Hello all!

I have a one-year old male white german shepherd (Gus) who I've been feeding allergy-formula kibble (Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Duck and Potato). We got Gus when he was 3 months old, and soon after we noticed loose stools, so the vet recommended we try an allergy forumla kibble. It took us a while to find a kibble that agreed with Gus, but this duck and potato has worked well, and he's been on it for about 7 months. However, I've noticed in the past few weeks that he's not as interested in his food... kind of sniffs it, walks away.... if you coax him he might take a bite. Usually he'll eat most of it with more coaxing, but we only keep it out for 15 minutes and then take it away and try again next meal time. But I don't like doing this if he hasn't eating anything, because one morning when he didn't eat anything and I took the food away, he vomited a small amount of yellow fluid a little while later... other people have said they've had similar experiences, especially in the morning when their stomachs are really empty, I guess. I walk him every morning, and for a while he would vomit a little yellow liquid EVERY Saturday morning on our walk... I was so puzzled...why only on Saturdays?! But then I realized it was probably because on Saturdays I walked and fed him a couple hours later than on workdays, so the empty stomach theory seemed to hold, and I adjusted the schedule and fixed that problem. The only time Gus has ever thrown up his FOOD was when he ate something else that he couldn't digest (like a piece of rope or cloth). That's only happened twice, the last time was at least two months ago.

So I have a few questions:

First, should I be worried about this? Gus seems totally normal otherwise... if he does vomit some of that yellow fluid it only slows him down for a minute, and then he's back to romping around. He's high energy, high prey drive, loves to play and run, and in general seems like a happy pup. We've been diligent with training and obedience and keep it fun for him, and about a month ago started training with the remote colar, which he has responded very well to.

Second, if we stick with this kibble diet, when are we supposed to stop giving him the larger "puppy portions" and start decreasing the food to "adult portions?" Right now he gets 3.5 cups per meal time (and he's fed twice a day). He's not overweight (he's probably between 70-75 pounds right now... Was last weighed a couple months ago and came in at 65 pounds... even though it's been a couple months since we weighed him you can definitely tell he's filled out!).

Third, I've read a lot about the raw diet but am nervous about the idea of switching to it because of his "sensitive stomach"...but from what I've read I also recognize that he might actually do better with a more varied, non-kibble diet. Can I instead do a half-and-half thing, and supplement his kibble with raw food? If so, what should I give him? I'm nervous about giving him meat with bones in it, I'm always afraid they will get lodged in his intestines!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer! :-)

If you want to stay on a Top Quality Kibble try him on 'Orijen' if you can get it, I bet he will not sniff at that,
Mine take 30 seconds to eat there meal, They go back to there ancesters of years ago in the eating of food, they are like wolves when it is put down for them, 'Tails wagging and Jaws moving fast'

Hi Liz,
I would encourage you to switch to raw. When I adopted my current GSD the manager of the shelter he came from warned me he had a "sensitive" stomach - they had tried him on several kibbles but he had chronic diarrhea and episodes of vomiting. The "sensitive" stomach is not uncommon in GSDs, in my experience, and I suspect it's due to intolerance of grains. I transitioned him to raw within a few days of getting him home, all the digestive problems resolved within a week, and we've never looked back. He eats like a vacuum cleaner, too.
The information on raw feeding on the Leerburg site is very helpful - if you follow the basic Leerburg weekly menu you won't go wrong. Like many folk on this board, I feed Honest Kitchen Force (the grain-free chicken formula) as occasional back up or when traveling, but I don't do half-and-half with any kind of kibble. I understand your concerns over sensitive stomachs and bone - I had similar worries when I started - but in almost four years of feeding raw to three very different dogs I've never had a problem. Do some research on how to put together a raw diet and then try it with Gus - I think you might be pleasantly suprised.

There's your problem, you answered your own question.

If dog food is not fit for humans, why the heck would you feed it to your best friend?

Liz, raw is the best and easiest once you get the hang of it and if you do a little competitive shopping it can be cheaper than a high quality dry food pound for pound. It just requires changing your thinking about it.

Try a few chicken wings or chicken necks with him and see what happens. I'll bet once he tries them a couple of days you'll see a major change in his attitude about his food

Ed and Cindy have a great menu plan that Sarah mentioned above...just do a search here on raw food or prey diet and you'll find a TON of information.

If you still have questions, I'd recommend Dr. Billinghurst's BARF Diet book that I bought here on Leerburg. It's inexpensive, short, easy to read and understand, and gives you the most pertinent info on feeding raw.

You can either switch him over a few days of introducing raw with your kibble and gradually move him to all raw/no kibble or you can do it cold turkey. I know plenty of people have done that here on Leerburg. My dog was doing raw with a high quality kibble when I got her. I told the breeder that I was going to do raw and she started about a week before I picked her up in changing her over. She was 11 weeks then and when I got her home she was eating wings and necks with ease. There were a couple of days of loose stools but I think that was due to anxiety of separation from her mom and litter mates.

She's completely raw and loves her food. The only issues I've ever had was feeding her dehydrated food when I left her with my mom and dad while I was out of town. Something about it or in it didn't agree with her and she had a few bad days/nights until I got it all out of her.

good luck and check out the BARF diet book