainless steel bowls, frequent cleaning of chin, etc.). Nothing really worked. Within two weeks of switching to the AFS raw diet, his acne cleared up and we never had issues with it again. I was sold!

AFS meat in bowl, ready to eat (with crushed Vit C)

Raw diets provide a complete, healthy diet for dogs. They thrive on eating like nature intended. The benefits are nothing short of amazing. Most of these benefits are quickly seen, for instance, a healthier coat and less waste. Other benefits are seen over time, like less frequent visits to the vet and cleaner teeth.

With raw diets, the owner has more control over the dog's diet. Grains and fillers, that do not benefit the dog, are left out. Poor quality ingredients can be avoided. If an individual dog requires more/less of certain nutrients, it's easy to adjust the diet accordingly.

For anyone whose dog has suffered from allergies, try switching to a raw diet for 2-3 months. Even if non-food allergens are supposedly to blame, raw diets often work to "cure" the dog.

Bones?! Yikes!

The first thing that concerns people about raw diets is the consumption of bone. I've seen several concerned expressions when I say my dog eats chicken bones!

Dogs can eat bones just fine. Just not cooked bones. Cooking bones dries them out, causing them to become brittle, sharp and dangerous for dogs to digest. Do NOT feed cooked bones.

Raw bones, however, are soft, pliable and consumable.

Frozen pork neck bones & chicken back

If in doubt about dogs being able to digest bone, visit a raw feeder's house and look in their backyard! In fact, waste from a raw-fed dog is unbelievably small, dissolves quicker and even has less odor than kibble-fed counterparts. Definitely a huge perk of raw feeding.

Bones are a critical part of raw feeding. One should not feed a meat diet without feeding bone. Without bone, there is an upset of important mineral ratios. Bone also helps to firm stools, so a diet of meat only would likely cause diarrhea.

For people worried about feeding bone, ground bone can be used. Some geriatric dogs with poor teeth need ground bone.

There are benefits dogs receive from crunching up bones, which is lost when feeding ground bone. The biggest benefits is that the chewing process cleans the teeth. It also gives the jaw muscles a nice work out. However, if the choice was using ground bone in a raw diet or feeding kibble, I would choose feeding ground bone.

Crunching up bones is nature's intended way of keeping a dog's teeth clean.
Clean teeth are important to a dog's over-all health.

4-year-old Skyy's back teeth
Her teeth are not brushed or professionally cleaned

Onto the How...

There are many different raw feeding methods. Some people use the "BARF" method (Bones And Biologically Appropriate Raw Food - designed by Dr. Ian Billinghurst), some people utilize the "prey model" (feeding whole carcasses), some people feed veggies, some don't, some use prepackaged raw diets, and on and on.

The main concept is to feed a variety of raw meat, bones and organ meat. The lion's share of the diet is made up of raw meaty bones.

The balance of the diet is achieved over time, meaning that each meal/day does not have to include everything needed for complete nutrition.

How much raw food to feed?

As a guide, each dog eats about 2-3% of their ideal body weight daily. For instance, a 100 lb dog would eat 2-3 lbs of food. This is just a starting point - if your dog is too thin, feed more; too heavy, cut back. The amount fed isn't an exact science. It's not uncommon for novice raw feeders to weigh every meal, but after awhile, most just "eyeball it".

We feed two meals a day, so at each meal the dog eats about 1 - 1 ½ % of their body weight.

Raw Food Calculator

For puppies, begin feeding by 10% of current weight each day. Once 10% of their weight exceeds 2-3% of the ideal adult weight, switch to the 2-3% guideline. Watch the pup's weight and adjust accordingly.

Puppies eat a lot. Don't be surprised if they eat as much, or close, to that of an adult, even at 12 weeks old.

Click here to see pictures of 6 week old puppies chomping on some lamb brisket.

Although that might sound like a lot of food when thinking about feeding an adult Great Dane, with careful shopping, it's often less expensive than feeding a quality kibble. Most raw feeders will also boast that the less frequent trips to the vet will offset any additional expense. From my experience, this is true!

What to Feed

Again, the main concept is to feed a variety of raw meat, bones and organ meat. Most any consumable raw meaty bone (RMB) will work. Avoid the hard weight-bearing bones of larger animals. See the RawFed website for ideas.

Most raw feeders use a lot of poultry, due to the soft, pliable bones, plus the cheaper cost. Dogs are individuals and some dogs have preferences/dislikes (including the temperature - from semi-frozen to room temp). It can take a little experimentation to discover what works for your dogs.

In addition to the AFS mince meat and RMB's, we also feed canned Tripett (a canned tripe product), Jack Mackerel, ground turkey/beef, chicken/beef liver, heart, kidney, etc, raw eggs (shell included), cottage cheese, canned pumpkin, and more.

Some raw feeders have a daily or weekly schedule to which they adhere, I do not.

Occasionally my dogs are fed meat/cottage cheese that is a little past what I would eat. I do use freezer burned meat - relatives clean out their deep freeze and give us the out-of-date meat.

Now that I feed raw, I don't use any supplements on a daily basis. If I'm feeding a meal out of a bowl, I might add some Vit C, E and/or Glucosamine.

Some people feed veggies and/or grains, however I feed neither. While I don't feel veggies are necessary, they aren't harmful either. Grains are even less necessary than veggies.

Making sure you have it right... Once the dog is used to raw, you will learn to do some "poop watching". Stools that are too soft means the dog needs more bone. Stools that are too dry means less bone and more meat/organ meat.

The information on this page is meant as an introduction to raw -
it does not cover all aspects of raw feeding.
Please, do thorough research about what it takes to create a
healthy raw diet before starting your pet on raw.

Where to Feed RMB Meals

Because my dogs will not munch on raw bones directly out of a food bowl (they promptly drag it out to the floor), I feed RMB meals in an x-pen in the basement or outside in the grass. We have cement flooring, so it makes for easy clean up. I admit, I don't clean after every meal, rather I occasionally mop the area with a disinfectant cleaner.

Where to Purchase Raw Foods

Most raw feeders buy food in bulk, finding local suppliers by networking with other local raw feeders. To find local resources, look for an email list specific to your area (i.e. Yahoo groups) and/or contact various dog clubs to ask for names of other local raw feeders. Having local connections will be very helpful in finding local deals and even co-ops for large bulk orders.

40 lb frozen case of turkey necks, thawing in plastic tote
(with Skyy unsuccessfully trying to sneak one)

Thaw the bulk order enough to enable repackaging in smaller quantities. Repackaging methods vary. I use Ziplocs and repackage in meal size quantities. After feeding one meal, I simply pull the next meal out of the deep freeze and leave it in a container on the counter to thaw for the following meal.

A deep freeze is extremely useful - almost a "must have" - especially if feeding multiple dogs and/or larger breeds.

If you have friends/relatives that hunt or butcher, be sure to hit them up for any left over "parts"!

We've recently disovered My Pet Carnivore, a company that serves the Midwest, delivering a variety of raw food items.

For a list of companies that supply pre-packaged raw foods, see bottom of page.

What About Bacteria in Raw Foods?

Aside from feeding bones, this tends to be the other big concern about raw diets.

Dogs' bodies are designed to eat raw foods and deal with the associated bacteria. To read more about this concern, visit Myth: The Bacteria in raw meat will hurt your dog.

For the people in the household of raw fed dogs, the same cautions you would use when preparing meat for your human family applies. Hand washing and cleaning the area touched by raw meat. Like noted, I don't disinfect the dog's feeding area daily, although I'm very careful to thoroughly wash my hands and any item/surface with which my human family comes into contact (we have two small children). The dog-feeding area is kept off-limits by the x-pen that is always up.

Switching from Kibble to Raw

It is typically recommended to switch cold turkey, not using any sort of transition period. Raw foods and kibble do not digest at the same rate (raw digests much quicker), so some have theorized this could potentially cause issues by forcing the raw foods to stay in the digestive track longer. I don't know how much truth is in that, but I also do not believe a gradual transition provides any benefits.

The introduction of raw foods is likely to cause loose stools, regardless if there is a gradual transition, so there is no benefit is trying a gradual method.

Some dogs are slow to warm up to the idea of these newly presented raw foods, so not offering their normal kibble can help. A little hunger is great encouragement to try something new.

You might even fast the dog for a meal or two prior to offering the first raw foods. Do not be discouraged if your dog refuses the raw food at first. Give them 15 minutes and if they do not eat, just pick up and put in the frig until the next meal. Do not offer any other food until the next meal, then offer the same piece of meat again. For some more stubborn dogs, this process could easily take several meals. Don't worry, your dog will not starve to death during the switch!

Start with one protein source at a time, initially avoiding fatty meats, like pork. It's common to start with chicken backs due to the soft bones. Pull the skin and any excess fat off the meat, especially if your dog is prone to loose stools.

Anticipate loose stools at first. It's normal. The stools will likely be smelly and might contain some small bone fragments. Normal. Often times the stools have a mucus-like quality. Normal. The dog may vomit or regurgitate. Normal.

If the dog regurgitates shortly after consuming the food, you can allow the dog to re-eat. Gross, I realize, however that is just the dog learning to chew this new food. They will not do this long term on the raw diet. Regurgitating is different than vomiting, which occurs after digestion has started.

Allow the dog to get used to that protein source before adding a new kind of meat. Don't add more than one protein source a week for the first several weeks. Due to the richness of organ meat, do not feed any for the first month or so.

Switching to such a vastly different food is why diarrhea and vomiting can occur. Not all dogs experience this, but it is common enough to warrant the upfront reassurance. Once you get past that first week or two, things get better. The benefits of the raw diet are worth it!

Please read some of the supplied links below for more information about raw diets.

Helpful Raw Links

RawFed (explains raw and provides feeding ideas)
Myths about feeding raw diets
What is BARF
Top 50 FAQ for BARF diets
BARF Philosophy
Carnivore Feeders and Feed Suppliers (message board)
Some Sample Raw Menus & Tips
More Sample Raw Menus
And yet more Sample Raw Menus

The important thing is to find a diet and method that works for your home and for your dog.

Although AFS is our top pre-packaged choice, here are some other quality pre-packaged raw diets:
A Place for Paws
Aunt Jeni's Home Made 4 Life
BARFWorld
Bravo Raw Diet
Celestial Pets
FarMore
Grandad's Pet Food's
Halshan
Natural Balance Pet Foods
Nature's Variety's Prarie
Primal Pet Foods
Raw Advantage
Steve's Real Food for Dogs
Three Cheers Raw! Raw! Raw!