# Raw diet affecting growth?



## J Ramanujam (Dec 30, 2007)

Over the weekend, one of my decoys, Dwayne Baker, went down to compete at a PSA trial in Sonora. (He did great! He's coming back with 11 trophies and took first!) He happened to meet up with a guy who owns a couple pups from Switch's litter, and he got to meet the dogs.

Apparently they're both humongous and you wouldn't even be able to tell that they are from the same litter that my pup's from. Switch is six months and probably weighs in at about 40-some odd pounds. 

I also saw a pic of yet another pup from her litter, and he also was huge... 

... but my dog's so tiny. Not that I have a problem with that! She's in excellent health and she's coming along very well work-wise, I'm just wondering if there's something I missed...

She eats everything I can buy raw. Different meats - chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb - I always feed meat on the bone in the morning, and she gets as much as she wants. I try to keep a good meat/bone ratio for this. Then she gets organ meats, and some odd things like tripe and chicken feet at midday, and I feed ground or canned fish at night with some vegetable matter (usually pumpkin and a little green something). She eats a lot!

But maybe I'm stressing her out too much or... something?

I guess what I'm really wondering is have you guys ever noticed any growth differences between raw and processed foods?


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## Dan Long (Jan 10, 2008)

Don't stress. One of the benefits of a raw diet is the slower growth rate. Slower growth= better bone and joint development. I didn't put my GSD on raw till he was 5 months. He was over 50lbs by then. From 5 months on his growth slowed and by 8 months he was 75lbs. It took him till he was 3 to finally hit 90lbs.

Your dogs final size is determined by genetics. She'll get there eventually. When you think about it, 60lbs is a good weight for a female GSD, and your girl has plenty of time to get there. 

We've fed our Great Dane raw since the day she came home at 12 weeks. She's only 108lbs at 17 months but she eats 4lbs of raw per day. I'm sure her littermates are bigger but I doubt they are healthier. She'll eventually get to her final weight which should be around 120-130lbs. There's no rush.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

I agree with Dan 100%.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

I agree genetics are the big factor and as long as your dog is healthy, happy and has good energy, you just have to be patient.

My dog was the biggest of all the pups when I picked him up at 8 weeks. I was in touch with the breeder and all his littermates via e-mail.

The combo of the fact that my pup was more active than thiers and switching to raw at about 6 months made it so that even the females of the litter were taller and heavier than my male for quite a while. By the time my dog was 1.5 years old he had claimed back his position as the "big boy" of the bunch. Of course with my breed that is only 20" and 42lbs


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## Mike Smith (Apr 1, 2008)

Yes it's true

Raw fed dogs growth is not as ....... well I call it "forced" as kibble fed ones. it's more noticable in pups. They do catch up time but the growth rate is slower.


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## J Ramanujam (Dec 30, 2007)

Ok, awesome. Thanks guys  I was kinda worried about my little dog. I have noticed that she has never exhibited any of those 'mega-oversized puppy traits' - like giant feet, huge knuckles, and anything else hugely misproportioned aside from ears and tail... so maybe that's why. Whatever the case, that sounds good to me.


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