Ok, thanks Jennifer, that makes sense.

Patrick,

I feed my 5 month old GSD ,who weights 45 lbs, One cup of Innova large breed puppy food mixed with one egg and about a half lb. or more of ground beef for breakfast. For dinner the same but without the egg and a little yogurt. *** see mod note below *** I make a pot of sweet potato, garlic and onion stew sometimes and add that to the dinner meal (very easy to make), or just chop up some carrots or sweet potatoes raw and mix it in. I always add fish oil and vit E pills to the meals.

I get the ground beef on sale and freeze it...it is creaper than the Innova when it is on sale. You can use ground turkey or chicken if you are like me and don't like dealing with bird carcasses. I use ground meat because it is cleaner and easy to use and my pup is teething and her gums are pretty sore. I personally can't stomach cutting up raw meat, which would need to be done until she is finished teething.

Dry food alone is not going to cut it for a dog...mammals can't live on dry food alone without having body problems..."live food", which is raw food, has the live enzymes the body needs,... dry food is "dead food." Most doctor's know that a person who eats 75 percent of their diet in raw fruits and veggi's live healthier lives...not just because you need to eat your "fruits and veggi's" but because us humans get the live enzmyes our body needs when we eat them raw..dog's have a different digestive tract...it is made for digesting meat, and it's the live enzmyes in that raw meat that keeps the dog healthy, which means less body problems.

I am only adding the Innova now for the vits in it...I will take her off it soon....Price it out, a good dry dog food is not cheap.

 Quote: Anna Anderson

Patrick,

I feed my 5 month old GSD ,who weights 45 lbs, One cup of Innova large breed puppy food mixed with one egg and about a half lb. or more of ground beef for breakfast.

Unless you are grinding bones into that beef, this results in half of a growing pup's diet being calcium-less.

The calcium-phosphorous ratio (bone to meat) is THE critical ratio in raw feeding.

This is completely aside from the issue of mixing kibble with raw in the same meal.

Garlic and onions (the allium family) are toxic to dogs in unpredictable cutoff amounts.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1368&S=2

http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?Story_No=257

http://www.jlhweb.net/Boxermap/onions.html

http://www.vetinfo.com/dtoxin.html
Scroll to "Dogs develop hemolytic anemia if they eat enough onions."

http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/onion_toxicity_in_dogs

Connie,

Even when cooked? What is meant by "unpreditctable cutoff amounts?"

In other words, what may not harm one dog, could be fatal to the next.
We have no way of knowing what the "toxic" level of garlic or onions are to any given dog.

Sorry, I am not understanding....if you are mixing the ground meat with Innova does that mean I still need to put bones in it?

 Quote: anna anderson

Connie,

Even when cooked? What is meant by "unpreditctable cutoff amounts?"

Cooked or raw.

Ok, I now see this articles you sent me...Thank you!

Boy, I use to give my other dog raw garlic all the time to prevent flee bits, I knew about chocolate, but not onions and garlic.