Best People Food for Dames Feeding Puppies
Looking for a Great Dane feeding chart with some awesome food information? Curious about the best foods for Great Danes, and what to raise your Dane puppy on?
This is the ULTIMATE everything you need to know about feeding Great Danes blog post. We're going to cover everything from what to feed, to how much to feed, and more.
Let's dig in!
Table Of Contents
- Great Dane Puppy Food & Nutrition
- Should Great Dane Puppies Have Adult or Puppy Food?
- The Top Foods to Feed Your Great Dane Puppy
- Kibbles that meet WSAVA recommendations
- Our Favorite Kibble Brands for Great Dane Puppies
- When to Transition to Adult Food
- Great Dane Puppy Nutrition Criteria
- How Much Should a Great Dane Puppy Eat?
- How to Feed a Great Dane Puppy
- Using Kibble for Training
- Science in Dog Food
- Holistic & Natural Pet Foods
- Kibble Brands to Avoid
- Adult Great Dane Dog Food
- Fiber & Fresh Foods for Great Danes
- Can Great Danes have Grain-Free Food?
- Supplements for Great Danes
- Raw Diets for Great Danes
- Complete & Balanced Raw Food
- Raw Feeding for Great Danes Tips
- Raw Bones for Great Danes
- Raw Dog Food as Toppers
- Home-Cooked Diets for Great Danes
- Home Cooked Dog Food Alternatives
- Free Feeding Great Danes
- How to Reduce Bloat Risk
- Resource Guarding & Picky Eaters
- OUR FAVORITE SLOW FEEDER BOWLS
- Great Dane Body Condition
- Use the food chart as your guide.
- BODY CONDITION SCORING
- What if my Great Dane is Picky?
- OUR TOP PICKS FOR GREAT DANE ADULT FOOD
- Cost of Feeding Great Dane Puppies
- Our favorite supplements for Great Dane owners to consider include:
- Great Dane Feeding Chart
Great Dane Puppy Food & Nutrition
Great Dane Puppies are massive dogs that need a specific diet to ensure they grow at a healthy rate. Giant breeds are not like other dogs!
Because they grow so quickly, the wrong nutrition can be devastating and cause a lifetime of orthopedic problems.
We aren't trying to scare you here, but this is important. Don't worry, we're going to share information with you below on what food to choose!
Here are some of the (often lifetime) health complications associated with feeding the wrong food to Great Dane Puppies:
- Knuckling
- Panosteitis (growing pains)
- HOD
- Malnutrition
- Poor muscle development
- Flat feet
- Poor overall conformation
- Weak, brittle bones
- N-DCM or 'Secondary' DCM (heart failure)
Here are some common health disorders that can be made worse by poor nutrition:
- Weak, brittle adult bones
- Arthritis
- Angular Limb Deformity
- Wobblers Disease
Many of those things also have links to genetics!
A healthy, correctly balanced diet can help prevent devastating orthopedic growth disorders (such as knuckling, panosteitis, HOD, or Dysplasia) and will help make sure that your Great Dane puppy is receiving the nutrition it needs to thrive.
Should Great Dane Puppies Have Adult or Puppy Food?
Many people still promote the idea that you should never feed a Great Dane puppy food.
This information is based on anecdotal evidence from decades-old observations that giant breed dogs developed orthopedic growth disorders more often on puppy foods.
Puppy foods tend to be higher in calories, protein and fats than adult food.
The solution was then to feed adult foods, which have lower calories, protein, and fat. However, this is problematic too!
Adult dog foods lack the nutrition that Great Dane puppies need for muscle development.
We believe that this is a major reason why we see so many teenaged Great Danes who are hopelessly lanky and boney.
They are starved for nutrition to support their growth! They overeat and then also suffer from chronic loose stools. People blame the loose stools on chicken or allergies, not realizing that the solution is literally right in front of them.
Science and nutrition in dog food have changed drastically. "Adult food only" is tragically dated advice.
Up-to-date science and nutritional studies indicate that many large-breed puppy dog foods are actually appropriate to feed a Great Dane Puppy.
The brand of food you choose matters here, though.
Many brands do NOT participate in research and testing, and their puppy formulas may not be correct.
We recommend a large or giant breed PUPPY food from Pro Plan, Eukanuba, Hill's, or Royal Canin (the only brands that spend millions of dollars each year investing in feeding trials, board-certified veterinary nutritionists, and peer-reviewed research).
If you have any questions about what kind of dog food is best for your Great Dane Puppy to eat, read our blog post HERE or continue below (we've included recommendations for our favorites):
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy
- Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach Large Breed puppy – TOP PICK
- Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy
- Purina One Large Breed Puppy
- Hill's Science Diet Puppy Large Breed
- Iam's ProActive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed Dry Dog Food
- Royal Canin Giant Puppy Dry Dog food (to age 12 months) – TOP PICK
- Royal Canin Giant Junior Dry Dog food (8-24 months)
Read our list of the BEST Great Dane Puppy Foods HERE
Most Dane pups will need to eat between 3 and 12 cups of large breed puppy food each day. The actual amount depends on their activity level and the food you choose! We outline more of this below.
The Top Foods to Feed Your Great Dane Puppy
You can reference our Great Dane feeding chart below to gauge the amount you will need to feed your Great Dane puppy.
When choosing a Dog food for your Great Dane, we like to see the following:
-A meat and/or meat meals in the first ingredients, including by-product meal
-Grain inclusive, no exceptions
-No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
-Ideally meets WSAVA Guidelines, established as a baseline of standards for dog food companies to follow. WSAVA is a non-profit organization that only provides recommendations, not endorsements.
For more helpful information about canine nutrition and manufacturer practices, search for your brand at the Pet Nutrition Alliance! They've established a database that answers important and relevant questions for each company that you might choose from.
In the meanwhile, we are including our list of favorite foods to feed a Great Dane below!
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy
- Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach Large Breed puppy – TOP PICK
- Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy
- Purina One Large Breed Puppy
- Hill's Science Diet Puppy Large Breed
- Iam's ProActive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed Dry Dog Food
- Royal Canin Giant Puppy Dry Dog food (to age 12 months) – TOP PICK
- Royal Canin Giant Junior Dry Dog food (8-24 months)
Kibbles that meet WSAVA recommendations
The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) is a non-profit organization that provides common-sense recommendations. WSAVA does not endorse or recommend any specific brand of food, and their scientific efforts go far beyond nutrition into every aspect of small animal health.
Any food brand can donate to and support the WSAVA, however, only a few do.
Surprisingly, many kibble manufacturers do not meet the following common-sense guidelines:
- The company employs a DACVN or board-certified Veterinary Nutritionist, and that person is there to formulate and test the diets.
- They utilize AAFCO feeding trials to prove their formulation, especially the one you want to feed, in real life (not just on paper).
- The company participates in scientific research and contributes to common peer-reviewed studies.
- They own and operate their own facilities (no co-packing) and have strict supply chain protocols, sourcing ethics, sourcing protocols and quality control.
- The food has a nutrition adequacy statement from AAFCO, ideally indicating that the food was substantiated in feeding trails.
Interesting in reading the recommendations in further detail? You can read their helpful .PDF below:
Call your food company and ask these questions. Look past their marketing department and get real answers from them about their practices.
'NO RECALLS' is NOT a good indication that you've found a quality food company!
Recalls can actually show that a company is willing to put quality control and your dog's safety above their marketing.
Tread cautiously with companies who will not recall "minor" quality issues as a means to avoid marring their "no recalls" record.
Our Favorite Kibble Brands for Great Dane Puppies
Click on any brand to view. These brands meet our criteria.
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy
- Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach Large Breed puppy – TOP PICK
- Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy
- Purina One Large Breed Puppy
- Hill's Science Diet Puppy Large Breed
- Iam's ProActive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed Dry Dog Food
- Royal Canin Giant Puppy Dry Dog food (to age 12 months) – TOP PICK
- Royal Canin Giant Junior Dry Dog food (8-24 months)
When to Transition to Adult Food
When your Great Dane is 18-24 months old, it's time to transition to an adult formula. Ideally, the transition should happen no sooner than 24 months but can happen after 18 months if early spay/neuter was elected.
Remember, puppy foods are higher in calories, fat, and protein and may be too rich for mature adult dogs or those that have been spayed/neutered. Great Danes are not fully mature until age 2.5-3 years.
Click below to see our favorite adult foods for Great Danes:
- Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Large Breed (Salmon)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Shredded Chicken & Rice (Large Pieces & Chicken Shreds!)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Weight Management (Get the weight off)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Bright Mind Age 7+ (for Senior Great Danes)
- Purina Pro Plan Giant Breed (Hard to find, my be discontinued)
- Royal Canin Giant Breed (Amazing for dogs with chronic loose stools)
- Eukanuba Large Breed
- Hill's Large Breed
- Iam's Large Breed
- Purina One Smart Blend Large Breed (Fantastic budget-friendly option)
Great Dane Puppy Nutrition Criteria
When choosing food for your Great Dane Puppy, you may or may not want to also deep-dive into the ingredients and label.
Here is what we like to see (on top of being a well-researched, science-backed formula):
Calcium at or below 1.4%
Phosphorous should be slightly below the calcium
Meat meals or meat by-product meal (meat meals have been shown to reduce bloat risk)
Minimal if any ingredient splitting
WHAT IS INGREDIENT SPLITTING IN DOG FOOD?
How Much Should a Great Dane Puppy Eat?
Young Great Danes should eat three to four small meals per day, rather than one large meal.
Encourage slow eating, throughout life, to reduce bloat risk.
Most quality Great Dane food will indicate a rough estimate based on age or weight, which is a good baseline for determining how much food daily will be required.
Your Great Dane puppy is going to eat a lot of food! New Great Dane owners may be alarmed at the intake but shouldn't be.
Here is a sample feeding chart from one of the top Great Dane Puppy Foods, Royal Canin Giant Breed Puppy.
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy
- Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach Large Breed puppy – TOP PICK
- Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy
- Purina One Large Breed Puppy
- Hill's Science Diet Puppy Large Breed
- Iam's ProActive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed Dry Dog Food
- Royal Canin Giant Puppy Dry Dog food (to age 12 months) – TOP PICK
- Royal Canin Giant Junior Dry Dog food (8-24 months)
It's important to note, however, that orthopedic growth disorders can be triggered by overfeeding! Monitor your dog's intake and don't let them gorge on food.
Lean is best! It is normal to see some ribs on Great Dane puppies.
While it's true that too much kibble can actually cause a Great Dane puppy to experience gastrointestinal distress (and loose stools), too little kibble can hamper energy as well as good muscle and bone development.
As long as they are bright, active, curious, and energetic, they are doing great.
A Great Dane Puppy should never be overfed to encourage fast and explosive growth!
Too much nutrition, overfeeding, and too many calories can lead to knuckling, HOD, Panosteitis, and poor overall structure, no matter what formula or food brand you choose.
When looking at a Great Dane feeding chart (see below) to determine roughly how much to offer your 12-week-old Great Dane puppy, it's important to remember that the information is simply a guideline. Good feeding practices involve intuition and close monitoring!
We recommend referencing our Great Dane puppy growth chart for more information on actual growth!
If you have any questions about how much food to feed your Great Dane puppy, please consult your veterinarian, read the feeding chart on your kibble bag, and reference our Great Dane feeding chart below.
Want to avoid overfeeding your dog? Check out this feeding hack!
| Age | Timing | Amount |
| Puppies under 12 weeks | Free-feed | 2-4 cups/day |
| Puppies 12-24 weeks old | 3x/day | 3-6 cups/day |
| Puppies 24 + weeks (6 months) or older | 2x/day | 5-10 cups/day |
| Puppies 12-18 months | 2x/day | 6-12 cups/day |
How to Feed a Great Dane Puppy
When it comes to Great Dane puppies, how you feed them is just as important as what you feed them.
Puppies have small stomachs and need to eat several small meals throughout the day, rather than one large meal. They will also need frequent potty breaks as their digestive systems are still very immature.
We recommend that your Great Dane eats from a using stainless steel bowl. These are easy to sanitize and can help prevent puppy acne!
Frequent smaller meals can help prevent bloat, a potentially deadly condition that can occur in large and giant breeds.
To avoid creating a 'picky eater', do not start adding toppers as a form of bribery!
For puppies under 3-5 months of age, we recommend a loose free feeding schedule where you put food down 3x/day but leave in the bowl what they don't finish, so they can graze.
After 5 months of age, offer food 3x/day and pick the bowl up. Pup will learn to finish what is offered.
Using Kibble for Training
Another way to feed your Great Dane is to offer their pre-rationed kibble and healthy balanced toppers as training treats!
Keep them in a treat pouch (this is our favorite one) and use them throughout the day to reward your dog for doing things that you like.
Engaging with you, sitting, laying down, and coming when called are great ways to encourage positive behaviors!
Resting before & after meals has never been shown to prevent bloat. As a matter of fact, most dogs who experience bloat do so while resting and on an empty stomach.
It's ok for your puppy to have training rewards while playing with you!
Science in Dog Food
After years of diligent research, I've personally come to realize that the answer to dog food had been in front of me all along.
The unfortunate truth is that many dog food brands are spending more money on marketing than they are on formulating their foods, researching how nutrition affects the body, and contributing to peer-reviewed science that addresses giant breed growth, cancer, wobblers, heart disease, and more.
That marketing is designed to mislead us. For example, ingredient splitting is a common practice of certain brands. Ingredient splitting is completely legal and can make dog food look like an organic meat feast when the truth is that it's nothing more than meat-flavored peas.
Fresh deboned meats, for example, are roughly 70% water. Pair that with ingredient splitting and a formulation that came from a computer (not a veterinary nutritionist), and well…you're often paying a premium price for fancy marketing.
You may be inclined to think that the 'holistic', 'super premium', 'human grade' choice at the pet store is the healthier option. Keep in mind that those are unregulated marketing terms with no legal definition.
The ingredients list doesn't tell you the whole story, and that's why reading it shouldn't be your primary factor in choosing dog foods.
You may be 'grossed out' by things such as 'by-product meal' or 'meat meal', but those ingredients are actually more nutritious and more species appropriate than deboned meat!
Read more about Ingredient Splitting Here
Holistic & Natural Pet Foods
Many Great Dane owners rely on kibble brands from companies such as Fromm, Zignature, Nutro, Victor, Nulo, 4Health, Farmina, Solid Gold, Taste of the Wild, Life's Abundance, Earthborn, Honest Kitchen, Canine Caviar, Acana, Orijen, Gentle Giants, Diamond Natural's and Costco/Kirklands.
Search for your brand at the Pet Nutrition Alliance. See how they stack up against other brands that were asked a few simple questions. If they didn't answer or refused to answer, ask more questions.
The brands we've listed above are NOT formulated by on-staff veterinary nutritionists, and we don't recommend a single one of them.
Fromm is formulated by a chemical engineer.
Victor is formulated by a guy who has a random certification in dairy cattle.
Diamond (which makes Diamond, Costco, 4Health, Taste of the Wild, Nutra Nuggets, and others) is a giant co-packing company. They use consultants and a 'proprietary formulation technology'.
Midwestern pet foods (which makes Earthborn, Sportmix, Unrefined, Venture, and Wholesomes) is another giant company with no Veterinary Nutritionist on staff.
Unrefined is an excellent example of a 'premium' label that uses a lot of fancy marketing words and makes you think it's a small, family-owned healthy option. It's formulated, packed, and shipped along side several other Midwestern Pet Foods brands, each targeting different demographics.
These are huge companies, selling their products as 'premium', at a premium price point, and not a single bag of it is backed by legitimate feeding trials or peer reviewed research.
Every single one of those companies has also had proven cases of DCM, a devastating heart disease that can be caused by poorly formulated nutrition. Acana and Orijen (Champion pet foods) are among brands with some of the highest number of cases.
We recommend that you choose from the science-backed brands that we've shared above. Pro Plan, for example, is recommended by veterinarians and a solid majority of the top breeders in the U.S.
If you want to learn more about the pet food industry, here are some fantastic additional resources!
Purina Ingredients
The Petfoodology Nutrition Blog
Royal Canin Giant Breed Dog Food Review
Identity Pet Foods 'Understanding DCM' (I don't love that this small, upstart brand is anti-kibble, uses a co-packer, has no feeding trials, does not provide AAFCO statements, and does not staff a veterinary nutritionist as of 2022, but I do love what they are trying to do as a whole and this DCM article is ON POINT!)
Kibble Brands to Avoid
While there are many brands to avoid, these brands are absolutely on the 'do not fly' list. We've reviewed some of them below for your convenience.
- Gentle Giants
- Life's Abundance
- Grain-Free & Boutique Kibbles
- Any food that is 'vegan', 'plant based' or 'cricket based'
- Boutique, unproven food brands with humanized marketing (Keto, Paleo, Low Carb, etc.)
- Any one of the 300-400 new boutique food brands in the U.S. each year
What about Dog Food Advisor?
Many people turn to the 'Dog Food Advisor' blog to make decisions about what food to feed.
While that blog provides some interesting analysis about certain kibbles, it's important to note that the blog is run by a dentist…NOT a Veterinarian or a Canine Nutritionist with any kind of legitimate, commonly accepted credentials.
If you don't trust your veterinarian because they are "not a nutritionist", why are you trusting pet store employees, dog owners, the Dog Food Advisor, influencers, and people who obtained easy pay-for-purchase 'pet nutritionist' degrees on the internet?
If you are looking for a nutrition blog that uses science and actual research, not marketing and theories, visit PETFOODOLOGY! It's run by Tufts University and has many helpful topics.
At Hello Danes, we follow, promote, and share the advice given by board-certified veterinary nutritionists.
Adult Great Dane Dog Food
Adult Great Danes still require dedication to their nutrition.
As an adult, your Great Dane will need a quality dog food that is rich in animal protein to maintain lean muscle mass.
The most appropriate meats that you want to see in the dry dog food you choose include meat meals and meat by-product meals. We recommend chicken, salmon, or beef.
Chicken allergies are wildly over-diagnosed by dog owners. Contrary to popular belief, Great Danes are NOT sensitive to chicken!
They are, however, sensitive to poor quality diets, environmental factors, overfeeding, and issues related to gut health that are resolved through other means.
Avoid lamb (it's incredibly difficult for dog food manufacturers to work with, and may cause nutrient deficiencies) and exotic meats such as bison, cod, quail, kangaroo, or yak. Exotic meats are not well researched for small companion animals.
Rendered meat meals were shown in bloat studies to reduce the risk of bloat by 53%!
Meat meals of any type (including by-product meals) include a rendered form of whole prey. That means that the ingredient includes things such as meat, tissue, cartilage, bone, and organ.
While this may sound gross to you, these things are loved in parts of the world that don't waste any part of an animal after slaughter. They are also the same things that make up a correctly balanced bowl of raw dog food: necks, feet, guts, skin, and fat.
Raw feeders know that dogs need and want by-products in their diet! They go straight for the organs, will crunch up the bones and love to chew up feet, necks and yes, eyeballs.
Choose a kibble formulated with your dog in mind, not your personal taste.
Transition to a comparable adult formula between 18-24 months.
THE BEST FOODS FOR GREAT DANE PUPPIES
- Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Large Breed (Salmon)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Shredded Chicken & Rice (Large Pieces & Chicken Shreds!)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Weight Management (Get the weight off)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Bright Mind Age 7+ (for Senior Great Danes)
- Purina Pro Plan Giant Breed (Hard to find, my be discontinued)
- Royal Canin Giant Breed (Amazing for dogs with chronic loose stools)
- Eukanuba Large Breed
- Hill's Large Breed
- Iam's Large Breed
- Purina One Smart Blend Large Breed (Fantastic budget-friendly option)
Fiber & Fresh Foods for Great Danes
Fiber, fresh foods, and canned foods have been shown in studies to reduce bloat risk!
The safest topper you can add to your dog's food is a canned version of their kibble. This has been shown to reduce bloat risk, will be correctly balanced, is tasty, provides hydration, and will be free of salmonella and e.coli.
When offering puppies canned food, make sure you are choosing the large breed puppy version.
You can also choose any of the following:
- Commercially balanced raw food, such as RAWS PAWS PET FOOD
- Olewo Carrots (rehydrate before serving, they don't need much)
- Dr. Harvey's (keep to less than 4% of the overall diet)
We love Olewo' Carrots (rehydrated) which are great for your dog's stomach and overall gut health. 1 TBSP of dried Olewo Carrots will make over a half cup of fresh carrots to mix in with the kibble you feed your Great Dane.
Olewo Carrots work BETTER than pumpkin and are easier to store, too!
FIND OLEWO CARROTS ON AMAZON
We also like Dr. Harvey's for easy, healthy fiber & fresh food toppers!
While some of these are technically made to be served as a whole meal with raw meat, they actually make a great 'topper' (less than 4-10% of all intake) for kibble and well-balanced raw diets.
Rehydrate a scoop or two of this with water! Dogs love it and the bag lasts a long time, too.
For RAW we love RAWSPAWS! Use code HELLODANES at checkout for 10% off your order.
Can Great Danes have Grain-Free Food?
Grain-inclusive kibble formulas are best for Great Dane, as they are less likely to be filled with peas, potatoes, and pea protein that can throw off the balance of important amino acids.
These amino acids, including taurine, are necessary for heart health. Many grain-free food options are nothing more than meat-flavored peas.
Many dogs have been diagnosed with DCM (heart failure) caused by grain-free foods and foods of all types that were not formulated by veterinary nutritionists.
Read our blog post on grain-free dog foods and Great Dane feeding here.
This information is important for all dog owners and all dog breeds, too!
IS GRAIN-FREE FOOD DANGEROUS?
Adding taurine or grains to grain-free kibble doesn't solve a problem that originated with poor kibble formulation to begin with.
Supplements for Great Danes
Great Danes can suffer from joint problems.
We recommend the addition of fish oil and Dasaquin or Green Lipped mussel, especially if your kibble food does not include these supplements in the ingredients list.
A quality science-backed food with meat meal or meat by-product meal (such as Royal Canin Giant Breed Adult) will contain joint support!
Big dogs benefit from the addition of these, and probiotics for their health.
See our list of recommended supplements here:
Raw Diets for Great Danes
As any pet owner knows, feeding your animal the right food is important for their health. Great Danes are no exception.
While they can certainly live an amazing, healthy life on a diet of quality kibble, adults can also thrive on a raw food diet.
This diet should consist of organs, meaty bones, cartilage, fat, and muscle meat.
For balancing a raw diet, we recommend the site www.perfectlyrawsome.com and working with a board-certified Veterinary Nutritionist.
Raw can be a good option for dogs that have documented food allergies and intolerances! It is important to note that the reported benefits of raw feeding have never actually been proven in peer-reviewed research. However, many dog owners cite positive anecdotal results and swear by raw feeding!
The raw feeding community tends to be passionate about what they do, and we love that!
Adult Great Danes need to consume about 2% of their body weight in raw food every day.
While this may seem like a lot for a dog, it's actually not that difficult to achieve if you plan ahead and feed them 2-3 meals per day.
It's important to note that adult Danes will need less raw food by percentage than a growing Great Dane puppy will, if you do choose to feed a puppy raw food.
When choosing to feed raw to your Great Dane Puppy, balance is exceptionally important.
Unless you are VERY experienced with raw feeding and balance, we do not recommend feeding raw to Great Dane puppies. We recommend starting young Great Danes on a highly-tested and well-regarded kibble diet (such as Purina Pro Plan Large Breed puppy) instead.
Complete & Balanced Raw Food
A properly formulated raw food diet should be fully balanced and complete. You must choose a professionally formulated option or provide the following in a specific ratio (use Perfectly Rawsome as your guide) when pursuing this option for your Great Dane.
A Great Dane will do best on a raw diet that is made up of:
-Organ meat (liver, kidney, spleen, pancreas)
-Meaty bones, tendons and cartilage (chicken necks, chicken backs, turkey necks, chicken feet)
-Muscle meat, tissue, fat + skin
An unbalanced raw diet is unsafe and unhealthy!
Raw feeding is not for everyone! It requires dedication, education, and research. There are also risks associated with raw feeding, including exposure to salmonella and e.coli, which must be considered.
Read More at Perfectly Rawsome
We recommend learning a lot about raw feeding before attempting it, especially with a puppy!
Raw Feeding for Great Danes Tips
Commercially prepared Freeze-dried or frozen raw diets are an excellent way to feed your Great Dane a healthy diet without all the hassle of balancing the meals yourself.
Frozen raw diets are best served thawed or slightly thawed, and can be found at your local natural pet grocer, through co-ops, or online.
Raw Bones for Great Danes
Did you know that Great Danes can have bones if they are uncooked?
Raw chicken necks, chicken paws, and turkey wings are excellent sources of bone. Your dog will crunch them up and digest them as-is.
It's important to note that meat + bone is NOT a balanced diet, and dogs who are new to raw feeding will need to learn how to safely chew up bones.
Bones will clean their teeth and firm up their stools!
Make sure that you are properly balancing raw meals over the course of several days. Too much bone or too little bone is not a good thing, especially if you aren't offering enough organ, muscle, fat, or cartilage.
If your dog has never been introduced to raw, whole foods with bone, go slowly and ask lots of questions in the raw-feeding community before getting started!
We recommend that you always consult with your veterinarian before making any changes to your dog's diet, especially if they are currently on a kibble diet and looking to switch to raw.
Raw Dog Food as Toppers
Raw food can be provided as a topper or supplement to a well-balanced commercial kibble diet! We highly recommend offering fresh foods or raw as toppers to help reduce bloat risk vs. feeding a dry diet alone.
If the raw food is balanced, you can offer more than 10% of the diet as raw. If it is unbalanced, keep the amount under 10%.
Canned foods are another great choice. While they aren't 'raw', they are still a source of meat.
Home-Cooked Diets for Great Danes
Home-cooked diets are rarely healthy and can be exceedingly difficult to get right.
Balance It is a great website for determining if you are formulating your home-cooked diet for your Great Dane correctly. Test your recipe over there!
We haven't found a dog food recipe on Pinterest yet that was balanced correctly.
You'll likely find that the very common homemade Great Dane food diet consisting of ground meat, rice, and veggies is horribly deficient.
What your Great Dane eats will affect their health, and unfortunately, most home cooks have little to no credible background in canine nutrition!
An unbalanced home-cooked diet may be missing key nutrients, proteins, and amino acids that are necessary for a long and robust life.
Great Dane dogs are particularly susceptible to health issues of the heart and bones; an incorrectly formulated home-cooked diet for a Great Dane can be exceptionally dangerous.
Many veterinarians say that brittle bones are a very common complication associated with clients who make their dogs food at home.
We personally don't think it's worth the risk.
Home Cooked Dog Food Alternatives
That's not to say that it cannot be done! As a matter of fact, with the help of a board-certified Veterinary Nutritionist and the website listed above (Balance It) you can take full control over what your dog eats.
If you want to offer food that is similar to a home-cooked diet, we highly recommend looking into Just Food For Dogs.
This fresh food option for Great Danes is a professionally formulated alternative to DIY. The jury is out on if it fully and truly meets the WSAVA guidelines above. However, it is a tested food with a respectable staff of formulators behind it!
Just Food For Dogs can be used as the entire diet, or as an outstanding fresh-food topper that dogs LOVE.
For young dogs, we recommend the chicken and white rice or fish and sweet potato flavor only. As of this writing, they are the only ones formulated correctly for the growth of large or giant breed dogs.
GRAB A GREAT DANE T-SHIRT! ↓
Free Feeding Great Danes
Many pet lovers who offer kibble wish to free-feed their Great Danes.
Contrary to popular belief, resting after meals is not a reliable preventative for bloat in Great Danes! That's great news for people who do not mind when their Great Danes eat and would prefer allowing them to graze.
The only difference is that instead of scheduling meals, you will offer food around meal times and leave the bowl down for your dog to graze.
How to Reduce Bloat Risk
Always encourage slow eating! Fast eating, scarfing, gulping, and guarding are key predictors of bloat risk.
As a matter of fact, we believe that slow eating is a much more reliable way to reduce bloat risk in giant breed dogs than large, quickly-eaten meals followed by rest.
Studies show that bloat most often happens 2-3 hours after meals and often while resting or in the middle of the night!
Stop stressing every time your Dane eats food! Bloat is related to genetics: pedigree, temperament & gut health.
Our Great Dane feeding chart (below) still applies when choosing to free feed a Great Dane. Adult food requirements will be different than they will be for a 12 or even 18 week old Great Dane.
Resource Guarding & Picky Eaters
One important thing to note when choosing a free Great Dane feeding 'schedule' is that it will be inappropriate for some dogs. Great Danes that scarf food, guard food, stress about food, nitpick food, or obsess about it will require diligent training and management.
For those dogs, we recommend 2-3 meals each day, fed in a stress-free environment, and offered in a slow feeder bowl or food puzzle to manage intake and reduce scarfing (which can increase bloat risk and contribute to an unfortunately short life span).
Picky eaters benefit from scheduled mealtimes, not more enticing toppers or yet another change to the food offered!
OUR FAVORITE SLOW FEEDER BOWLS
Great Dane Body Condition
Many pet parents are unsure of how much to feed a Great Dane or their Great Dane puppy. The condition of your Great Dane is the best indicator of how much food you should (or should not) be feeding.
If your Great Dane or Great Dane puppy is at a healthy weight, you are likely feeding the appropriate amount. Adult Great Danes should be on large or giant breed adult or senior formula.
Use the food chart as your guide.
You can see roughly how much to feed your Great Dane by looking at the back of your bag of dog food. As above, a Great Dane puppy may need to eat more than an adult Great Dane.
If your dog is overweight or obese, you will need to reduce your dog's food intake and make sure they don't get too many calories from their food, wet food, treats, or toppers.
If your dog is underweight, you may need to add more food and closely monitor food intake.
| Age | Timing | Amount |
| Puppies under 12 weeks | Free-feed | 2-4 cups/day |
| Puppies 12-24 weeks old | 3x/day | 3-6 cups/day |
| Puppies 24 + weeks (6 months) or older | 2x/day | 5-10 cups/day |
| Puppies 12-18 months | 2x/day | 6-12 cups/day |
BONUS POST: Is my Great Dane too Skinny!?
BODY CONDITION SCORING
The easiest way to check your dog's body condition is to use the Body Condition Score. This nine-point system is based on how easily you can feel your dog's ribs and whether or not there is an obvious waist.
For the Great Dane breed, you want to see a defined waist, a tuck in the abdomen, and good muscle development. Great Dane dogs should be lean and fit, never heavy or slow.
In general, a female Great Dane will be smaller, and a male Great Dane will have more substance. 'Euro' is a marketing term and not actually a reason for a dog to be heavy, chunk or overweight.
Always monitor what your Great Dane eats and feed them a proper diet (click here for our recommendations!)
If you are unsure of your dog's body condition, please consult your veterinarian.
What if my Great Dane is Picky?
If your Great Dane or Great Dane puppy is turning their nose up at food, always address medical reasons first.
Most 'picky' dogs have either had enough and don't actually need more kibble, or they have trained you to offer them different foods (they know you'll give in)!
Remember, any Great Dane feeding chart that you find is a loose guideline, not a hard recommendation. If you really feel that your Great Dane is not eating enough, you must first start with a veterinary visit to rule out health problems.
You can also try enticing toppers such as raw egg, bone broth, Dr. Harvey's (rehydrated), or canned foods; however, tread cautiously!
Bribing your dog to eat is a rabbit hole that you may not want to go down. Dogs will work for their food (training) and will not let themselves starve.
OUR TOP PICKS FOR GREAT DANE ADULT FOOD
- Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Large Breed (Salmon)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Shredded Chicken & Rice (Large Pieces & Chicken Shreds!)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Weight Management (Get the weight off)
- Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Bright Mind Age 7+ (for Senior Great Danes)
- Purina Pro Plan Giant Breed (Hard to find, my be discontinued)
- Royal Canin Giant Breed (Amazing for dogs with chronic loose stools)
- Eukanuba Large Breed
- Hill's Large Breed
- Iam's Large Breed
- Purina One Smart Blend Large Breed (Fantastic budget-friendly option)
ROYAL CANIN GIANT BREED ADULT DOG FOOD
A delicious biologically correct diet that is optimally balanced for adult giant breed dogs. Proven by science and loved by dogs!
Cost of Feeding Great Dane Puppies
Giant breed puppies have big appetites and can eat up to 12 cups of food per day!
The cost of feeding a giant breed puppy will depend on the quality of food you choose and the size of your puppy.
On average, you can expect to spend $50-$100 per month on food for your giant breed puppy.
We also recommend supplements that can benefit the joints, increase gut health and reduce bloat risk.
Our favorite supplements for Great Dane owners to consider include:
Great Dane Feeding Chart
We recommend using this Great Dane Feeding Chart as a guide:
Fast-growing 12-week old Great Dane pups may actually eat more than adult Great Danes!
Because they tend to grow larger, a male Great Dane may also need more food than a female Great Dane. Great Danes in general have more complex nutritional needs than other breeds!
When considering exactly how much to feed a Great Dane, we recommend starting with the feeding chart on the back of the bag.
FEEDING GUIDELINES FOR GREAT DANES
This chart assumes you are feeding a quality kibble. Every kibble is different and some have more nutrition per cup than others. Some puppies receive more exercise or have a higher metabolism than others, too.
Remember that adding a lot of treats or toppers will change these ratios! These feeding guidelines are based on Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Formulas. Other kibbles and fresh foods may be different, and raw feeding will be by weight, not volume.
| Age | Timing | Amount |
| Puppies under 12 weeks | Free-feed | 2-4 cups/day |
| Puppies 12-24 weeks old | 3x/day | 3-6 cups/day |
| Puppies 24 + weeks (6 months) or older | 2x/day | 5-10 cups/day |
| Puppies 12-18 months | 2x/day | 6-12 cups/day |
Great Danes age 18-24 months +: switch to an adult formula and closely monitor body condition, especially after spay/neuter. We've linked to an important blog post on this topic below.
Does your Great Dane eat a lot? Leave a comment below! We'd love to know more about your Dane pup and the experience you've had with dog food.
We hope this Great Dane feeding chart has been helpful in determining how to best feed your pooch. As always, if you have any questions please consult your veterinarian.
Happy feeding!
READ MORE:
Miniature Great Danes: The 'Pocket' Version of a Great Dane
Source: https://www.hellodanes.com/the-ultimate-great-dane-feeding-chart/
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