Half of breeding healthy Boerboel puppies is proper feeding.
Being a breeder, I get inquiries on feeding regimes and techniques. I am going to attempt to answer the following questions with this article.
How much raw food?
How maintain a healthy weight?
What is the best puppy food?
What should I feed my Boerboel Pup?
Boerboel pups thrive on high-quality grain-free kibble, premium dog food, or a raw food diet. The main must-haves for your daily feeding regime are:
raw meat and healthy fats (farm-raised chicken, beef, lamb or fish ie salmon meal )raw meaty bones, and fresh raw fruits vegetables (red and green beans brown rice beetroots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, etc).
How do I feed my Boerboel raw? Boerboel Feeding Broken Down
The rule of thumb is to mimic a prey animal’s carcass. Feed-in the appropriate ratio 80 muscle 10 bone 10 organs You don’t have to follow our feeding instructions. All of the nutritional components may not be readily available due to your geographical location. The idea is the prey model. it doesn’t matter the life stage in the wild wolves eat the entire prey animals carcass
How much to feed a Boerboel?
How much you feed has a lot to do with the amount of daily activity. Puppy food should be high in calories to sustain slow controlled growth and development. A puppy’s diet isn’t much different than an adult’s dog. Boerboel feeding is simple not rocket science. The difference is the amount.
How do I get started feeding the raw?
The simplest most readily available way to start your dog on the raw diet is with chicken leg quarters. Thighs and attached drum sticks. Feed them whole and frozen. No need to place them in a large bowl with hot water for 5-10 minutes to remove excess blood from the inside of the bone. You don’t have to prepare them in any way. Do not remove bone or remove any visible fat or gristle. Feed them raw never cooked.
THE MOST COMPLETE READILY AVAILABLE FOOD FOR BOERBOELS IS CHICKEN LEG QUARTERS.
Chicken Leg Quarters available at Walmart or Save A lot in 10 lb bags for about are an excellent value for the serious Boerboel owner. Leg Quarters have fat, muscle, and bone in the perfect ratios. It should be fed RAW with the BONE-IN. I know it may sound strange.
What is the best food for an African Boerboel in terms of grain-free kibble?
Feeding raw does not mean boiled grilled deep-fried or heated in any way. Raw feeding is the absolute best way to feed any canine. After your Boerboel puppy is full pay attention, it may be sniffing the ground; this is a signal that the puppy needs to potty.
NEVER OVERFEED AN AFRICAN BOERBOEL
Any dog for that matter should not be overfed or fed to the point that the dogs stomach becomes extended. There are several decreased health risks for dog breeds that remain leaner versus those that are allowed to gain excess weight. They include increased fertility and mobility, reduced bloat risk, and decreased hip dysplasia to name a few.
SO WHAT DRY KIBBLE DOG FOOD DO WE USE AND RECOMMEND?
I like the Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy. I stick to what works for me no new food. Eukanuba is excellent dog food to make your puppy grow. Somewhat pricey at $62.00 for 33 lbs.
However, quality puppy food comes at a price. Eukanuba does not swell when wet, and the kibbles are large, so puppies are forced to chew the kibble versus just swallowing down mouthfuls. Eukanuba provides all the essential nutrients for optimum health.
Raw is the Best food. We have not seen any food allergies or health issues associated with feeding our puppies raw food. You can obviously tell from the shiny coat and balanced weight gain that our puppy’s diet is providing optimum health.
Feed your adult food until it stops eating and not a bit more
A hungry dog will have more energy because less energy is devoted to digesting food. If you want a more active large breed dog feed it less. Hunger fuels the dog and the tiger alike. An adult dog should be fed to maintain optimal weight.
Avoid obesity by feeding appropriate amounts of food based on activity level and age.
Obesity is deadly for large-breed dogs. You should not feed a dog if it is not hungry enough to eat. If the dog has finished but still looks at you or keeps looking up at food, then add more at the time of feeding.
Do not overfeed your Boerboel!
Canine obesity is a common problem in dogs and can be deadly. It is caused by feeding the dog too much food, or too much of the wrong kind of food. Overfeeding can be easily avoided by paying attention to the dog’s activity level and age, and feeding it appropriate amounts of food.
Obesity is associated with a number of health problems, including hip dysplasia, arthritis, and diabetes. It can also lead to heart disease and other illnesses. If your dog is obese, you should reduce caloric intake to get it back to a healthy weight.
First and foremost as breeders we want the most robust most fertile breeding specimens possible. So what we do is research read and study the trends patterns and habits of our specific breed. Looking at the very best Boerboel in the breed historically you will see that the best of the best breeders are advocates for raw feeding and the proof is in their optimal health.
The most prominent mistake breeders make is letting their dogs become overweight
Time and time again I have seen or heard of dog owners in the boerboel breed who have females that are not getting pregnant and males have lower sperm counts.
Fat and borderline obese dogs alike are not fit for breeding. Many people are claiming to be “breeders” who are doing nothing more than feeding their dogs in cages every day. The cheapest food is their best option they aren’t concerned about the best dog food. This is a warning sign.
Cheap dog food is not an option for adult dogs or puppies!
This is bound to lead to defects like hip and elbow dysplasia and food allergies. I recommend premium food if you must go the kibble route. Doesn’t have to be the most expensive food but the cheapest dog foods IME produce the most waste.
Feed your boerboel whole prey natural ingredients to meet their nutritional need. Be prepared for food allergies and cleaning mounds of squishy poop. If you look closely, you can tell which dogs are on a raw diet getting the best dog food vs those on a base kibble not getting the exercise and overeating.
Many Problems in Large Breed dogs are related to food.
One thing that is very important for us to consider is the fact that our canine companions and humans have evolved over millions of years alongside each other. Many of the problems in our canines directly correlate with the issues that we have as humans.
Nutrition for a large breed puppy.
A giant dog breed like the Boerboel does not benefit from being overweight
A giant breed dog does NOT need to eat every day. I feed our adults every third day in the summer and once per day in the winter with a day to fast once a week.
Do NOT put your breeding dog on a crash diet to get ready for an upcoming mating. The way to go about preparing your canine for breeding is by having a consistent dog food of exercise and high-quality nutrition.
WHEN DOG FOOD IS COOKED NUTRIENTS ARE LOST
Boerboels don’t need their food cooked. Kibble is processed at very high temperatures and sprayed with vitamins to make up for what’s lost in the process. The sprayed-on vitamins are for the most part synthetic and less absorbable than natural nutrients and minerals. Large breeds do not need these fortified nutrients to thrive.
Boerboels are carnivores and have the best immune response on a raw diet.
What you can expect from giving your puppy proper nutrition is a healthy coat, a happier attitude, excellent muscle tone, enhanced immune response when derived from the appropriate meat protein source. Boerboel puppies’ diet absorbs and utilizes protein better when it is from a meat source. Whole eggs, meat, and vegetables are a great source of the nutrients your dog needs. Think about your diet as well as what you feed your Boerboel’s.
Boerboel nutrition!
When a Boerboel puppy’s food is kibble, he isn’t doing the extensive chewing his mouth is built to do. This extensive chewing builds up saliva.
Saliva helps a canine digestive system break down food into nutrition. Kibble-fed dog breeds are more prone to bloat, a digestive malfunction twisting of the dog’s stomach. Because kibble breaks down in a dog’s stomach into a soupy sandy substance those who are fed kibble see a far greater occurrence of bloat.
Small amounts of kibble end up as tartar on the Boerboel’s teeth.
A raw fed Boerboel puppy, on the contrary, will naturally keep its teeth clean. Rawbone is like a toothbrush when the dog is grinding the bone with his teeth; this has the same effect as us using the toothbrush to remove plaque. The best food for boerboels is raw green tripe.
Raw Fed Boerboel Puppies Poop Far less.
The better the dog food When more nutrients are digestible and absorbable then what you end up with is less waste. The odor is low in comparison to a low-quality kibble because the nutrients are absorbed so well.
Now you may be thinking about how I can afford to feed my Boerboel dog-puppy raw meats daily? Well, when you subtract the cost of frequent visits with your Boerboel to the vet for health-related issues. Then add the money you save on items like breath freshener toothbrushes and toothpaste. The idea you will live a happier life for longer with your Boerboel puppies. I think that it balances out.
All of our South African Boerboel Have well-filled muscular heads.
The muscles are there because of the way that they eat. Muscles are essential for the Boerboel. In the videos notice how much time is spent chewing when our Boerboels eat raw. Eating raw is a workout itself.
Many Boerboels you see these days lack the muscle on either side of the head and that is where they get that hump on the top of the skull or peanut head as I like to call them. The best way to avoid a Boerboel puppy developing the peanut head is to feed them large meaty bones. Boerboel owners and owners of other large breeds alike
HOW DID I START AND LEARN ABOUT THIS WAY OF FEEDING?
When I first began my search for the ultimate champion the best dog food, I came across many websites that were heavily advocating the BARF (Bones And Raw Food diet ). Raw feeding was new and exciting for me. I learned it was the premium nutrition for muscle development. As a boy, people always said bones could cause your puppy to choke, or fresh meat would cause him to go mad.
My Cane Corso I had at the time would eat enough dog food to survive it seemed. This dog never got full and would not gain the muscle I sought. Point blank she just wasn’t in peak physical condition, and I knew it. Boerboel feeding would be different.
After weeks of research and talking to my dog mentors I decided to give it a try. I began with a 40-pound box of chicken quarters from a local meat market. The chicken quarters worked great. My CC dog loved the chicken and got fuller than ever. I could see muscles in her chest and legs that I never knew were there. So I continued to feed her both kibble and raw.
LATER I GOT MY FIRST BREEDING BOERBOEL PLUTO.
At the time I had a litter of Cane Corso puppies on the ground. The difference in the health and appearance of the puppies made me try to find the best dog food to feed my boerboel puppies the same diet that Pluto ate in S. A. the Raw Food Diet.
I could not resist doing more research about the best dog food and raw feeding my new Boerboel puppy.I found very relevant info regarding food allergies. Food allergies are a significant problem in today’s society.
Many Boerboel diets produce from food allergies, and many people don’t know they have them.
Food allergies can take on different forms- skin reactions, respiratory problems, or digestive problems The most common sources of food allergy in human are peanuts and tree nuts (walnuts), followed by dairy products like milk and cheese. Dogs also get these types of allergic reactions to certain foods which is why it is important for pet parents to feed their dogs carefully so that they avoid these deadly allergens
As your Boerboel puppy grows, his brain development will reach its peak.
Fast Forward to today I now get my dog food from the Sams wholesale club, Restaurant Depot, and Costco. The base of the diet that we feed is raw green tripe. About 80% of the menu that my Boerboels eat is raw green tripe. It’s great for their digestive system. Tripe has tons of amino acids and digestive enzymes. The protein content is low but in a highly digestible form If you are looking for premium nutrition for your puppy, this should be your top priority. It comes with the right calcium as well as phosphorous levels for your African dog.
At Exotic Boerboels, our dog food is almost entirely raw. All of the bone meat and organs come from cows slaughtered for human consumption. Raw Beef is a great source of premium nutrition.
All of the chicken is from the grocery store. It is the same poultry that we eat at our dinner table. When we hunt our dogs simply eat whatever we kill. The majority of wild kills we feed are gophers, raccoons, possums, squirrels, ducks, and deer.
Your African Boerboel Puppy can be weaned onto the raw food diet as nature intended weaning formula.
There are tons of articles and information out there that you can find out about food for Boerboels and this cutting-edge way of feeding. Raw feeding may cost a bit more, but it is the best for gut health and coat health. Our Boerboels thank us for it. Toxic Foods avoid feeding your dog.
- Garlic and Onions
- Grapes and Raisins
- Macadamia nuts
- Chocolate and or Caffeine