[Akkia4l]

We have a lovely 6 MO Rottweiler. I started off with normal 'puppy starter diet' where I live dog food is sup par and quality dog food is 3x the price in USA. So I read the ingredients on top selling dog food and thoughts to put by rotty on home made diet.

Questions :

1-How much should I feed him (in grams please) his age is 6 months & weight is 25 kg (55 lbs)
He is active n goes on walk 3 times a day (20 min each)

2-i am feeding him 500gram (1lbs)boiled chicken without bones (good quality) and 1 lbs white rice with veggies (0.3 lbs) chicken stock/curd sometimes.
Is this a good diet ? Anything can I add to remove please suggest (I am looking for more local n economical option)

3-Even after eating around 1 KG (2.2 lbs) daily food he remains hungry, he never gives up on eating anything, is this normal or I am not feeding him enough?

4-should I ditch home made diet n switch to Kibble again?

5-My poor boy is on Medications for Symptoms related to Hip dysplasia (I noticed it when he was a pup :'( )

Is there any exercise, massage or way of living to improve his hip bones?


Any suggestions or criticism is welcomed.

Thanks and sorry for long post.

A

 

[LeoRose]

Just chicken and rice is not a balanced diet. If you don't have access to information about how to formulate a balanced diet, then yes, your best option is to switch to kibble.

Unless your dog is extremely dysplastic, then six months is young to be showing symptoms. Has he been x-rayed? Or are you just assuming he has dysplasia, and not an injury of some type? In fact, if he's been on nothing but the boiled chicken a rice diet for a long time, that could be contributing to his problems.

 

[storyist]

I have Rotties, and LeoRose is right in every regard. What you're feeding is nutritionally deficient in a lot of ways and will adversely affect a growing puppy. If you want to feed a home made diet, you need to do a lot of research, and it's better to wait until a dog is mature rather than making mistakes when they're growing.

If you have an actual diagnosis of hip dysplasia, look into natural products that help like glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate, green-lipped mussels, etc., rather than giving "medications" like Rimadyl which are hard on kidneys and liver. Save the meds for when he's aged and absolutely needs strong pain relief.

 

[Akkia4l]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, so what both you think? Should I put him on kibble or do a reasearch for balanced home made food. Or should I simply switch to BARF diet.

if you have a recipe or diet plan for growing puppy please share it. I really love my rotty

 

[storyist]

Personally I'd put him on a puppy kibble until growth slows at 8 or 9 months and the best adult kibble you can find that agrees with him until 18 months or so. Research raw diet in the meantime. Also research ingredient sources and prices. Even if you balance things like calcium and phosphorus, make sure there's enough of things like iron and iodine, etc., IMO using only chicken for your protein is insufficient. They need red meat and some fish too. The other option is supplements for what's missing, which is what the dog food companies do.

I only started feeding raw because I have one who has allergies, and I couldn't find a single kibble that didn't have one of the ingredients she's sensitive to. Then of course I felt guilty about the allergic one getting better than the other one....

Do some searches on the internet for raw diet for dogs. You'll see that there are different beliefs and theories: BARF, whole prey, etc. One thing they all mention, which a lot of people forget or ignore is variety. I bet you find that a good raw diet is as expensive or more expensive than kibble.

I can't recommend what I'm doing because I'm using an extremely expensive base mix that takes care of the nutrient problem so long as sufficient protein (meat) is added. Even at that one is supposed to vary the meat type and adding organs is recommended. The base mix is probably not available in your country, and as I said is ridiculously expensive, but I'm at the age where easy is worth it and while it's not financially prudent, I can manage it.