Best Canned Dog Food For German Shepherd – Buyer’s Guide For 2022

Wanting to give the best care and attention, feeding them the best diet for their needs is certainly what we all want for our German shepherds.

Being a dog parent to a German shepherd is quite tricky. Its diet requirement varies in whatever life stage your dog belongs to.

What does this mean?

An active and growing puppy requirement is twice more than what an adult dog needs for the elderly ones.

“Different quantities and ratios of nutrients as well as different feeding rates, are ideal for different life stages” – AAFCO (The Association of American Food Control Officials)

You should thoroughly give the kind of diet that would suit you German shepherd best.

Most people feed their dogs with canned food, however there are tons of different types and labels out there in the market and you are hard-pressed to even know where to start and what to choose.

After a thorough and delicate research, we’ve picked the best canned food for your German shepherd. We will also answer frequently asked questions to ensure that your German Shepherd dog get what it deserves.

Purina Beyond Grain Free Wet Dog Food

Whether you’re giving your dog a healthy diet that consists only of wet dog food, or you’re mixing the wet food in with their dry food to help them get the most well-rounded diet.

Whichever the case, your main goal is ensuring that they have a nutritious food that promotes healthy growth and energy levels, right?

If you’re concerned about your dog’s well-being (who isn’t?) you need to consider Purina’s Beyond Natural line of wet dog foods.

It’s a newer recipe to the market, but is receiving raving reviews from customers who have made the switch and now give it to their dogs on a regular basis.

Pros

• Grain Free Recipe: A lot of dogs have sensitivities to grains, and a lot of dog food companies have made the switch to using grains in their recipes as a way to pad how much food you think you’re getting. The problem is that the grains do not provide the same nutritional value as other forms of carbohydrates, and often cause digestion problems in your dog.
• Real Beef Is The #1 Ingredient: Some of the bigger named dog food companies have also started using animal byproducts, such as chicken innards, to increase the amount of protein in their recipes. These byproducts are not nearly as dense in protein as real meat, which is why Purina makes real beef their #1 ingredient. These recipes are loaded with the high quality protein your dog needs to maintain healthy muscle production.
• Crafted By In-House Nutritionists: Purina offers a wide range of recipes and flavors that contain no added preservatives or artificial flavorings. Their in-house nutritionists run each recipe through a test panel of animals to ensure they’re well-received, before putting them out into the marketplace.

Cons

• Causes Soft Stool In Older Dogs: Some customers have reported that their older dogs ended up developing a loose stool because of the Purina Beyond Natural wet foods. While this has been a problem reported when giving older dogs most wet food brands, it’s something you should keep in mind, and consider mixing it with a dry food to offset the possibility.
• Caused Reactions In Overly Sensitive Dogs: While Purina went with a grain-free recipe for their Beyond Natural line of foods, some customers have also reported that it did cause sensitivity in their pets. It’s worth noting that these same customers also reported their pets having sensitivities with other brands of foods, so it may not be so much the Purina line, as it is their dogs in general. If your dog has shown sensitivity to foods in the past, you should also keep this fact in mind.

Buying Advice

Purina has put a lot of time and energy into formulating their Beyond Natural line of wet dog foods.

If you’re looking to give your dog a bit of variety in your life, you’ll love the wide range of flavors they offer, along with the grain-free recipes that have been tested and approved by their in-house nutritionists.

Natural Balance Wet Dog Food

Natural Balance is a high quality wet dog food that contains the optimal balance of premium proteins and key nutrients to help your pet grow from an energetic young puppy, to a healthy, active old dog.

With a wide range of recipes to choose from, you can find one for even the pickiest of eaters.

Pros

• Perfectly Balanced Nutrition: Natural Balance utilizes a precise blend of 30% protein, 40% fats, and 40% carbohydrates to ensure your pet develops strong bones and muscles, with just enough fat to give them energy stores, and the right amount of complex carbohydrates.
• High Quality Complex Carbohydrates: Complex carbs, unlike simple sugars, give your pet a long lasting boost of energy. Simple sugars will give them a quick energy boost, but them make them crash, acting lethargic throughout the day. Natural Balance’s formulas use real oat bran, brown rice, and potatoes to deliver the perfect amount of energy.
• Five Great Tasting Formulas: If you’re dealing with a picky eater, you can choose from 5 different recipes that are tested in-house by trained professional pet nutritionists. From the standard beef and chicken, to more exotic lamb and liver recipes, your dog won’t be able to refuse.
• Vegetarian Recipe: If you really want to take a holistic approach to your dog’s diet, Natural Balance even offers a complete vegetarian based formula, that is actually vegetarian and not just vegetable flavored. This is one of the first companies we’ve ever seen offer a 100% vegetarian diet in their dog foods.
• Competitively Priced: Natural Balance is a high quality dog food brand that’s also able to compete on price. Because of their wide distribution channels, they make up for the lower price by selling more units overall. That means you save money, and can easily find it in most big box and pet stores.

Cons

• Dented Cans: Ordering canned dog food online presents one major problem: the shipping process. While it’s hard to pin down who exactly is responsible, a few customers have reported that their shipments of Natural Balance have come with a lot of dented cans in the mix. Some of them were unable to be opened with a can opener.
• Picky Dogs Turn Their Noses Up: Even offering a wide range of recipes for you to choose from, some customers have also reported that their dogs still snubbed their nose at Natural Balance, and refused to eat it. If you have a seriously picky eater, you may want to start with a smaller order, and then figure out if they’ll actually eat it before placing an order for a case or more.

Buying Advice

All, in all, the various flavor offerings coupled with the price, Natural Balance’s Ultra Premium wet dog food is considered a good buy.

If your dog has gone full-blown vegetarian, it’s one of the few brands that offer a complete vegetable based recipe. 

Don’t fret, though, because if your dog still loves good old protein, their Chicken, Beef, Lamb, and Liver recipes are still hits with the majority of dogs that try them.

IAMS Proactive Health Wet Dog Food

Dog food can get expensive. Especially when you’re feeding a German Shepherd. When you have to feed more than 1, you may need to consider picking up a second job just to support their diet. 

Or, you can look at the IAMS Proactive Health line of dog foods that are making a name for themselves for being so affordable, while still tasting great and being packed full of nutritious ingredients.

Pros

• Slow Cooked In Real Broth: Creating an amazing flavor that your dogs will eagerly stand in line for, the IAMS brand foods are made with 100% real animal proteins that are slow cooked. This slow cooking process creates a great tasting broth.
• Promotes Healthy Skin & Coat: Each can of IAMS Proactive Health is infused with high levels of essential fatty acids to help promote strong internal systems, healthy skin, and a shiny straight coat.
• Breaks the flea life cycle: A lot of products have problems taking care of the beginning of the flea’s life cycle: the eggs and larva. In order to gain control over the infestation, you need to be able to stop new eggs from forming into adults, effectively breaking the life cycle.
• Promotes Healthy Skin & Coat: Each can of IAMS Proactive Health is infused with high levels of essential fatty acids to help promote strong internal systems, healthy skin, and a shiny straight coat.
• Affordable Pricing: This is, quite arguably, the biggest selling point for the IAMS brand dog foods. Their prices are some of the most affordable on the market, so if you are on a strict budget, IAMS is a definite contender that should be considered.

Cons

• Not Completely Packed With Veggies: The label on the can shows plenty of large chunks of vegetables, however, when you open the can, you’ll see that there aren’t exactly that many. Unfortunately, to keep prices low, this is one of the areas that IAMS cut corners on, so you should know that it’s going to be a bit shy before you order.
• Causes Gas In Some Dogs: Some customers have reported that their dogs have become flatulent when they’re being fed IAMS foods.

Buying Advice

If you’re on a strict budget, and still want to give your dog some of the best wet dog food on the market, you definitely need to consider the IAMS Proactive adult line of foods. 

To save even more money, it’s worth having the cans shipped to your house directly from Amazon. With free shipping, you can save almost 50 cents a can, compared to what you can expect to pay in your local big box stores or pet warehouses. 

You can also consider setting up automatic shipping, and have new orders sent straight to your door each month — ensuring you never run out.

Pedigree Choice CUTS Wet Dog Food

Pedigree is the choice of quite a few pet owners because it’s affordable, and a large majority of dogs and cats love the flavor.

Their Choice Cuts line of wet dog foods attempts to position Pedigree as a gourmet choice in the wet dog food market. Does it stand up to it’s competitors, though? Keep reading to find out!

Pros

• Essential Oils And Extra Minerals: Each can is also infused with essential fatty acids, and extra vitamins and minerals to help promote strong internal systems, a healthy coat, and skin.
• Choice Cuts Of Meat: One area that Pedigree did address was in the inclusion of actual meat products inside of this line of wet dog foods. They’ve forgone animal byproducts in the protein section, which means your dog does get higher quality sources of protein that will help them build, and maintain their muscle mass.
• Irresistible Taste: A lot of the dogs that eat Pedigree are very fond of the flavor. Each can is cooked with the meat and water combined to create a great tasting gravy that your dogs will lick clean from their bowl.
• Well Balanced: Each recipe also includes a balance of 30% protein, 40% fats, and 40% carbohydrates to round out a well balanced diet. These percentages keep your dogs active without feeling lethargic, and have just enough protein to help their muscles burn fat, keeping them from becoming overweight.
• Mixture Of Flavors: If your dog happens to snub their nose at one flavor, there are still around 10 more flavors to choose from. If you want to give your dog a variety, you could feed them a different can every day of the week, and still have a few left over.
• Subscription Delivery Available: Ordering from Amazon gives you the option to have your order automatically refilled on the interval you set. That means instead of realizing you’re about to run out, you can have it automatically delivered to your door a few days before you get to your last can.

Cons

• Includes Grains: A large portion of the ingredients in each can are, indeed, grain based. Pedigree uses a slick method of renaming different grain based products to keep the overall total from being the #1 ingredient on the back of the label.
• Causes Pickiness In Non-Picky Dogs: Some customers have reported that their dogs, who normally eat everything in sight, would snub their noses at the Pedigree Choice Cuts line of foods. For this reason alone, you may want to order a single can to test the waters before you start purchasing in bulk.

Buying Advice

While we commend Pedigree for making drastic changes over the last few years, we recommend you click on the button below to read reviews from other customers, and then make a decision on your own as to whether or not Pedigree Choice Cuts is right for your dog.

It’s affordable if you’re on a budget, and most dogs that try it love it.

Purina ALPO Chop House Wet Dog Food

Purina has been around since your grandparents fed your mom and dad’s young puppies. Probably even your great-grandparents, for that matter.

Throughout the years, they’ve only gotten better at what they do. That’s what brings about the Alpo Chop House line of wet dog foods.

We think it’s great for your dogs on it’s own, but can be made even better through combining it with a dry dog food to create a truly gourmet dish your dog will look forward to every day.

Pros

• Four Gourmet, Steakhouse Inspired Flavors: Who doesn’t love a trip to their favorite steakhouse? We all do, and your dogs will, too. Each recipe in the Alpo Chop House line of foods is inspired by the same dishes we all love to get at our favorite steakhouse restaurants.
• Formulated With Only High Quality Protein Sources: There are zero animal byproducts, or low-protein meat replacements in any of the recipes in the Alpo Chop House line of foods. Purina includes 100% real meat in every can, ensuring that your dogs receive high quality sources of real animal protein.
• 100% Balanced For A Complete Diet: Through the perfect mix of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, your dog will maintain a healthy weight, without you having to worry about them becoming obese from consuming excessive amounts of fat, or becoming lethargic from getting a carbohydrate overload.
• Contains Essential Vitamins And Minerals: A lot of dog food companies are more interested in their profits, which means excluding high end ingredients that give your dog the nutrients they need to thrive. Purina, though, uses only the highest quality, all natural ingredients that deliver exactly the vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients your dog requires to live a long, happy, and healthy life.
• Excellent Customer Service: Purina is not some fly-by-night brand who is going to take your money one day, and be gone the next. When you look through the reviews from other customers, it’s easy to see how involved they are with ensuring that you’re 100% satisfied with your purchase.

Cons

• Price Recently Increased: This is the way it goes with business. When you have something successful, the prices tend to increase over time. However, Purina recently doubled the cost of their Alpo Chop Steakhouse line of dog foods.
• Customers Less Than Pleased With Shipping: While not necessarily a reflection on the company itself, a lot of customers have reported receiving their cases of food with a large amount of dents in the cans. It’s hard to determine who is at fault with this one, either Purina, Amazon, or the shipping company themselves. Regardless, we thought you should know that this is a potential problem customers have been reporting on.

Buying Advice

Whether you’re making the switch to a strict wet food only diet, or you intend to mix this premium wet dog food with some dry food to make a nice gourmet dinner for your dog, we’re sure that they will love it.

It’s formulated with flavor and nutrition at the forefront, and backed by Purina’s long lasting brand name and customer service.

Blue Buffalo Lamb Dog Food

Blue Buffalo has a wide range of wet dog foods that have gained a well-earned reputation for being some of the best, most affordable canned foods on the market. Their Lamb Dinner line of wet food is a perfect example of why they’ve earned such a good reputation with pet owners.

Each can of Freedom Lamb Dinner wet dog food by Blue Buffalo is specially formulated with real lamb, potatoes, and oatmeal, and is naturally infused with essential vitamins, minerals, and omega fatty acids to promote a healthy nervous system, brain, bones, and muscles.

Pros

• Lamb Recipe For Large Dogs: Large breed dogs, like German Shepherds, require a special mix that’s god the right amount of proteins, fats, and a healthy amount of carbohydrates to support their active lifestyle.
• Recipe Includes Potatoes And Oatmeal: A lot of companies like to use low quality products (even sawdust, in some cases) as carbohydrates that help give your dog energy. Blue Buffalo, though, includes healthy complex carbs like sweet potatoes and oatmeal that both enhance flavor, and give your dog energy in between meals.
• Infused With Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids: Omega fatty acids are essential for proper growth, and the natural ingredients in each can of Blue Buffalo provide your dog with the precise levels they need to maintain an active brain.
• Natural, Holistic Formula For All Dogs: There are zero animal byproducts (like lungs, noses, hooves, ears, and eyes) inside of the Freedom line of wet dog foods. These products are great for adding filler, but are not loaded down with the vitamins and minerals that your dog needs to stay healthy.
• Minimizes Food Sensitivities: Because there’s no animal byproducts or harsh fillers and additives, a lot of dogs that have been reported to have food sensitivities do not seem to have issues with Blue Buffalo dog foods.
• Mixes Great With Dry Dog Food: Getting the most mileage out of your canned dog food is easy when you mix it with Blue Buffalo dry dog food. The combination makes a great broth that dogs go crazy for, and it really extends the life of each can of wet food — especially when you have multiple dogs.

Cons

• Funky Smell: While we can’t say exactly how this dog food tastes, we can say that it has a bit of a funky smell to it. It doesn’t smell too pleasing (as a human) to eat, but it doesn’t seem to stop dogs from wanting to tear it up. You may need to wash your hands after you serve it to them.

Buying Advice

Blue Buffalo has a wide range of products that have all earned a reputation for being some of the best on the market, while still staying competitive on price.

Even staying competitive, Blue Buffalo hasn’t faltered and began using low quality (and sometimes fake) ingredients to help pad their profit margins.

That means, for a growing dog, each can of Blue Buffalo Freedom wet dog food is formulated to promote healthy growth from puppy to adulthood. 

Best Canned Dog Food For German Shepherd FAQ