We have a query about our big boy. Both Hary and Pearly are fed on Autarky complete food, with tasties mixed in a few times per week in their evening meal.
Thing is, Harry just does NOT chew his food. He gets his snout in the trough and chomps until everything is gone, with no chewing whatsoever. He's generally windier than Pearly, with regular burping after his meals (preferably in our faces, or so it seems!) and he also produces the most noxious, stale, putrid wind that I have ever had the misfortune to experience. Also, his poo is quite sludgy and he does one more per day than Pearly.
We're worried that he might be spending his days with a sore tummy. Autarky is a good quality food, with little bulk material in there, but it still swells slightly in water. Hence our concern about big Harry and his tummy. He doesn't show any signs of pain or distress, but we'd hate to think of him suffering.
Should we soak his food for a few mins before feeding to help prevent any swelling in his tummy? Or what would you suggest?
Many thanks,
Fiona
ps: for comparison, Pearly crunches her food and she does nicely-formed poo, rarely burps, and doesn't have stinky pumps nearly as often and they're not as foul.
Blue was just like this, but has calmed down considerably now he's used to us. If they gulp down air with their food, they do tend to be more stinky. A couple of things you could try are:
1) Raise the bowl a bit, he's a tall boy and so will be having to reach down quite far and that does lead to gulping. 2) Feed them separately, so he isn't so scared that Pearly might eat his grub 3) Hold your noses for a few months 'till he calms down with you all.
Hope this helps,
Phil
-- Edited by UndercoverElephant at 11:41, 2005-05-12
Thanks, Phil. He is incredibly food-orientated at the moment, though he has calmed down a bit since we got him. He used to 'snap' at treats but now he takes them as gently as Pearly does with his front teeth.
We already use a raised feeder, and to be honest I reckon he's more concerned about scoffing his food fast in the hope that he might get some of Pearly's! Looks like it's option 3 for us.....
What do you think about soaking his food for a bit to soften it, and so stop it swelling in his tummy? I don't want him getting colicky pains or anything.
We don't tend to soak Blue's food, we do, however put water in with it (full bowl of food, then fill to about a half full with water) so that we can make sure that he drinks plenty whilst he eats. You could try clothes pegs if your hand gets tired of option three.
Freddy tends to inhale his food - he's on the Wagg original (£8.99 for 17kg from Tesco!! No fancy food for my boy I'm afraid!!! ) - but I can't say I've noticed any probs with his poo - it tends to be fairly normally formed (not that I inspect it a lot!). He does stink to high heaven with his breath - although, we've just had him at the vets for something else and he has the early signs of gum disease, which seems to be causes the breath smell. I think it's because they don't chew the biscuits so the teeth aren't getting clean. He doesn't have wind either (sorry, I'm not being very helpful am I?!).
I, personally, wouldn't soak his food. I think that's the problem with a lot of greys teeth- they are fed soaked food in the kennels, so their teeth never get the chance to crunch anything and therefore give the teeth a bit of a clean. Have you tried a chew of some sort for him to chomp on - if you're not in favour of bones, how about a rawhide one?
Hope this maybe helps a wee bit!
Sharon
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Hi, Sharon - they both get about 3 Bonios every day, which are good and crunchy for their teeth, plus the odd denta rask. Both of them have pretty nice teeth, though Pearly's are better cos she crunches her food like a good wee girl.
It's more his tummy that we're thinking of. Mind you, it could be that he's just fine and dandy. Maybe the psychic communicator can let us know if he's bothered by it when we see her next month!
Its a male dog thing! The burpin in your face...... the fowl stench....... Dexter is EXCATLY the same no matter wit hes feed! (beware bend/stretch, its the give away for us, then its the vapours omttin' fae either end.)
Sunny is sooooo funny when he is eating!! He is learning to chew now but at first he would inhale his food, cough and it would go all over the floor then he would eat it off the floor!! he would do this a couple of times with each meal.i think its a male dog thing!! He is learning that it is not a race, as shera just watches him while she is taking her time nicely chewing her food! It didn't seem to upset his tummy and is not really a smelly boy!!
Ruby inhales her food and doesn't smell, while Spoons chews like a good boy and stinks! They're both on Greyhound mix from Gibb's of Galston(£9.87), although there wasn't much difference when they were on Autarky (although Spoon's poo's are a bit better).
I find that charcoal bonio's reduce the smell when I remember to give him one with his dinner, although they are very messy if taken out of the boal to eat.
We feed the Bonio charcoal biscuits to ours two and it seems to firm up their pooh a little as well (bet you wanted to know that!!) They only normally get two or three a week, but cause we were out with Barney (our soon to be new addition) they had a few in one day. The next day, Freddy's pooh was black and even more solid than normal. He was also struggling a bit, so just a warning of not to give too many of them in one day.
Another really good treat that dogs have to chew are the square biscuits that Pets at Home sell loose as well. They are about 6 inches square and might be made by Friskies. Our two love them and they don't disappear as quickly as some smaller biscuit treats! They are fairly cheap as well. It takes Freddy a couple of minutes to eat one - mainly cause he can't swallow it whole.
You could try to change their food gradually and see if it makes a difference. Arden Grange is getting loads of good reports, as well as foods like Burns and the like.
Incidently, it's good practice to soak dry food for a while before feeding to reduce the chances of Gastric Torsion (Bloat) in deep chested dogs like greyhounds and the like.
Just to say, we'd been adding a bit of tinned Chappie to their food the past couple of days. I'm glad to report that Harry did THE most satisfying plop this afternoon. I won't go into too many details - unless asked!!! - but looks like his tummy is settling down.
Our Tyler has good and bad poos all within one walk!! At the start of the walk its good solid poos then as she continues for more stops, it just becomes a sloppy mess! I think it may be just her habit (to have a good clean out!)
Recently an ex grey trainer was telling me that they have two stomachs!! And he used bicarbonate of soda to flush them out!!!
Another bit of good news. We've just been round at Steve's folks for the evening and there was no need for gas masks. Chappie seems to be the cure-all for Harry. An evening sans putrid gas. Aaaah, bliss.....
We had problems with Pedigree products when we had our old GSD & with Sascha (even with their biscuits) - so we stay well clear from anything made by them.
My mother previously worked for a Vet in Paisley and he swore by Chappie. I've since known many dogs with dodgy stomachs that are a lot happier on Chappie (even though the tinned version stinks!).
Caroline
PS I think that Natural Yoghurt can help with wind & once heard a dog breeder on TV say that some honey added to the Yoghurt can help a dodgy tum.
Hi, Caroline - yeah, I've heard good things about Chappie. It certainly seems to be doing Harry's tummy pretty well just now. We do give them live natural yoghurt a few times per week as well. They love it!
Adding a dollop of natural live yoghurt does help firm up runny poo's. Specially good if they have been on antibiotics for anything, but even if they haven't it helps - and - they LOVE it!
Lita - Sim does the same as Tyler - starts the walk firm and ends it sloppy! Mmm mmm! Also if they are having a longer walk than usual that can happen - I presume that's something similar to 'runners tum'! (Anyone who has been running will know what I mean)!
Our vet gave us a brilliant tip for firming up pooh, especially good if your dog has a dicky tum, and a spot of the runs - "cheap as chips" white rice. Tesco do a massive bag for about 2p!! Boil it up, add nothing and serve cold!! If there is no stomach infection, mix through the cold rice with slightly less than the normal amount of biscuits
Works a treat every time!! Well we've found that anyway and always have some rice in!!
Chas
PS Don't eat it yourself cause it's just like a plie of manky stodge, in my humble opinion of course, and I'm not so keen on the Wagg dog biscuits!!