greyhound digestive system concern

[Barbara]

Hello, this is my first time on this discussion board and i hope someone can be of help to me. We recently adopted and 2 1/2 year old female greyhound retired racer. She has had two vet checks and appears healthy. Our problem is that she has a very bad "gas" problem. It is very embarrassing when we have comapny in and we have aconcern for the dog. She is fed the same dry food and does not get table food . I would love to hear from anyone with any suggestions thanks.:(

[crestie_rsq]

Hello, this is my first time on this discussion board and i hope someone can be of help to me. We recently adopted and 2 1/2 year old female greyhound retired racer. She has had two vet checks and appears healthy. Our problem is that she has a very bad "gas" problem. It is very embarrassing when we have comapny in and we have aconcern for the dog. She is fed the same dry food and does not get table food . I would love to hear from anyone with any suggestions thanks.:(

Welcome to the wonderful world of greyhounds. First thing I would do is add some yogurt & a good probiotic to her food (a fairly good one that is very reasonably priced is Prozyme). You can also give (or make your own) charcoal biscuits from from Old Mother Hubbard. I feed a farm grade ground beef that many GH racers are fed and it contains bits of ground of charcoal. There's also a product called Curtail which is a preventative, however, I don't know of anyone who has used it so cannot speak as to how well it works.

Here's a link to an all natural product, along with some other helpful info.

http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/flatulence-preventer-dog-canine-intestinal-gas.html

Good luck, greyhounds are awesome dogs.

[DiggityDogs]

I've suffered through the bad gas problem with my boxer AND dobe, and no, curtail did not help in my case :confused: I tried a lot of different foods (over a period of the last 6 years with my boxer) and have found that it's pretty much a direct correlation. I'm not sure why, and I hate this, but he always did best on Iams. I hate it as a food, but he had NO gas while he was on it. I don't feed in anymore because we were battling skin problems. Skin problems are gone, gas is back. It stinks. Literally. He did the worst on Wellness, gas wise, and nutro was a close second. I like both as a food, and feed nutro now, but personally I'd rather deal with gas than skin issues. Either way the poor guy's a little uncomfortable. I have heard that food allergies can sometimes manifest themselves as GI problems, so you might try an elimination type diet, go to a protein the dog is not used to, like fish or duck. Eagle pack, wellness, and nature's variety all carry a similar diet like this. Hope this helps, I struggled with Tyson for a long time, I know how bad it gets. He had a rumbling belly, bad gas, and often had diarrhea. The vet found nothing unusual and of course wanted to put him on I/D by science diet, which I refuse to feed, although Iams is not any better. Take it slow, don't try too many foods. Start with one and try it for a couple of months and see if it helps before trying something else, because the more you switch the more you contribute to the stomach upset. I feel your pain!!

[Barbara]

Thanks for suggestions, definitely will try a few. She is well worth it.:o

[JoJess]

Have to say there are some very good remedies there :D and I shall make a note of them, I also had a whippet that was always smelling the place out :( I changed her diet to James Wellbeloved and it seems to have cured the problem :o