Need advice on doggies passing gas!

[Mommysongbird]

We have two doggies that stay inside at night, during the day they are mostly outside. Here lately they have been VERYYYYYY Gasy (is that a word?) any way, I need to find a way to stop this or at least slow it down.

We have changed their food (we only do this when the get really tired of what they have been eating) and all 3 of our dogs are on different types of food. We are now using Pedigree. Our big outside dog gets regular Pedigree (dry food), one of our indoor dogs who is a bit over weight is getting Pedigree Weight Management, I think that is what is called and our littlest indoor dog is on Pedigree for Small breeds.

They are all on dry food, no canned stuff around here unless absolutely needed or vet prescribes. What else could we give them to help with the gas problem?? I thought about giving them some yogurt since there are live cultures and is a probiotic, but then I am affraid it will give them diarreah?? Anything else they might be able to take??

 

[Brindlebtch]

Change their food again and/or give them digestive enzymes for dogs. You might try the enzymes first. There are a lot better dog foods out there than Pedigree. You also really don't need "weight management" dog food - just feed less of the regular.

 

[schellie69]

I do like pedigree but i would just feed one kind on the one that is over weight just feed less. I think that a change in diet can cause this problem I would just see if they adjust to the new diet. Maybe call a vet and see what they say I feed mine a couple of raw eggs a week to help with coats and stuff. I try and not change their dog food unless I have to for a very good reason I have seen that even if I mix the food my dogs end up with problems if I change their food. I have been feeding kibble and bits small bites for a year now and they seem to love it and are doing pretty good on it. My vet just gave them a great bill of health.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
This is brand new to them in that we just started it a few days ago, the gas problem has been going on a while (like months).

We usually buy Fit N Trim for our overweight dog (we have tried just giving her less of regular food and that is a no go, she will get into the trash because she is not getting enough to eat), she is down to a cup and a half now, trying to wean her down to a cup, and this is only once a day. The store did not have her food so that is why we got the Pedigree, the only one they had in weight management.

We use to feed all of them twice a day, but our old vet told us not to do that anymore, not with the big dog or the overweight one. The little one does get fed twice when he actually eats. Today is the first time he has really eaten in 3 days. He is VERY nervous and when my hubby is home, he won't eat at all, we have no idea why. We can't even leave him alone, he has anxiety, but I am not sure what to do about that either.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
We have done the Kibbles and Bits for our little dog and I had found Kibble N Bits in a weight management one time and fed that to our overweight girl, but after about 2 months of those our little dog would not touch his food, he would wait until our other one ate what she wanted of her weight management stuff and then he would go finish off hers and she would go eat what was left of his if we weren't watching them.

We don't have a regular vet anymore, not one that can see us just any ole time. Our vet (Banfield) just up and closed one day, sent a letter in the mail saying that we could come to one of their other offices (the closest being almost an hour away). The vet that we see now only sees small animals on Saturday and they don't have emergency services for small animals, only large. They will make housecalls, but only large farm animals.

 

[schellie69]

maybe you should try touch of wild, or one of those kind with out grains. Just a thought. I don't feed them that I have 6 dogs and figured up that I would be spending more on the dogs food then what I spent on our food budget. So they get the dog chow, kibble and bits or pedigree. I also put some broth from chicken or roast on their food (the fat is good for their coats and it makes the food taste better) I now just free feed since I have 6 dogs and it got a little confusing. All the dogs are okay on weight so I don't worry to much. Maybe for the dog that doesn't eat much try something from Iams it comes in a bottle looks like steak sauce but it has different flavors might make him eat. On the anxiety I have a dog that had separation anxiety I have found that submissive training and not coddling when he acts like that works best. I also found that with a smaller dog that if you get the small bites they eat it better. I hope you can find something that works for you. On the little dog that does not eat have your tried maybe adding a little broth or softening the food a bit. I had to do that for an older dog that we had.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
I have never heard of or seen 'Touch of Wild' who makes that and where is it sold? But on the other hand, if it is that pricey, then I don't think I want to know.

We only have one income, so our budget is pretty tight. We wouldn't have bought the Pedigree but the store (wal-mart) was totally out of all of our dogs food. Our big dog loves Old Roy so that is what he has ate for years, but now he is eating the Pedigree, hope he doesn't get use to it, not sure that we can afford $21.00 every few weeks.

We have never had any of our dogs on Dog Chow (Puppy Chow when they were little).

For the little one, he ONLY doesn't eat when my hubby is home. When he is at work Wolf (the little one) will eat pretty good, but he would rather have what Sugar (our overweight) is eating. It is the anxiety I beleive. We have tried crating him and even putting his food in the crate with him, he won't touch it and then he will mess all over the crate. His anxiety is so bad that when we leave we have to bring Sugar in the house to be with him.

 

[suzettex5]

Hi,

I'm wondering what breeds the dogs are? Some breeds, like my Boston terriers, are just prone to gas. It doesnt matter what is fed to them, they will have stinky gas. Its a breed trait that is (as far as I know) impossible to totally eradicate. Definatley not a good idea to keep changing the food, that causes MORE digestive issues. Could it be the size of the food? If the kibble chunks arent right for the dog, they may swallow too much air while eating and that will cause gas, especially if they are super hungry and just wolfing down the food as fast as possible.

If it is a financial possibility for you, you could try the beef or chicken and rice diet for awhile. Just get some decent ground beef and some rice (anything but minute rice) and cook the beef and rice, mix it together with the beef drippings and serve it up. It helped my pit bull I had 15 years ago when she had bad diarhea and bad gas. It was a crazy expensive diet, but it helped her because it was bland, but had protein and the rice was filling, so she wasnt always hungry. After a few weeks, we gave her regular food and her digestion was MUCH better. Our vet reccomended it and we were desperate. We were really glad it helped her. Maybe you could ask your vet about it?

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
We have Dingo, Pit Bull/Yellow Lab/Shar-Pei mix (he is a big boy) outside no problems dog. Then there is Sugar, Beagle/Blue Tick/Red Bone mix, our overweight dog. Our newest is Wolf, Chihuahua/Rat Terrior mix (he is our anxiety blessed one).

We don't change their food unless we have to (the store doesn't have what they normally eat) and then we keep them on the new stuff for as long as we can until they just get really sick of it. I hate to change their food. Didn't want to this time, but it couldn't be helped.

Since you mentioned 'wolfing down their food too fast' that could be Sugar's biggest problem. She only gets a cup and a half of her food and it is gone in like 2 - 3 minutes. Wolf gets a small bites food for his size. Dingo actually gets table scraps sometimes, but mainly in the winter when it is really cold. The other 2 get NO human food.

I have done rice mixed in their food before, but never beef or chicken, not sure that we could afford to do that. I don't even buy a lot of meats for us to consume much anymore, getting to pricey. If I can find some on sale I will try that. How long would they need to eat this and is it easy to get them to go back to their normal food?

 

[patandchickens]

Just on the offchance: are they getting any treats or dog biscuits, or do they have rawhide bones or pigs ears to chew? All of the above can cause massive fartatiousness in some dogs.

(with my young lab-type dog you have to get out the gas mask if he gets even just a single fingernail-sized piece of dehydrated liver or Rollover, I think the *entire* thing transforms into gas inside him!)

Good luck,

Pat