How much feed should I feed my Great Dane puppy?

Question

I am using Beneful dry puppy feed and Nutro wet to mix in. The Beneful bag accounts for the ultimate size of the dog, not its current weight, which is only 11 lbs. It suggests 5+ cups per day, which seems excessive. Please no answers telling me what a horrid feed Beneful is...it fufills all the necessary requirements and we are feeding it because it was recommended to us by 4 different vets, "bad" name aside. Thank you for any info. The puppy is 8 weeks old.

Answer 1

Please read this site. It is for danes only & this page has to do with what & how you should be feeding your dane.



http://www.all-about-great-danes.com/feeding-great-danes.html



They strongly advise to never feed puppy food to giant breeds. The majority of dane breeders & owners agree with this statement.(me included as a dane owner)

Answer 2

Most people that have large breeds like yours don't feed the puppy food, the Danes need to be grown slower. Feed a low fat, low protein good food without all the fillers you are currently feeding or go to a large breed puppy. The amounts will be on the bag as to how much your Dane needs.

Answer 3

Scoring Your Dog Food *Please note that the following is for entertainment purposes only and has not been researched by DAN and may not be a "true" grading of food. If you have any questions regarding the food you are feeding your dog consult your veternarian. This is a very interesting way to check out the quality of the dog food that you are feeding. It's interesting, because sometimes paying more, does not get you more and vice versa. The scores are rather interesting. How to grade your dog's food: (Some brand reviews already calculated here) Start with a grade of 100: 1.For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points 2.For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points 3.If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points 4.For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5 points 5.If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points 6.If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points 7.If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points 8.If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points 9.If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points 10.If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points 11.If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points 12.If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points 13.If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points 14.If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to beef), subtract 1 point 15.If it contains salt, subtract 1 point Extra Credit: 1.If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points 2.If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points 3.If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points 4.If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points 5.If the food contains fruit, add 3 points 6.If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points 7.If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points 8.If the food contains barley, add 2 points 9.If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points 10.If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point 11.If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point 12.For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point 13.If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point 14.If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point 94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D 69 = F Here are some foods that have already been scored. If you don't see your dog's food here, ask and someone will score it for you. Brand Dog Food scores: •Authority Harvest Baked: 116 A+ •Bil-Jac Select: 68 F •Canidae: 112 A+ •Chicken Soup Senior: 115 A+ •Diamond Maintenance: 64 F •Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice: 92 B •Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula: 99 A •Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium: 122 A+ •Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato: 106 A+ •Foundations: 106 A+ •Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold: 93 D •Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium: 73 D •Innova Dog: 114 A+ •Innova Evo: 114 A+ •Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables: 110 A+ •Nutrisource Lamb and Rice: 87 B •Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy: 87 B •Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice: 23 F •ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley: 103 A+ •Purina Beneful: 17 F •Purina Dog: 62 F •Purina Come-n-Get It: 16 F •Royal Canin Bulldog: 100 A+ •Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult: 106 A+ •Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice: 97 A •Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+: 63 F •Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies: 69 F •Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken: 110 A+ •Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold: 97 A

Answer 4

Do NOT ever feed puppy food of any kind, not even large breed to a Dane puppy...to do so can cause some very serious growth problems. Do NOT feed a low quality food such as Beneful to any dog, especially a Dane..Beneful does NOT fullfil ANY of the necassary requirements.



I don't care if 20 vets said it was ok to feed Beneful..it is a very low quality food!! I have worked for/with vets for 36 years I have the utmost respect for most and admire their medical knowledge, however very few vets have any knowledge of nutrition & feeding especially when it comes to giant breeds such as Danes. Vets only get general nutrition classes in school that cover everything from cats to rats, dogs to hogs.



Get this puppy off puppy food now and get it off the Beneful..get this puppy on a good quality food one that contains meat....meat as at least the first 2-3 ingredients and that doesn't contain corn, wheat or soy...you are feeding a dog, a carnivore, not a goat.

Get this puppy on a good quality adult food of not more then 24% protein such as Canidae ALS,Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul Regular Adult or Large Breed Adult, Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken, California Natural, Merrick just to name a few.

A good quality adult food has all of the nutrition your growing Dane puppy needs. It has the right amount of calcium, protein & fat.



An 8 week old Dane puppy should weigh from 18 - 27 # and be from 13" - 17" tall. Your puppy should be fed 3 times per day at this point. You should be feeding @ 1 1/2 cups dry food per feeding and you can mix taht with a bit of warm water and a couple of spoons of a good quality wet food.



5+ cups is not in excess at all when you are feeding such a low quality food.Actually it should be more and for an adult Dane you could be looking at 12 -14 cups of this cheap food daily just to try to maintain a proper weight. it takes up to 3 times as much of a cheap food for a dog to get proper nutrition then it does from a good quality food.



I feed my Danes Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul Large Breed Adult....they only get 4 cups per day of the dry..2 am, 2 pm plus 1/3 can of wet am & pm. My show pup was raised on it and even as a young puppy never ate more then 5 cups total per day...he was 22.7 # at 7 weeks of age.



I suggest that you join some of the Dane groups so you can learn how to correctly feed & raise your Dane puppy.

http://www.danetalkers.org http://dolforum.com http://leansnslobbers.proboards92.com http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/premieregreatdaneclub http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/greatdanelovers

Answer 5

Feed him according to his current size. If his ribs start showing, increment the amount up until you cannot see them anymore. The ultimate (final) amount of food to feed your puppy depends on the amount of exercise it is getting.

Don't forget that it can have leftovers too! My dogs eat all veggies/fruits except chinese baby corn-green beans, corn, tomatoes, potato skins they Absolutely love.

The exceptions to the list are no grapes/raisins and no chocolate. There are probably more thing no to feed them, but a simple google search should help you find out.

Answer 6

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://biturl.im/aU4RH



A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 7

Most vets know next to nil about dog nutrition, and reccomend AWFUL brands.



Beneful is awful. And I'm sorry if you don't want to hear it.



It does not fufill the needs of your dog, you are WRONG. Sorry.





A great, cheap brand of food that is SOOO much better would be Costco's Kirkland Brand dog food. It comes in 40lb bags for about $25. EXTREMELY REASONABLE for a very decent food. It's about the best you can get for that price.



A puppy of 8 weeks old should get as much as it wants (unless you notice it becoming fat).

Answer 8

Puppies need to eat a lot--and not too much. You should be able to feel but not see their ribs, and they should have a visible waist when you look down at them. This is true for puppies of any breed, big or small.



In general, you should follow the guidelines on the back of the bag of dogfood, and adjust up or down depending on your puppy's appetite and body condition.



Here's more info.



http://aiyaec.notlong.com

Answer 9

You may find serving suggestions on the back of feed bag for your dogs age and size.

Answer 10

I agree that the quantity sounds ambitious. Try feeding him a cup and a half, three times a day and adjust from there.



As for the brand - ignore the dilettantes. Compared to the shoe leather we used to feed our dogs back in the day, Baneful is fine.