An adult German Shepherd of 32 kg, neutered and moderately active, needs about 951 kcal a day, which is about 834 g of our Chicken recipe. With this breed, though, there is a surprise: in a large UK study it was one of only two breeds less likely than crossbreeds to be recorded as overweight. The questions that matter are different: why some stay skinny however much they eat, why so many seem to have a sensitive stomach, and what the food bowl has to do with bloat.
The FCI breed standard gives 30-40 kg for males (60-65 cm at the withers) and 22-32 kg for females (55-60 cm). Many German Shepherds weigh more. In UK first-opinion vet records collected by the VetCompass programme (12,146 German Shepherds), the median adult bodyweight, meaning the highest weight recorded after 18 months of age, was 40.1 kg for males and 34.8 kg for females, so at least half of both males and females had gone above the top of the standard as adults.
Yet the German Shepherd is not a breed predisposed to being overweight. In a Royal Veterinary College study of 22,333 dogs, only two breeds were less likely than crossbreeds to be recorded as overweight: the Shih Tzu and the German Shepherd, at about half the odds (0.55). That does not mean they never put on weight: in the VetCompass data, 5.2% of German Shepherds were recorded as overweight in a single year, and 2.7% as underweight. Body condition matters more than the scales: on the WSAVA 9-point scale, 4-5 is ideal, meaning ribs you can feel easily and a waist visible from above.
Often the portion just needs recalculating. But there is one cause typical of the breed that no portion can fix: exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), when the pancreas no longer makes enough enzymes to digest food.
In a UK study of 13,069 blood tests for EPI, the German Shepherd was one of four breeds associated with the condition, with a median age at diagnosis of 3 years. In a Finnish study of 76 German Shepherds and Rough Collies with EPI, the signs regarded as typical were weight loss despite a ravenous appetite and large amounts of yellow, soft faeces.
The surprise is on the diet side: there is no single menu. In a trial where 21 dogs with EPI ate three special diets in turn, the best one varied from dog to dog, and for 8 of them their usual home diet stayed the best; in another study, of 178 dogs, switching to a low-fat diet showed no clear benefit. The first year is the hardest: 19% of treated dogs were put to sleep within twelve months. For dogs that get through the initial phase, though, the long-term outlook is good: overall median survival for treated dogs was over five years.
The reputation has some basis. In the VetCompass data, diarrhoea was the third most common diagnosis in German Shepherds (5.2% of dogs in one year). At the Royal Veterinary College's referral hospital near London, among 546 dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), German Shepherds had 2.4 times the odds of crossbreeds, and variants of the TLR4 and TLR5 genes, part of the gut's immune defences, have been linked to the disease in the breed. The picture is not uniform, though: in a Swedish study of 814 dogs with chronic enteropathy the breed was not at higher risk, possibly because many healthy police dogs, mostly German Shepherds, visit those two hospitals for routine care.
If diarrhoea lasts more than three weeks or keeps coming back, your vet leads: first parasites, EPI and other causes are ruled out, then an elimination diet is usually tried and, if that is not enough, medication. In a Swiss study of 70 dogs treated in that order, low vitamin B12 was among the factors linked to a worse outcome. Switching foods constantly only makes it harder to tell what works.
In the published case series, German Shepherds come up often among dogs with skin reactions to food: a 2019 review found them in nine reports, where they made up 57 of 432 affected dogs (13%). Those counts, however, were rarely compared with how common the breed is, and the authors conclude that there is no reliable evidence of a true breed predisposition. There is an extra twist in this breed: in the Finnish study of dogs with EPI mentioned above, skin problems were common, especially in German Shepherds, and owners often reported sensitivities to particular foods.
Chicken is not the main suspect either: among documented food allergens in dogs it comes third (15%), after beef (34%) and dairy (17%). The only way to find out is an elimination diet set up by your vet, with a protein your dog has never eaten, for at least 8 weeks: at that length, remission is reached in more than 90% of cases. Turkey is poultry: if your German Shepherd has had problems with chicken, ask your vet before trying it.
Gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV), or bloat, is the emergency every German Shepherd owner should know about. At the University of Turin veterinary hospital in Italy, one in four of 130 dogs operated on for GDV between 2011 and 2024 was a German Shepherd (25.4%). In the US Dog Aging Project, which enrolled more than 47,000 dogs, it was the breed with the second highest number of cases after the Poodle, and the factors linked to GDV were being purebred, male, over 40 kg and also having a lean body condition.
On the food bowl, the evidence is thin. A 2000 study of 1,637 dogs of 11 large and giant breeds (German Shepherds were not among them) linked the risk to eating fast and to a raised bowl, which it blamed for about one case in five in the large breeds. The Dog Aging Project did not look at bowls or eating speed, but found no difference by diet type or by number of meals a day. What matters most is recognising the signs: retching without bringing anything up, drooling, restlessness, a swelling belly. It is an emergency, but not a death sentence: in Turin 86% of the dogs operated on survived. If your dog has several risk factors, ask your vet about a prophylactic gastropexy.
Every Pappa Fresh recipe contains one meat only and declares the percentage of each ingredient on the label, so you always know what your German Shepherd is eating and can show it to your vet:
They are cooked in the pouch and keep outside the fridge until opened; once opened, they go in the fridge and should be used within 2-3 days. On the Complete plan a German Shepherd eats more than one 400 g pouch a day. For dogs over 25 kg the quiz starts from the Topper, a quarter of the ration alongside your dog's usual food. There is also the Mix, half the ration with your own kibble. Either way, take the same share out of the kibble, so the day's total stays right.
An adult German Shepherd of 32 kg, neutered and moderately active, needs about 951 kcal a day: with our Chicken recipe that is about 834 g, with the richer Beef recipe 699 g. An unneutered German Shepherd burns more, about 1189 kcal. Unlike the Labrador, our quiz's method applies no breed reduction to the German Shepherd. If your dog is thin, choose ‘Underweight’ in the quiz and the portion goes up; if it keeps losing weight while eating hungrily, talk to your vet before increasing it further.
For a dog of this size the Complete plan costs about €14.42 a day, the Mix about €7.21 and the Topper about €3.73. For the same calories, wet food weighs about three times as much as kibble (around 350-400 kcal per 100 g for kibble, 110-136 for our recipes): for the general logic, see how much a dog should eat.
| Weight | Energy need (kcal/day) neutered / intact | Grams per day neutered / intact | Complete plan | Mix (½) | Topper (¼) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 kg | 791 / 988 | 694 g / 867 g | €12.71/day | €6.22/day | €3.16/day |
| 32 kg | 951 / 1189 | 834 g / 1043 g | €14.42/day | €7.21/day | €3.73/day |
| 40 kg | 1125 / 1406 | 987 g / 1233 g | €16.31/day | €8.28/day | €4.09/day |
Grams based on the Chicken recipe (114 kcal/100 g); with Beef, which is richer (136 kcal/100 g), you need about 16% less. Prices for a neutered dog.
Figures calculated with the same method as our quiz (FEM×K: maintenance energy adjusted for breed, activity, neutering and body condition). They are an estimate: take the quiz for your dog's exact plan, and talk to your vet about any health concern.
Two minutes: enter weight, age, activity and body condition to get the exact portion, with 30% off your first order.
An adult German Shepherd of 32 kg, neutered and moderately active, needs about 951 kcal a day, which is about 834 g of our Chicken recipe, or about 1043 g if unneutered. Across the table it goes from about 694 g at 25 kg to about 987 g at 40 kg. These are estimates: adjust the portion to your dog's body condition.
Sometimes the portion is simply too small. But if your dog eats ravenously, loses weight and passes large amounts of yellow, soft faeces, your vet can check for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency with a blood test: the German Shepherd is predisposed to it. In that case more food is not enough, the dog needs the enzymes your vet prescribes.
Two meals a day is the most common choice for an adult. On bloat, the Dog Aging Project, with more than 47,000 US dogs, found no difference by number of meals; an earlier study of large and giant breeds linked the risk to something else, how fast the dog eats. Knowing the signs of bloat matters more than the number of meals.
The FCI standard gives 30-40 kg for males and 22-32 kg for females, but in the UK the median adult weight was 40.1 kg for males and 34.8 kg for females. That is why body condition matters: ribs you can feel but not see, a score of 4-5 on the WSAVA 9-point scale.
Not necessarily. German Shepherds appear often among dogs with skin reactions to food, but studies show no reliable breed predisposition. Among dogs with documented food allergies, chicken comes third (15%), after beef and dairy. Only an elimination diet of at least 8 weeks, supervised by your vet, can tell.
Written by the Pappa Fresh editorial team from published veterinary studies (see sources). Not a substitute for your vet's advice.
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