Diet Improvements for Your German Shepherd Dog or Puppy

by | Adult dog, diet, health, Puppies, puppy, vitamin | 4 comments

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

Why Does Your German Shepherd Dog or Puppy Eat Grass

Hello, today I thought I would blog about the correct way to feed your German shepherd dog and/or your German shepherd puppy. We’ve all seen German shepherds eat grass and then vomit the grass back up. Most of us have heard that the reason for this is that they have an upset stomach and that is why they are eating grass.

German shepherd dogs eat grass because they are not strict carnivores, but rather omnivores that have a nutritional requirement, as we do, for chlorophyll.   Unfortunately your German shepherd dog cannot digest the Johnson, rye, or Bermuda grass in your yard.  Therefore, they must vomit it back up.

We satisfy this need for Chlorophyll in our German shepherd dogs’ diet by adding cooked spinach and/or raw alfalfa sprouts to their diet. We add about 1 ounce per day of cooked spinach or alfalfa sprouts to our German shepherd diet.  Your German shepherd dog or puppy will be able to digest and fully assimilate these vegetables, thus benefiting from these rich sources of chlorophyll, vitamin A, and iron.

In addition, we monitor our German shepherd dogs and if we observe them eating grass, we increase the amount of spinach and/or alfalfa sprouts to their diet.  German shepherd dogs are like humans in that their nutritional requirements change; sometimes daily depending on environmental stressors and hormone levels such as going into season.

Try adding cooked spinach and/or alfalfa sprouts to your German shepherd dog’s diet.  You will be presently pleased with the results and your German shepherd will love you the more for it.

Ask me a question and I promise I will provide my opinion.

Sincerely,

KeystoneGermanShepherds

 

4 Comments

  1. Spencer

    What kind of grass would they eat in the wild if they cannot digest the grasses in our yards?

    Reply
    • KeystoneGermanShepherds

      Wild predators get the pre-digested vegetation that they need from the gut contents of their prey animals. Wild dogs, including wolves will eat the guts of prey animals first because of their need for pre-digested nutrients found in the stomachs of herbivores such as deer and bison.

      Reply
  2. Rex

    Hey Dean,

    Nice website and your blog is awesome. Thanks for the great service you are providing here in Oklahoma. My last three German Shepherd Dogs have come from your kennel and they are wonderful family companions. We get compliments on them all the time.

    My question is about the spinach. You recommend cooked spinach. Is there a reason not to add uncooked spinach to their dish? We grow our own spinach 8 months of the year so we know it is pesticide free. I have given some to the dogs a few times torn up in small pieces and stirred into their food along with the cod liver oil and Pure Total Dog Supplement and they gobble it down.

    Rex

    Reply
    • KeystoneGermanShepherds

      Hi Rex,

      Thank you for the kind words and compliment. We use cooked spinach because the dogs are unable to readily digest raw spinach. However in small quantities it should be fine and beneficial, as long as, the German Shepherd Dog will eat the food does vomit the spinach up. You should also make sure that you do not find undigested spinach leafs in their poop. You can also can consider lightly boiling your spinach, which in such case you would want to use the water over the dry-food or lightly saute the spinach in a pan. Lightly sauteing spinach in a little olive oil is the best way to preserve the antioxidants and allow them to readily be absorbed by your German Shepherd Dogs.

      Sincerely,

      KeystoneGermanShepherds

      Reply

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