[DaneMama]

We are getting a new Great Dane puppy on the 16th and I am wondering if there are any tips or hints on starting a 8 week old pup on a raw diet?

Being a giant breed puppy are there any special tips/requirements that anyone has?

RFD, I would love to hear your input since you have experience raising Danes from puppyhood on a raw diet.

Can't wait to bring her home!

 

[RawFedDogs]

Hey!! What a cutie!! Lucky you. :smile:

We got Thor when he was 12 weeks old and I started him off the first day on chicken backs. The next week I added quarters. After that he was eating the same thing and same volume as Abby who was about 5yo at the time. He never had a problem with prey model raw from day 1.

If yours will be 8 weeks, you might want to feed him wings and drumsticks the first couple of weeks until he gets big enough for backs and quarters. You could also feed him some bone-in breast pretty early. I would think that by 12 or 13 weeks, you can feed him most anything you could feed a medium size to large breed dog.

I can't think of any special requirements he will have.

ETA: You MIGHT need to smash the wings/drumsticks with a hammer to help him with the bones the first week or two but no more. I didn't do anything special for Thor and he didn't have a problem with bones from 12 weeks.

 

[rannmiller]

Cute puppy! He's beautiful, I love the colors and markings!

RFD is certainly the person to ask on getting a Dane pup started on raw, that's for sure.

 

[DaneMama]

Drove all the way to Nebraska from Denver to go and see her today. Can't wait to bring her home. Her markings are even more beautiful in person. I have never seen such an unusually marked dane. Her base coat is a light cream and blue brindle and then has regular brindle patches. I will post more pictures when she comes home

Now all we need is a name that fits!

Thanks for the advice about starting a pup on raw. I think I will definitely need to crush the bones a bit at first, she is a bit smaller than the typical 8 week old great dane puppy.

What about organs? Anything different there with puppies?

I generally give the adults 2 organ meals weekly...should it be the same for the puppy?

 

[RawFedDogs]

What about organs? Anything different there with puppies?

I generally give the adults 2 organ meals weekly...should it be the same for the puppy?

I would wait a month to add organs and then do it slowly, beginning with a tiny pinch and growing it over the next month after that. Other than that, no, organs for pups are just like adult dogs.

2 organ meals a week sounds like an awful lot to me. I feed "some" organ as part of a meal maybe once a week. If the dogs handle that amount, don't worry about it. Many dogs would have cannon butt after a whole meal of nothing but organs.

I feed my dogs a beef heart meal about once a week but hearts aren't really organs.

ETA: My Thor was/is pretty small for a Dane. He only weighed 23lbs when we got him at 12 weeks. I think he is a little over 150 now.

 

[DaneMama]

We feed them their organ portions with fish, they wont eat it any other way. So its not just a straight shot of organ and nothing but, we just blend the fish with blended organs. I would say that each dog gets about 1/2 to 1 cup of organ mixed with the fish. I also add a bit of hot water to make it kinda soupy lol.

Just found out that it is much easier to put the organs in a food processor and puree them, than just cutting them up. A lot less work too.

Bailey, my first dane, was nearly 25 pounds at 8 1/2 weeks when I brought her home. Now she weighs approximately 118 so I do know that the size of the puppy does not dictate how large the adult dog will get I think this puppy will be closer to 15 pounds at 8 weeks....

 

[rannmiller]

That's a small dane!

I'm glad my dogs have no problem eating their organs. They're always just so darn excited and happy to be fed in the morning, they don't care what I'm handing them most of the time. I feel bad for everyone on here with their picky dogs when mine will scarf down anything I hand to them and do great with it. I feel as though I have it too easy with my pups, but I'm certainly not complaining :biggrin:

I'm glad everyone is finding ways to work around it though, like blending the organs with the fish. I can hand each of my dogs raw whole pork liver before the rest of their regular meal and they'll gulp it right down and look at me for more.

 

[ImWithThePyr]

What a precious little puppy!

Remember, with our giant breeds (I have a Great Pyrenees), it's very important to control the cah ratio to allow for slow and steady growth.

What is also important is to not let the pup become too heavy... you don't want to put extra weight on the growing joints. Maxwell is 20 months old and is still growing... I keep him nice and lean.

Maxwell is big for a Pyr... he's 33" at the withers and weighed 138.7 at his last vet visit. He still has a lot of filling out to do.

 

[DaneMama]

What is also important is to not let the pup become too heavy... you don't want to put extra weight on the growing joints.

When I was raising Bailey, everyone kept asking if I feed her. She was always a really lean puppy and she still is now, thats probably why she isn't a bigger dane. I know a lot of people who brag about having a huge dog and all it is is overweight. I like to be able to just barely see the ribs on my dogs.

 

[rannmiller]

Same here, I like them lean. I met a lady with a one year old weimaraner last week, the dog was already on the pudgy to fat side and she kept saying that the dog still needed to "widen up" and "fill out" and "get thicker" I was just thinking "lady if that dog gets any 'thicker' it won't be able to walk soon!'" Why do people think it's the norm for animals to be obese?

 

[DaneMama]

I personally don't have a clue why people think their dogs are at an ideal weight when they are in actuality obese.

I work at a vet clinic and I would have to say that 90% of the dogs and 99% of the cats that come in are at least mildly overweight, if not severely overweight. I don't know how many times I say "how much are you feeding your dog/cat per day?" Usually the people who own the obese animals underestimate what they are feeding. They will say "Oh, about two cups a day." But then I ask...is that two MEASURING cups or two scoops or whatever they use to dispense the food?! I show them what a one cup measuring cup looks like and they always look surprised at how little it seems to be...which makes me believe that they use a BIG GULP cup from 7-Eleven to measure their dogs food LOL

 

[DaneMama]

Akasha has been with us not even 24 hours and today she devoured an entire chicken wing without a single issue!

She absolutely loved it

YouTube - Akasha's first chicken wing

 

[RawFedDogs]

Akasha has been with us not even 24 hours and today she devoured an entire chicken wing without a single issue!

She absolutely loved it

Thats a great video!! She looks like she had been eating raw for years. :smile: I particularly was impressed that she figured out how to hold it down with her paw while she ripped the meat off. That is great for the teeth. It's like flossing them. Neither of my dogs have figured out how to do that after years of eating raw. Your's figured it out first meal. :smile:

I'm impressed!

 

[ImWithThePyr]

Yay, Akasha!! Way to go!

 

[EnglishBullTerriers]

Akasha has been with us not even 24 hours and today she devoured an entire chicken wing without a single issue!

She absolutely loved it

YouTube - Akasha's first chicken wing

My goodness, you weren't kidding when you said 'devoured', were you?! Wow, look at her go! Great job and how cute!!

 

[DaneMama]

Thanks ya'll.

She is, I don't like to say this but, the best puppy that I have raised this far. Its only been a couple of days since we brought her home but she is such a trooper. She goes potty as soon as we take her out, only had a few accidents this far! She was also really confident at her first puppy preschool session last night...funny she was the smallest puppy there, being a Great Dane and all LOL

I am very relieved that she is taking to RAW so well...she really does seem like a natural

 

[lorih1770]

She is absolutley the CUTEST! Great video!

 

[jdatwood]

Dug up some old video... here's our first raw fish meal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToXzDZPKxMs

 

[oakley]

Oh she is just lovely! Wow, what a flashy girl you will have!

 

[RawFedDogs]

Oh she is just lovely! Wow, what a flashy girl you will have!

Hehe, Are you talking about Natalie or the dog? :biggrin: