My pup's coat - Page 1

Hi there
I own a 7-month old, purebred blue German Shepherd. She is full of beans (as one would expect!) and totally healthy, but I cannot for the life of me try and get her coat looking good. It is quite wiry and dull, despite daily brushings.
 I currently feed her 2.5C of Royal Canin GSD Junior in the morning and ground chicken mince at night. 

 Previously she has been fed a mix of RC & Eagle Pack, Science Diet and Eukanuba. She did not like Eukanuba at all, and pretty much refused to eat it. Science Diet I was told is very bad, so I switched her to RC which she loves. When I was feeding her RC & Eagle Pack, her coat was quite soft but still not very shiny (although better than I have seen it).

 I have been told that Eagle Pack or Timber Wolf Organic is the best thing I can feed her - but I cannot buy Timber Wolf here in NZ and Eagle Pack is very expensive, even compared to RC. I appreciate that I need to pay good money for good food - but can you suggest any alternative dry food, or should I feed her a straight raw diet? If raw is the way to go, then what kind of raw food is best and can you mix it eg with rice? I know I can source chicken, beef, lamb and venision.

 Also I have been told salmon, tuna, canola oil, flaxseed oil etc are all wonderful things to add to her diet for coat. I have tried a little flaxseed oil, but she didn't seem to appreciate it and it didn't appear to make much of a difference.

 Any advice to help me work this out would be great! Cheers :)

Could just be her coat... Blues tend to look dull.

Not all dogs shine, some dogs are 'matt' rather than 'gloss'

It wouldn't hurt to introduce sardines, eggs, tuna etc into her diet and she will enjoy the variation too.

Re the brushing every day. What are you using to brush her with? Is it a comb, a soft bristled brush etc..

Do you spray or put anything onto her coat at all as that can sometimes create a build up and make the coat look dull.

You said she is 7 months. Has she had her first season yet? Just a thought. My girlies coat is always lovely and shiny, however when it nears the time she is due to have her season it goes very dull and she loses a lot of coat. As soon as her season is over, her shine comes back again and her coat becomes lovely and thick again.

I would go raw. If thats something u cant do, can u get innova evo? wellness core or even taste of the wild?

I have tried eagle pack in the past on my gsd and had horrible luck. coats were dull. RC is full of crap/fillers and poor quality ones at that. I have the best luck feeding my dogs raw. low shedding, bright teeth and eyes, low stool volume and nice energy levels.

there is so much info on raw but its really pretty basic. do some research so u feel comfortable with it.

I use a soft-bristle 'porcupine' brush, have been trying to save up for a shedding rake (?) as I was told this would be the best thing to groom her with.
I tend to avoid bathing her more than once a month, again I was told this would be bad for her coat and she could develop allergies etc. When I do, I am using a generic no-colour pet shampoo. Perhaps this could be a cause? We did see some wonderful looking natural shampoos/conditioners etc, but have not had the opportunity to buy yet.
 She did not have her first 'season' as she was speyed at 5 months. I am aware that some people believe you should wait and others think this is not a problem, personally I did not believe it to be a problem and I was also required by my landlord to have her speyed 'as soon as possible'.
 Thanks for the advice, I will definately see if I can change her kibble to something more suitable. I think I will have to shop around a little to see what is available. I did give her some tuna last night and she loved it, so I am going to have a go with some raw food variations.

Cheers