problems with diahorrea

[janeandfamily]

Hi I am new to GG -we have a new rescue greyhound -he is 17 months and we have had him for 4 months. In that time we have never really got on top of his digestive system. We are currently on a greyhound dry food and incorporate a couple of spoonfuls of 'butchers' wet food for flavour !! This follows several different dry feeds all of which caused ongoing diahorrea.
All else is fine with him he is very settled and a happy dog so I don't think its anxiety.
Any ideas

jane

[lurcherlot]

Feb 1, 2009 16:31:58 GMT -5 janeandfamily said:

This follows several different dry feeds all of which caused ongoing diahorrea.
All else is fine with him he is very settled and a happy dog so I don't think its anxiety.
Any ideas

Have I understood you correctly? ..... are you feeding several different brands of complete food at the same time? I don't mean in one meal , but perhaps a different one every day or two?

[vickyb]

Hi, have you read this thread, it's about food and poo, common topics here

greyhoundgap.proboards35.com/index.cgi?board=New&action=display&thread=41245

When we adopted Gracie it took us a while to find a food to suit her and finally, on Lisa's advice tried fish4dogs which suits her perfectly, but not our foster, she poos too much on it.
Wanda swears by supadog sensitive, others skinners, I think it's in the thread.
A lot of greyhounds are sensitive to wheat and some to chicken too so its worth avoiding them and choosing a food for a sensitive stomach.
The other thing I found was that unless the results are explosive it can be worth persevering if a food seems not too bad as he may get used to it especially if you have been trying one after another. Maddie is fine now on James Wellbeloved lamb and rice but at first was a little loose until her system got used it, but it really does seem to be the case that for every dog a food suits there is one it doesn't.
It took us several months of trial and error to get Gracie settled so you're not alone

[janeandfamily]

OK Thanks for the advice -we have been trying different feeds for a few weeks at a time (not at the same time) -actually I have noticed that we do get a few good days on the greyhound supadog (i think its called) but then out of the blue we get a few horrible poos so not sure why. But I think you are right there does seem to be an adjustement period

Thanks

[spencekelliem]

Hi Jane,

You are not alone! We have had ellie since the beginning of november and had a while of trial and error we have settled on james wellbeloved fish and rice.

we tried the chicken varieties but they didnt suit at all.

Were still watching her poos and have the odd off day but things seem to be fairly OK so far.

I was told that you should expect about 12 weeks before you really know if a food suits your dog.

Good luck with your experimenting.

[vickyb]

Just a thought about the butchers wet you are using, my lot go hyper on it as do my friends labs, as if you've fed a child a bag of sugar . My last dog, non pointy couldn't tolerate any canned food, just had dried with water on it and was very healthy.

I only add home cooked on top for flavour now, chicken, minced beef, lamb, turkey (although some dogs can't tolerate lge amounts of turkey) with veg , I cook a batch and freeze it in smaller amounts, short dated stuff is ideal. I add sardines a couple of times a week but only a small amount as that can upset stomachs in large amounts but is good for shiny coats. Some people with stronger stomachs than me use tripe too, raw or cooked. I get cut up heart sometimes or liver and cook them, but as its rich I only add a little or cook it with other meat. Cottage cheese gives them a change too. And if I'm desperate and have nothing ready I mix up a little low salt gravy mix (tesco is cheap) and pour that over.
Good luck

[janeandfamily]

Thanks all for the help -I have read the old thread on poos and think we will continue awith the dry mix we are already on -still mystified by the bad days -am wondering of it is the titbits we give him out walking as part of his training/socialisation ?
Jane

[ellieraven]

Hi Jane, I am currently trying wheat free CSJ and it seems to be ok so far - I am also trying tinned chappie as its supposed to be good for sensitive tums. I have had my retired grey for 5 months and she was on a greyhound food but the protein level was really high so changed to lower protein . I'm no expert by any means but think protein should be around 18-22 % - i expect someone will correct me if i'm wrong. The maintenance greyhound foods are ok i think.

I've found its trial and error !

[ragsysmum]

Are the loose poos at any particular time through the day? Many dogs will produce more and looser poos the more exercise they get. Mine can produce 3 on a good long walk and each is looser than the previous one. Over the years I have found this to happen with most dogs of various breeds and on different foods, and I know others have this experience also.

[vickyb]

Feb 2, 2009 4:44:41 GMT -5 ragsysmum said:

Are the loose poos at any particular time through the day? Many dogs will produce more and looser poos the more exercise they get. Mine can produce 3 on a good long walk and each is looser than the previous one. Over the years I have found this to happen with most dogs of various breeds and on different foods, and I know others have this experience also.

good point, ours do that sometimes and Gracie was like that for a long time but fine now. Non pointy Trix does that.

[Caroline]

Hi Jane,
We found that a spoonful a day of plain probiotic yoghurt has helped with Sprint's poos.
We also changed the flavour of food that he was on (JW lamb and rice to turkey and rice) which again seemed to help.
You'll find the right combination eventually, it just takes time which is the hard part.
Good luck with it and keep at it x

[muttlies6]

Our deerhound x has colitis and we have put him on a gluten free food (CSJ fit and fast which is fish based) and also put in the CSJ heal herb. It has really helped and meant that we don't have to give him tablets for colitis.

www.csjk9.com

They are very helpful if you want to ring them.