# First time GREAT DANE owner



## PawsofLoveTX (May 15, 2012)

While I have a large pack, and have experience with several breeds, I have never owned a great dane before. 

She is sweet as can be, and I am totally in love with her, but I have NO idea the things I need to watch for and there isn't a lot of help that I've been able to find online. 

I'm looking to see if anyone here owns, or owned, a senior great dane to help me out with advise. 

I know that I need to be careful of bloat, and other medical conditions, but do they needs a certain set of vitamins, are they prone to allergies, etc? Just stuff like that. 

Thanks!


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Hopefully some Great Dane owners will chime in, but just from what I've looked into for owning a large breed and talking to some giant breed owners...

Joint care- I feed a human glucosamine supplement daily. For a giant breed, the dosage would be about what a human would take and I just buy the Sam's Club brand pills and put on in breakfast daily. I've observed a noticeable difference in a friend's senior horses when they are on a glucosamine supplement (blind test essentially, no placebo effect) and I feel that taking it helped me when I was running long distance and doing heavy workouts. 

Fish oil- fish oil is great for the coat, skin, joints etc. A small amount daily (a single gel caplet of the human dosage and brand) can be helpful and there aren't really any side effects unless you feed too much and get loose stools since it is a fat but that's easy to fix by cutting back the amount. Start at a caplet every other day for the first couple weeks.

Just feed as good of food as you can afford and keep her at a healthy weight. Like humans, extra weight is a stress to any dog, particularly a senior. 

Have a good supportive bed for her. A toddler mattress can be good or a firm foam twin mattress topper cut in half and double on itself (wrap with an old bedsheet for easy cleaning).


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## PawsofLoveTX (May 15, 2012)

All of our dogs get fish oil, every day, so I'll put her on that as well. 

She sleeps on our couch, with a sheet under her, should i get her onto something more supportive? 

She is VERY underweight atm, but I'm working on that as well  

I will definitely get her onto a joint suppliment. 

Thanks for the reply!


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

Welcome to the best breed of the bunch!  I'm completely biased of course.

How old is your girl? It sounds like it was a rescue? You'll want to get the weight back on her, but slowly and steadily.


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## PawsofLoveTX (May 15, 2012)

Loki Love said:


> Welcome to the best breed of the bunch!  I'm completely biased of course.
> 
> How old is your girl? It sounds like it was a rescue? You'll want to get the weight back on her, but slowly and steadily.


She is 7 years old. She is a rescue. She was dumped in a shelter in the area. I went to rescue a husky and saw her and connected instantly. That's how I got her name, Kizmit, which means Meant to be in swedish. 

She was a katrina dog, she was found by her original owners, when they went back into NO. She had survived the hurricane and was stuck in the water and debris.


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

PawsofLoveTX said:


> She is 7 years old. She is a rescue. She was dumped in a shelter in the area. I went to rescue a husky and saw her and connected instantly. That's how I got her name, Kizmit, which means Meant to be in swedish.
> 
> She was a katrina dog, she was found by her original owners, when they went back into NO. She had survived the hurricane and was stuck in the water and debris.


She sounds like an absolute sweetheart - I hope you post some pictures  I love the name too - very original and fitting.

As others mentioned, she could probably use some supplements for her joints  What are you feeding her?


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## PawsofLoveTX (May 15, 2012)

She is on rachel ray 6 ingredients right now, which is what I feed all my dogs on kibble day (they do raw too). It's been the best for us so far because I have a pom who is allergic to everything and he can actually eat RR without having a reaction. I know that they need lower protein food, and I need to get her onto a supplement. 



















I'll put up more pictures soon, but those are the two on hand.


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

High protein food is okay given it's good quality protein (ie grain free) - but there are some that still stick by the low protein rule, regardless of the source of protein. We feed Loki raw now, but we were giving him Orijen previously.

She has such a smoochable face ♥


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## FaithFurMom09 (Oct 24, 2009)

I dream one day of having a Dane. There is a guy at the dog park who brings his 2 and I LOVE them. They are so sweet and gentle. I LOVE the way they bark.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

Minor hijack - @FaithFurMom09 - Do you have pix of Faith ... I'm always interested in Lab x GSD pix. Thx.


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