After searching the right food that Maple could eat and keep down along with maintain a good weight for her, I settled on Evo.  This was after having issues with her being under weight and throwing up kibble and going trying a vet prescribed diet that was supposed to be easy to digest.  Now I understand that P&G has purchase Innova.  Anyone on this list feeding a raw diet and maintaining a good weight on your GSP?  I would be afraid to feed them quail thinking the next time she is to retrieve one, she would eat it instead.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Can you give more of a history? How old is Maple,when did you get her,what foods did you try and can it be possible she was throwing up due to eating to fast?
Also, many GSPs are "skinny". It's sorta a relative term.

You don't have to worry about her eating game b/c you feed game based diets. If that were the case I'd be in real big trouble. For about 3 months during deer season my dogs eat exclusively venison - heart,lungs,organs,meat and bones, along with other ingredients to balnace it - raw egg with shells,some veggies,flax seed oil and some other good stuff.

Raw diets cost about the same - difference is in prep time.
 

Maybe you can show a picture - we love pictures.

Francine

Thanks for the welcome.

I have had Maple since she was 8 wks.  She is now 6 years old.  The other kibble we have tried were Eukanuba, Iams and Blue Buffalo.   With the Evo, we also mix with Orijen, but our dogs do not like the Orijen alone, but love the Evo red meat.  The local specialty pet store is no longer going to carry Orijen.  She gave the reason of shipping cost, but I think it is store area that she can use for some other product that she sells.  So with P&G taking over Innova and the local store not carrying the Orijen, just thinking of changing to something else.

We compete in agility and obedience and she is my jogging partner, so she is quite active.  I certainly do not want her overweight and want to keep that tummy tuck, but before eating the Evo, her ribs were quite noticable.

I have never fed raw, but now leaning that way.  I know Maple loves it as she has stolen a steak off the counter and well, she looked quite satisfied after!  Of course my husband was not too happy about it.

I have added a picture to my profile.  Not sure when it will show up.

Here is a photo of my Maple.  I also have 2 other dogs, a border collie (really my daughter's dog) and a chocolate lab.

I agree with the traveling thing, it would be difficult to feed raw while on the road.

Roz

Thanks Bev!  I thought I would have sometime anyway even if P&G wants to change anything in the Innova brand.  I have a few people I know that do agility that feed raw.  I may mix it up some, perhaps not feeding totally raw, but adding some fresh meat to one of their meals instead of trying to get the Orijen now that my local store is not going to carry it.  Maple has done really well on the Evo as well as Splash (the border collie) who is the finicky eater and of course Wonder (the lab) has the prettiest coat ever on this Evo.  They are all fed just the right amount as they are all fit and trim.  Most people that see our lab think that she is just 1 or 2 and she is 8 1/2 years.  People would say that about Maple, except that she is so grey in the face, she is perceived as older.  So needless to say I have been pleased with the EVO, just upset at the sellout to P&G and wanted to check around to see if I have to make a transition to something else, what my options may be.

Roz

I have heard of Taste of the Wild.  Someone else had mentioned that on FB.  So you do mix raw with kibble?  I am leaning towards that so that when I do travel out of town, I can go strickly kibble if bringing raw would be too much.  I have signed up for a forum on feeding raw and gosh, they are so against kibble, they say do not feed it at all.  Of course, they have a picture of the dogs feeding on a large carcass out of wheel barrel and well, I  don't think my neighbors would appreciate that in my little old house in the city of Mandeville.  I think they would frown upon that more so than the weaves and jumps I have in the yard for some agility training.  It was bad enough when I was throwing a dead quail in the water for Maple to retrieve for the NRD title she has.

Our gsp Chessie has been on a raw+kibble mix since she was a pup and she is now 8 months and it has worked great for her. She is on a mix of wellness puppy and the Blue Ridge Beef puppy mix. She has never had a problem with her weight and loves it.

Here is a pic from 4th of July weekend.

We feed her the wellness puppy dry kibble. And we add in the raw(blue ridge beef). They make a raw mix that is called the puppy mix which is beef and tripe. here is a link to there site. http://blueridgebeef.com/products-raw-beef-chicken.html. She gets a mix of both twice a day, and yes it does make her coat shiny.

I have heard from several people (specifically the breeder - well atleast the sire's) about taking puppies off of puppy food around 6 months or they start to grow a little wonky. Any  trurth to this?