large puppy and large adult

Question
Hi
This is a two dog inquiry.
I have a large mixed 5yo male dog.  He is half irish wolfhound and half irish setter.  He is 115 lbs and has most of the wolfhound personality and looks.  He is prone to ear problems, most of the time it is yeast, and has seasonal skin allergies.  For the past year he has been eating Hills ZD wet and dry food mixed.  I am looking into changing him to a raw diet.  Can you recommend one of the prepackaged foods.  He is agile and active and I want to give him the best diet as possible.  
Onto the next - in a few days I will be getting a 8 week old puppy.  He is half irish wolfhound and half great dane.  Since he will be so large I want to have him on a raw diet as well.  Previously you reccomended the Innova for large breed puppies.  Is this the best for him?  Please let me know your thoughts on this.  Thanks so much!

Joanne

Answer
Hi Joanne,

Congratulations on the new baby! Puppies are so precious, and the special time passes so quickly. Of course you want the right diet for both your dogs - and as usual, I have a few questions as well as some ideas.

First; your adult is eating a Hill's Diet and you want to go to raw. Many dogs with allergy/yeast do extremely well on a properly balanced raw diet.If you're looking for a pre-mix that assures you the nutrient content is balanced, I'd look at the offerings from The Honest Kitchen. Of the various wellknown products available now, this is one of my favourites.
http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/index.shtml

Will you be restricting ingredients, using the same proteins as in the Hill's? It might be wise to start off using only meat that you've used before successfully - chicken and beef are often problematic, and I see a great number of dogs who still have symptoms on raw or cooked, if one of the allergens is included. This brings me to the problem with a prepared diet like HK - with numerous ingredients, you can have a reaction and not know for sure which is causing it. When I transition a dog from kibble to raw or cooked (home prepared) I generally start with an elimination diet - just one novel protein and one carb - and challenge with different foods over a six month period. Supplements need to be added to a home made diet, and these too should go in slowly. This is probably the most successful approach, but it is time-consuming and you need to do some studying to ascertain what your dog will require in terms of supplements. Unfortunately, simply providing a varied or "natural" diet is no assurance of adequacy. So it might make sense to start with the pre-mix (I like Honest Kitchen, but there are others, many people like Bravo! - although I have not analyzed the food personally, which I have with Honest Kitchen) and see how he does. If you don't see the kind of improvement you're aiming for, it might be time to consider an elimination diet.

http://www.bravorawdiet.com/

Now; your puppy. With a large breed it's very important to avoid overnutrition, especially in terms of minerals. I highly recommend using a commercial diet for the first year unless you are very fluent in formulating diets, Puppy diets are challenging even for the professional as nutrient levels need to be increased every few weeks up to a certain point, and then gradually tapered down.  I used a combination of Innova Large Breed Puppy, Orijen Large Breed Puppy, Canidae All Life Stages, and Merrick's canned, with my own large breed pup. I gradually added a home made recipe here and there until he was 8 months and then fully transitioned him to his current diet, which is 90% home prepared(he does love a can of Merrick's as a special treat, so he gets a couple a week).. Since I am incredibly busy and am cooking fulltime for my senior who is unwell, I felt this would be easier on all concerned (and my dog has done beautifully). Even for someone who does this professionally, balancing a puppy diet is a lot of work. And I used the various foods together since all have qualities I like and all have things I don't care for. You *can* go right to a home made diet, but I'm wary of the pre-mixes. If I were planning to use one, I would definitely contact the company and drill them with questions regarding mineral content, large breed puppies, fat and protein content, and fiber.

When you ask what I think is best for your pup, I have dual concerns. First and foremost, the nutrient content of the puppydiet MUST be suited to his requirements. I've probably analyzed over 500 raw diets since I started working in this field and almost all were unbalanced - some seriously so. Because something is on the Internet or even in a book, doesn't mean it's correct.  I'd encourage you to consider the nutrient content of the diet first - fat, protein, vitamin and mineral levels, and fiber. Almost as important is the food itself - and fresh, wholesome ingredients are of course preferable! I don't like to see any gluten grains or heated vegetable oils (hard to get away from) I like to rotate proteins, and keep it fresh and organic. however, nutrient requirements are number one. I hope I don't sound like a broken record, it's just that growth is such a critically important stage, if you feel in any way unsure of your ability to do it correctly, go with a large breed puppy food. You can then transition him to a food like Honest Kitchen (or a home prepared raw diet) at about a year.

I hope this was helpful and please feel free to ask for clarification, or more insight if you wish.
All the best, Catherine