What do you feed your dog?

[LindsayA]

Hi Again,

I'm finding myself in a quandry with food.  We have an approx 3yr old greyhound x called Ted, who we got from DogsTrust in Nov 2013.  He is pretty giddy and bouncy and had quite nasty separation anxiety when we first got him, but he is improving lots and lots and is generally much happier and more settled.

When we first got him he was on wainwrights, but we took him off that as soon as possible as it's 23% protein, and only available from pets at home.  He went onto JWB cereal free for about 6 months, topped with half a sachet of wet food.  Whilst we didn't have any problems per se (good poos, nice coat etc), it was getting pretty expensive, and he was still really giddy.  So we lowered his protein content again and went onto Burns Chicken and Rice, which we were planning to top with the moist food (to call it moist is a liberty as it looks more to me like it's had all the liquid sucked out of it lol).

Couple of issues I have with this, we transferred him over really slowly over a matter of about 3 weeks all in all, and he's still had several bouts of seriously upset tummy.  We're talking pawing at my boyfriend's head at 4 in the morning, dashing outside and then having liquid diarrhoea in the garden.  It may well be because of something else he'd eaten (bulls pizzle or the like), but having never had this problem before on the other food, I'm suspicious.  

Generally his poos are much less solid and are a light sandy brown, not a dark woody brown as they were before.  The other thing is he is really windy on this and it smells SO cabbagey.  All his other treats have stayed the same, as has his feeding routine, and we're going by the suggestion on the bag in terms of amount, but he seems to be looking less muscular.  He has calmed down marginally, but we're not saving any money at all, because he seems to need to eat more of this food to get the same amount of goodness as he was getting from the JWB.

I'm now trying to think what is going to be best for him; whether we keep him on this for longer to see if it improves (it has been at least 3 weeks and I've not seen any real benefit frankly), change him back to JWB, or start looking into feeding him human food / raw diet.  When he gets a mini version of our dinner we don't have any problems with a poorly tummy, and he seems great in himself.  When we've had a roast he's had a mini version, so chicken, pork or lamb, plain and oven roasted, roasted potatoes and veg and gravy.  I'm sure there are lots of people who disagree with this, and he certainly won't be having it every day, but I tend to offer sweet potato, boiled chicken, plain rice, boiled peas and carrots if he's had a dodgy tum or when he just came back from dental surgery, and we've never had a problem.

The burns food he is on is already cereal free according to their website, but the other thing I've just realised is that he is moulting like mad at the moment.  Everything we own is covered in little white hairs, and whilst it has gotten warmer I'm also wondering if it's some sort of allergic reaction and that's why he's windy, got loose poo and shedding so much...

If anyone can provide any insight I would be massively grateful!  Even if it's just advising what you feed your dog on and what they're like behaviour and condition wise.

Thanks in advance.

Lindsay

[samburns]

Burns foods are low fat I believe so not great food keeping weight on a dog if they are prone to being high energy or otherwise not good at maintaining their weight.

Nothing wrong with him having potato, sweet potato, rice, veg and meat scraps if it suits him (provided not lots of salt if its what you've prepared for yourself).  It can be quite long winded getting to the root of food intolerances   A lot of people recommend CSJ (they have quite a range) - not available in shops but you can get it delivered. 

[dite]

Hi Lindsay,

Following food threads on Gap Ive found feeding is a minefield as what suits one can really upset another, and something they've done well on can upset their systems or they go off it! JWB is a good food and Ted you said was well on it but it gave my whippet unbelievably foul wind - people still mention it 4 years on So it is a long process of trial and error with kibbles
- I had to switch to raw due to my lurchers intolerance of kibble. Costs me just over £2 per day to feed both - you can do it cheaper but I use Nutriment which is a lazy option of good quality complete raw food.
Good luck!

[LindsayA]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies, I think we are going to take him off this burns food, there is something about it I'm just not impressed with at all. When I checked it's not cereal free either, it's only wheat free and contains oats so I'm wondering if that's what the problem is. Now my bf is home from work we've been chatting about it and noticed he's been eating a lot of grass since he went on it. I mean literally any tuft of grass he has a nibble at, doesn't make him gag or make him sick, but makes me wonder if he's needing more greenery or something. He loves his veggies, particularly carrot and peas.

Ah no I don't put salt or pepper on anything, so he literally has it plain, bar the occasional few herbs, and if we cook with oil, we only use small amounts of olive oil.

I'm a member of a reptile forum and one of the ladies on there has just mentioned about CSJ too so I may have to look into it, the only concern I have is as it seems to be for working dogs, I don't want a really high protein content which will cause him to go mental / increase his anxiety etc.

[alexandsteve]

Lily's Kitchen do a very good variety of dried cereal free foods - it's a very good quality food but you do pay the price for it! You can but it cheeper at www.Vetuk.co.uk
My girl has burns chicken and rice and a spoon of the Lily's tinned food mixed in (a little goes a long way) or she has sardines or chicken, scrambled egg, liver, white fish etc mixed in.
Xxx

[alfiemoon]

We feed both our lurchers CSJ CP18. This is rice based (so good if your dog has wheat intolerance) and is 18% protein.

They have solid poops and never have any wind.

As they practically inhale dry kibble, we use a third of a tin of Butchers Tripe/Loaf per meal between the two of them with a little hot water to make a cheap, but tasty gravy, which slows them down considerably.

For a treat, twice a week, they also share a tin of sardines in oil in with their din dins. Nyom nyom!

Good luck finding something that suits.

[jodav]

It is a case of trial and error but try not to get side-tracked by protein content - for some kibble, the protein content is very poor quality. Ours do very well on Wainwrights - they do have a lot of home-cooked veg, white fish etc as well.

[LindsayA]

This is another difficulty I have, unfortunately I have a life-threatening allergy to fish and shellfish. Much as I would love to be able to offer it to him, unfortunately because he's around us constantly, and licks us, if he were to start eating fish, I would become so insanely allergic to him that I wouldn't be able to go near him. It's a real bummer because I know it's good for their joints. This is probably another reason why I want to be sure that we're offering him the best we can (minus the fish) and that he's getting enough oil (olive or whatever else) to lubricate his joints / keep his coat shiny.

[andywillow]

We've got 8 dogs here, 6 do really well on Burgess greyhound and lurcher food, I did try CSJ some years ago but their poo's were like porridge and they got bored with it and wouldn't eat it.
Roy our special little boy is on Wainwrights salmon and potato and everything else goes straight through him, we tried burns but he lost weight and his poo wasn't great either.
Delta is on naturediet, the senior low fat one as she has had pancreatitis and she does well on this, also wainwrights wet food in trays, the low fat one suits her too.

It really is trial and error but I do think Wainwrights is good.

I am a firm believer that if something suits them keep them on it. Everyone has a budget and if you can afford it and it suits your dog stick with it.

[LindsayA]

CSJ people have got to back to us and are sending some samples, so will see how he goes on them, and they have also suggested using some herbs as well. They do a calming mix of herbs, so I figure anything is worth a try! If we can get his behaviour a bit better then we can start running him with other dogs, look into lure coursing / flyball etc, but he needs to be a bit less mental for us to do that.

[duke]

Oh your tale sounds familiar ! Duke has a very sensitive tummy and was on burgess sensitive for a long time. He was fab on the turkey version but you would have to check whether there was any fish in it to protect yourself. Hes now on vets kitchen as he stopped tolerating the burgess after a year but that more settled period helped. I have also found slippery elm to really help.. it was either try that or I was goin to gave to go gas mask shopping ! Good luck x

[vickyb]

Jun 4, 2014 17:31:55 GMT -5 LindsayA said:

This is another difficulty I have, unfortunately I have a life-threatening allergy to fish and shellfish. Much as I would love to be able to offer it to him, unfortunately because he's around us constantly, and licks us, if he were to start eating fish, I would become so insanely allergic to him that I wouldn't be able to go near him. It's a real bummer because I know it's good for their joints. This is probably another reason why I want to be sure that we're offering him the best we can (minus the fish) and that he's getting enough oil (olive or whatever else) to lubricate his joints / keep his coat shiny.

I'm sure you will but do read all the labels as salmon oil is often added to things you wouldn't expect, chews as well as food. It might say 'chicken' on the label but as a compulsive label reader because some of my dogs are intolerant to things I've been surprised to find salmon or salmon oil there. If it just says fats or oils but not what sort I'd avoid them too just in case. It's often chicken fat but you can't risk it can you.

[LindsayA]

Yeah I do read the labels on everything I eat, so it's force of habit for him as well. Mainly because I wanted to check there wasn't things like lots of sugar or nasties, but I've noticed more and more that fish oil is used. Can definitely understand why as it's so good for their coats and joints, we bought some beef treats online thinking they were going to be beef, and when they came through they were like 20% fish / shellfish *Sigh*. I mentioned it to the CSJ lot and they have sent some samples that are defo fish free so will see how he gets on with that

Poor lad can't have peanut butter either as a treat, because I'm allergic to that too haha. Remember the vet saying to me "If you need to get a tablet in him, you can hide it in some peanut butter". In the end I think I hit it in some wet food and he nommed it down without issue lol.

[vickyb]

It must be very hard. I find tablets go down a treat in sandwich spreads in little jars - beef is usually best. They're handy because you can have them in for ages 'just in case' -  ours love it and queue up for tablets

[andywillow]

Jun 7, 2014 6:59:48 GMT -5 LindsayA said:

Yeah I do read the labels on everything I eat, so it's force of habit for him as well. Mainly because I wanted to check there wasn't things like lots of sugar or nasties, but I've noticed more and more that fish oil is used. Can definitely understand why as it's so good for their coats and joints, we bought some beef treats online thinking they were going to be beef, and when they came through they were like 20% fish / shellfish *Sigh*. I mentioned it to the CSJ lot and they have sent some samples that are defo fish free so will see how he gets on with that

Poor lad can't have peanut butter either as a treat, because I'm allergic to that too haha. Remember the vet saying to me "If you need to get a tablet in him, you can hide it in some peanut butter". In the end I think I hit it in some wet food and he nommed it down without issue lol.

If it makes you feel any better, none of my lot like peanut butter.