Question by Nyan R: How often should I give my German Shepherd a bath?
If you can see my past question, I just recently got my German Shepherd out of a bad situation. He has fleas little red bumps on his back(What I’m guessing is probably bites, or allergies from the fleas.)

Anyways, I was reading around and got a bunch of different answers for this. From once every other month, to only TWO times a YEAR! I would guess you wouldn’t want to over wash any dog, especially German Shepherds, so you don’t wash away all their natural oils and dry their skin out.

He will be a Indoor/Outdoor dog once we get him all clean and rid of fleas.

Thanks in advance!

Best answer:

Answer by dixiedarlin7297
However often you feel like you need to but not more than about once a week. More often than that can dry out the skin. I usually bathe my dog about once a month unless he happens to get dirty (in the mud, etc.)

What do you think? Answer below!

Question by karelia nuñez: My German Shepherd dog,the vet just told us that he has EPI?
The vet said that we had to put him on an special diet name ID by Hill…and now I just went online and check the ingredients and that food is made by Whole Grain Corn, Brewers Rice, Dried Egg Product, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, …I have my dog in Wellness almost all his life…and they have one type that is call Simple food solution that is made all natural.. for dogs with Allergy and food digestion problems ..Can somebody tell me if that will be good for him… ????? I’ll give him everything that the vet said…. but that food….I’m not crazy about that….??? can somebody help me with some advise …this is the first time that I know about the EPI in dogs????

Best answer:

Answer by Jessie
He didn’t put you on a synthetic pancreatic enzyme to add to the food?

We have a dog with EPI. We did not change his food, but we did begin using a pancreatic enzyme on his food that needs to be added to it 20 minutes before we offer it to him. He’s fine now.

Did your vet say why he wants your dog on the ID? If you are not comfortable with the ID, ask if you can use another food that has a similar nutrient profile. ID is not just for pancreatic issues–they give that to any dog with GI upset, frankly.

Did he discuss an enzyme with you? Does he think this is a temporary bout of pancreatitis or a chronic condition? How was the dog tested for this and diagnosed?

Sorry to ask so many questions!

ETA: I would not make a switch to raw at this point, or to a grain free food. In either of those scenarios, you’d be drastically increasing the fat and protein levels of the dog’s diet, which is probably inadvisable as richer foods could make things much worse; and a major diet change will make it very hard to tell if any treatment plan is working.

If you had any notions of drastic diet change, hold off for now, until things settle down for awhile. ( I would not consider switching over to Simple a drastic change.)

And yes, the food does need to be moistened to activate the enzymes. Our dog with EPI was already a eating a mix of dry, wet and a little bit of warm water, so I didn’t think to mention that you need moisture to activate the enzymes (which are generally offered in a powder).

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Question by mammafish: What sort of vit supplement should I get when I start a raw diet for a 6 month old German Shepherd?
My German Shepherd pup is eating herself to death. We have had several vet checks. She has been on Prednazone (sp) for the last two months. It hasn’t been working and she has been eating herself to death. I took her back to the vet today and found out that she has a staph infection due to her digging and chewing and they gave her a steriod injection. He said it should work instantly unless it is a food allergy. So far it hasn’t helped. We discussed changing foods within a weeks time if she is still chewing. He suggested Science Diet ZZ or ZD (?). She is on Lamb and rice right now, Chicken made her chew herself more so I am almost positive it is food related. I am reading up on raw diet and wondering where on earth do I find the vit to put in her food?? We don’t really have a pet store anywhere near here. Or should I try to change her to the Eukanuba venison? I’m trying to save money and keep my dog healthy, thats why I ask that. The SD food is HIGH!

Best answer:

Answer by Bama
I have fed raw diet for years with great results and NO supplements. It’s true that many dogs are allergic to raw chicken, one of mine is, but the other two thrive on Raw Diet and never are sick…never see a vet except for booster shots.

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Question by Seemingly Impressive: Wich is the best food for my australian shepherd puppy, (i gottem narrowed down to a couple)?
Wellness
Canidae
Evo
Innova
and
Chicken soup for the dog lovers soul

For those of you who buy store bought brands such as Iams, Pedigree, and Purina etc. from wal-mart need to switch to these quality food brands, Why? you ask…well, Putrid road kill and uethenized animals are brought by the truck load to factories that grind their bodies up into a soup and add chemicals or there already are chemicals in the naste of bodies. They take the fat off the top of this “soup” and sell it to dog and cat food making companies. These companies combine it into their food and add it as animal fat. They also add toxins that can be deadly like EQ better known as ethoxyquin, which is a deadly chemical. These pet food company also adds fillers such as soy, corn and wheat that are NOT essential to your dogs health and this also means your dog isn’t getting enough and the right amount of vitamins and protein they need a day, there for they eat more to feel ful. This means your also buying more and more pet food when if you had the quality brands you wouldn’t be buying pet food as often as you do. Please avoid these brands;
Iams
Pedigree
Purina
Ol’ Roy
Alpo
Eukanuba
Royal Canin
Kibbles ‘n Bits
And one of the crappiest dog brands is, Science Diet

These also cause a higher chance to your breeds congenital defects, they cause liver and kidney damage, Cancerous skin lesions, hair loss, blindness, leukemia, fatal abnormalties and cronic diarrhea. EQ also gives immune deficiency snydrom; spleen, stomach and liver cancers and a host of allergies.

Why does my vet recommend it then? Your vet and most vets aren’t familiar with the dog brand foods and these horrible dog brand companies actually pay your vet to sponser them and for telling people their vet recommended people will think its safe. Most don’t know what they are doing, but I highly wish they did so they would stop!!! Proven fact, if you don’t believe me then LOOOK IT UP!!!

Please use these brands;
Canidae
Innova
Wellness
Merrick
Evo
Timberwolf Organics
Taste of the Wild
Natures Variety
Nurto Natural Choice
Chicken soup for the puppy lovers soul
Solid gold
Eagle Pack (but only if it’s holistic)
California Natural
Artemis
Blue Buffalo
Orijen

Your welcome for saving your dog!!!!
Here are some sights that will tell you more information;
http://www.thedogbowl.com/PPF/category_ID/37/dogbowl.asp
http://www.thedogfoodconspiracy.com/dog-food-secrets.php?hop=alppc

Best answer:

Answer by Bulldogs and Pitbulls 4 life
canidae and evo for sure!

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Question by tarra: What food to buy for my German Shepherd, she has Malassezia dermatitis.?
My rescue dog has Malassezia dermatitis, thankfully, she doesn’t have any underlying disease with it like thyroid, diabetes. She does have an allergy to dust and is on pirton tablets. Due to being starved and beaten for 9 months of her life her coat was in poor condition with skin lesions, hair loss and a horrible mousey smell.

I researched the condition as much as I could and tried her on a raw food diet with brown rice, however she lost too much weight. So I switched to Jameswellbeloved with Bozita canned food.

Is there such a thing as a dry dog food, that is free of diary, soya, wheat, gluten, sugar? As these ingredients feed the yeast. My dog seems to prefer dry food mixed with canned meat.

Her coat has recovered from the damage done to it and I want to maintain it. She has new hair growth. She does itch but I suspect it’s due to the dust allergy.

Any other advice, suggestions on what food I can give her would be gratefully received. I live in the UK.
I forgot to say that I have the yeast infection under control and now bath my dog every 2/3 weeks in the Malaseb shampoo.

I know dogs aren’t vegeterians but at the same time I want to feed my dog good quality food without the nasty things in and want to avoid giving her foods with ingredients in that will feed the yeast in her gut.

My dog doesn’t have a food allergy, it is the ingredients I have to watch out for so I am not upsetting the good flora in her gut.

Thanks for your answers sofar.

Best answer:

Answer by Terry Z
Check with your Vet. By the way dogs are not vegetarians.

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