at what age can i start raw meat for my GSD pup?

I would just like to add that you must decide one or the other... if you are going to raw feed then you must ditch the Royal Canin altogether. Don't try and feed both as this will be really bad for his digestion.

Never feed cooked meat. Its very bad for them. Give only raw meat, raw bones and raw organs. No weight bearing bones and never any fruits, veggies or grains. This includes rice. Dogs are carnivores, they can't digest or break down plant matter so they get nothing what so ever from eating it.

80% raw meat, 10% raw bones, 10% raw organs

● "At what age can i start raw meat for my GSD pup?"

Whatever age you are right now.

I happily put coarse raw mince in the milky-mix as of when the pups are 4 weeks old (as of Day 21 the meat is the Jellimeat canned for cats). By 6 weeks old, most are happily chomping on strips of raw muscle meat. Nordic Nina at 6 or 6½ weeks old was leaping into the fridge, trying to steal chunks of the meat from the bin on the bottom shelf.

Because your pup is half the weight of a typical GSD, his teeth might be slow - if he can't manage what you give him, put it in the fridge for a week then try again and see whether his teeth can cope yet.

For the umpteenth time, my Diet_Sheet and lots of ways to feed dogs are in the http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The_GSD_Source/... part of the group I keep TELLING you to ADD TO YOUR BROWSER! But, of course, unless you actually go and LOOK at what's stored in the group's site, it can't help you. Until the /neo/-nut programmer changes the default sorting to Alphanumeric, you'll have to click the ActionsV then Alphabetical labels each time, to help you find the folders & files store in that group.

● "is raw meat ok or should i boil it"

Cooking destroys some of the nutritional value of meat, but that doesn't mean that you MUSTN'T cook it. Feeding it raw is simpler and better.

I haven't checked whether hydatids are a problem in India. (I think my nation is the only one with sheep & goats that has managed to eliminate hydatids - but it took a long, long time... longer than my lifetime.) If they are, cook ALL offals (such as heart, kidney, liver, lungs, pancreas, tripe) for a long time before feeding it to him, to thus make sure that any hydatids in the organs are truly dead. If you cook by boiling them, thicken the liquid afterwards to make a broth for him.

Fish are fine for dogs - especially the oily fish. But make sure there are none of the fish-needles in it. My Bea gets a little bit each time I spread salmon on a sandwich. I once bought about 6 big cartons of freezer-burnt shark fillets - the dogs were very happy with it, but the inside of my deep-freeze stank for months afterwards!

Small though he is, your pup can probably already enjoy raw chicken wings - and the tiny bones he swallows & digests have the perfect calcium : phosphorous balance. A hard-boiled egg per day is sure to delight him.

Unless you make your meals VERY salty, or so spicy that they are mouth-hot, your cooked table scraps are fine as supplements.

[Star] is obsessive and WRONG. To take one example: The weight-bearing bones are fine PROVIDED they are not from BIG animals such as cows or horses or oxen. THEIR leg bones are so dense (to support their weight) that they can break a dog's teeth. And IF the dog manages tio crack open such a big bone, there is so much rich marrow inside that he will give himself diarrhoea.

Add

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The_GSD/Source/

to your browser, so that you can easily look up all sorts of information about dogs, especially GSDs.

To discuss GSDs, join some groups such as

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/GSD_Friendly/i...

The people in them KNOW about GSDs. Plus you can include actual photos in your posts.

King Les The Lofty - first pup in 1950; GSD breeder & trainer as of 1968

Have you ever tried Eating for Energy (120 raw food diet recipes) system? Go here : http://stayeatingraw.com/Access . This might definitely help you!

I wean the pups I keep from my litters to raw. As soon as they have teeth, you can start giving it to them.