Raw food for German Shepherds

German Shepherds were bred to work, and many still live like it: long walks, training, a job to do. Raw feeding one comes down to matching the amount to a big, busy dog, and the range is wide, because a female Shepherd can weigh 15 kg less than a male. With a dog this size, the practical side matters too: how much to order, where it goes, and how to keep the freezer ticking over.

Daily amounts for a German Shepherd

Adult German Shepherds usually weigh somewhere around 22 to 40 kg. Females tend to sit lower in that range and males higher, so weigh your own dog rather than going by the breed.

Most pet Shepherds with a good daily walk fit the middle column. Dogs in security, herding or dog sports work often need the top end, and some need more on their busiest weeks. Watch their shape and adjust by about 10% at a time.

Two meals, and a rest afterwards

For a large, deep-chested breed like the Shepherd, many owners split the daily amount into two meals rather than one big one, and avoid hard exercise for an hour or so either side of a meal.

In practice that’s an easy routine: a meal after the morning walk has settled, and the main meal in the evening once the day’s training or work is done. For a 35 kg Shepherd on the middle column, that’s about 395 g of mince or blend at each meal, with a raw bone instead of part of the evening meal a few times a week.

Foods that suit a Shepherd

Breeders Mix is a good everyday base for a big dog. It’s beef, horse, goat and offal, with no chicken, lamb or fish, and it’s made for volume feeding, which a Shepherd’s appetite certainly counts as.

For a dog with a lot of work on, Active Dog Mix brings beef, horse, offal and green tripe together. Rotating between the two is an easy way to add variety.

Both are beef-based, so the bones that match them are beef too. Beef Neck Bones and Beef Brisket Bones both match. Feed one a few times a week and supervise.

If your Shepherd needs to stay off beef, Wild Mix with Goat Bones (when we have them) keeps the whole bowl beef-free. Our guide to novel proteins explains the options.

Beef neck is a dense, meaty cut that takes a big dog a while to work through, and brisket carries more meat and cartilage. Pick a piece big enough that your Shepherd has to chew it rather than swallow it.

Ordering for a big dog

A 35 kg Shepherd eating 875 g a day gets through about 790 g of mince or blend a day. That’s a 10 kg carton every 12 or 13 days, or two to three cartons a month, with a 10 kg carton of bones lasting close to four months. Ordering a few weeks at a time spreads the delivery fee. The calculator works out your own dog’s numbers and how many cartons to order, and our cost guide shows what raw costs per day by weight.

Delivery is $5 an order whatever the weight, so three boxes in one order cost the same to deliver as one.

An easy week for a 35 kg Shepherd

At about 790 g of mince or blend a day, a 35 kg Shepherd goes through roughly one and a half blocks of about 500 g a day. A routine that keeps it simple:

• Every second evening: move three blocks from the freezer to a lidded container in the fridge. That’s two days’ food.
• Each meal: about 395 g from the container, weighed the first few times until you know what it looks like in the bowl.
• A few evenings a week: a raw beef neck or brisket bone in place of part of the meal, thawed in the fridge the night before.
• When a box runs low: the next one is already in the freezer behind it, oldest first.

Freezer space for a Shepherd

Each 10 kg carton is 36 × 27 × 18 cm, about 17.5 litres. Two or three cartons of food plus one of bones is around 50 to 70 litres, so many Shepherd owners keep a small chest freezer in the garage. On paper, a 100 litre chest freezer holds about five cartons, a bit less in practice once you leave room to get things out.

A subscription can repeat every 1 to 8 weeks. For a 35 kg dog, three boxes every four weeks, plus a carton of bones every few months, keeps things simple. If the freezer is still full, you can change or pause your subscription in My Account before the weekly cut-off.

Starting a Shepherd on raw

Switch over one to two weeks, starting with a single protein, and keep an eye on stools as you go. For a Shepherd puppy, our puppy feeding guide has amounts by age, and our switching guide covers adult dogs step by step.

Shepherd puppies

A Shepherd puppy grows from a few kilos to adult size in its first year or so, and the daily amount changes as it does. Our calculator uses a share of the puppy’s current weight that tapers with age, from about 8 to 10% at 8 to 10 weeks, easing to about 8% by four months (the calculator uses 8% from 2 to 4 months), down to about 3% from a year, with four meals a day at the start. Many vets and breeders suggest keeping large-breed puppies lean as they grow, so weigh every couple of weeks and check their shape. Our guide to the dog body condition score shows how.

Common questions

How much raw food does a German Shepherd eat?

About 2 to 3% of their weight a day. A 30 kg Shepherd on an everyday active routine eats about 750 g, split over two meals.

How many boxes does a German Shepherd need a month?

Usually two to three 10 kg boxes of mince or mix, depending on size and work, plus a carton of bones every few months.

Can I feed a working Shepherd more?

Yes. Dogs in security, herding or sports work often need 3% or more on busy weeks. Our guide to working dog food covers feeding around work.

How long does a carton of bones last a Shepherd?

At about 10% of the diet, a 35 kg Shepherd eats about 90 g of bone a day on average, so a 10 kg carton lasts close to four months.

What if my Shepherd can’t have beef?

Wild Mix with Goat Bones keeps the whole bowl beef-free, and the shop filter greys out anything with the meats you tick (for a dog off beef, tick Veal as well as Beef).