Somebody help me whittle down food choices for DHound - please!

[PacificDogwod]

There are just too many dog foods arounds. I don't cope well with choice, I just end up feeling confused and back off.

So, DHound is a grey, 2 1/2 years old, neutered male, we've had him for 10 months or so.
He remains as skinny as a rake, still has his racing weight despite trying various different complete foods, adding pasta/rice, oily fish, cheese etc etc. Bottom line is that he is not very food driven unless it's chicken.

He also has a tendency towards voluminous soft poos several times/day.
He is entirely well and has just been checked by the vet. Again. Has been wormed AND treated for potential gardia with no difference to his poos. He has oodles of energy and his skin/coat are in great condition, well, he's just moulted, but normally he is

We are currently getting food delivered monthly which is very convenient of course.

Can you make any recommendation for a complete food that helps with IBS prone points' poos, puts on the beef without needing vast amount of it AND gets delivered??
I'd be ever so grateful.

NB I m not quite ready to go down the RAW route.

[PacificDogwod]

Oh, I did have a look on AllAboutDogfood - still confused

[ShinyShinyShiny]

Any reason you're not quite ready to go down the raw route? I'm a huge fan of raw and we buy it pre-made so we aren't faffing about cutting up meat and mixing in vegetables etc.

[PacificDogwod]

I have too much going just now and feel I'd need to learn a bit more about it.
I am not against it in principle, but not for the next couple of months.
And the dog needs to eat in the meantime, don't he?

[BagelGoesWalking]

What about doing the "easy" raw route for now and buying the readymade raw packs from Nature's Menu and Natural Instinct. You can also get big bags of frozen tripe at Pets@Home and just chuck some of that in (still frozen) to whatever you're feeding.

Add sardines, egg and some coconut/salmon oil every now and again. You actually don't need to add in pasta/rice/vegetables. A lot of people do but it's not strictly necessary.

Foster dogs that were fed raw absolutely loved it and the poos are definitely firmer and smaller and less odious.

Feeding raw doesn't take up too much space in the freezer and it's quite fun to see what they like/dislike etc. Also, no need to stress about absolutely correct ratios every day, it's more of thinking balanced over a week/month. This is a good website if you do decide to go raw later on. www.dogsdinner2.webs.com/

[PacificDogwod]

I've tried the frozen tripe stuff from Pets@Home and he just sniffs it and turns away

I'm telling ya, he is not a normal dog.

The dogs I grew up with were fed RAW so it is something I'd be happy doing going forward.

[PacificDogwod]

Oh, thanks for the website link btw

[PacificDogwod]

Ah crap, now I want to Raw feed. Right now!

Although, I remember reading that website in the past, there are some things she stipulates that I do not agree with, but hey ho.

I have no idea where to get commercial quantities of dog-suitable chicken from though. AND I really don't have the time just now.

Maybe getting off MN would help?

Any help with sensible kibble?? James Wellbeloved? We've not tried that yet.

[Speedylurcher]

We had the same problem, irritable tum in a now 15yr old lurcher and 8yr old whippety lurcher- I think it's the gluten (wheat) that upset him. Have used burns chicken and brown rice for 9 yrs and never had a problem. Often add in egg/salmon skin or oil. Very useful and knowledgeable people manning their website Q and A too. Drop them an email and see what they advise?

[ShinyShinyShiny]

I take the lazy route and buy from Nutriment or Natural Instinct, that way it's no harder than feeding kibble or canned. Do it

[MaynJune]

It's a common problem among greyhounds. My lurcher doesn't cope with cereals so grain free for her. I feed her mainly Natures Menu with some fish and potato dried food, usually Barking Heads.

I know greyhound owners who recommend the Pet Greyhound dried food from the Retired Greyhound Trust and buy it online. It's made by Dodson and Horrell. I don't know if they offer sample bags though and I wouldn't want to order too much the first time.

[petergriffinmeetsdeath]

We feed natures diet very successfully. We add some fish flavoured kibble for crunch.

[PacificDogwod]

Thank you, all

He was on Burns but really did not gain a gram on that.
Tired Chappie - horrible poos and he did not particularly like it.
Now on Tails.com, but I am falling out of love with it. Well-marketed mediocre food IMO.

I think I may do some 'easy' RAW feeding for time-poor people to start off with

[Scuttlebutter]

Hi OP, this is a really interesting one, and we could probably have a year long discussion about which food is perfect for which pointy.

One of my very dear friends is a hugely experienced foster carer for EGLR and her "Starter for 10" with any pointy with even a hint of a sensitive tum is Nature Diet. This is what you might call "Raw-lite" and is a great way to ease into it. She's found with long experience that this is a great food to get them eating, having firm poos and getting to a decent weight. I would try that as a starting point.

Some pointies are very hard to put weight on though - we have one who is barely above her racing weight even though she has two main meals a day plus at least two tempting little high calorie extra suppers/elevenses. She is in perfect health, beautifully muscled, shiny of coat, just bloody skinny!

Depending on how you get on with Nature Diet, you could easily stay on that or possibly move over to kibble in the future. Ours are currently on a mix of Harringtons and Fish4Dogs. Fish4Dogs is great, very easily digestible and our lurcher who eats it is a glossy gorgeous creature, with lovely firm poos, bags of energy and very little wind. I also like the Fish4Dogs treats like the Sea Jerky as they are a nice healthy option and the hounds all love crunching them.

You would have loved going to Crufts (i was there yesterday) as all the food manufacturers are there and lots were doing free samples, sampler goody bags etc and all had staff around to ask questions/discuss things. Having said that, most of the food mfrs will provide samples etc and many have good phone helplines too.

You could also try Burns which is great for sensitive tums but not so good for gaining weight. I'd see getting the poos firm as the top priority and worry about gaining weight as a secondary issue.

Lastly, it's worth also not chopping and changing too much - if you are going to experiment, give things a while to settle (unless it's explosively apparent it doesn't suit!) as that will just confuse the picture and your hound's tum.

[ScattyHattie]

My greyhounds do well on lukullus (order from zooplus) & its cold pressed so doesn't swell in water like normal dry & is rated 4.4/5 on all about dog food but is reasonably priced. The dogs seem to really enjoy it & outputs pick upable.

2 of my dogs (brothers) had awful wind and soft poo on any brand of chicken kibble which cleared when. switched to salmon one. Oddly he was fine with lukullus chicken salmon but generally I avoid it now.

He's still fairly young so maybe still filling out & in a gangly stage. As long as healthy with good muscle I wouldn't worry too much, they can have different bodyshapes & some will always look more ribby than others. Better to be touch under than overweight though, see too many fat sighthounds

[MagentaSpunkTrumpet]

I see you've tried Burns in the past, which is my go to for mid range, good quality complete food. I do agree about not putting on weight, though we use the "Alert" working formula which seems to suit our three (and is VAT free!)

[TheCrowFromBelow]

Millies wolfheart has made a huge difference to the both the horrible poos and the eye watering stench that would seep from our dog every evening.
He is eating the "obedience" mix - it's had no noticeable effect on his recall/theft/general doggy delinquence

[GuinefortGrey]

I have an elderly greyhound and a young lurcher. Over past 10 years I think I have tried every food in existence, including the special Retired Greyhound Trust food, Burns, James Wellbeloved, Wainrights (inc grain free), Dr John's, Arden Grange etc etc etc

They ALL resulted in varying degrees of "soft" poo. I began to think perhaps Greyhounds were physically incapable of producing a solid deposit!!!! That was until I discovered... Purina Pro Plan. I use the Medium dog chicken flavour and it is amazing 😊 . Greyhound is a fussy eater so I always have to mix a little wet food with it - been using the Pedigree pouches recently - and he eats it all up no problem. And best of all, both dogs are solid on it. Greyhound for the first time in his life - seriously! This food has actually made picking up his poo almost enjoyable (and yes I know how bonkers that makes me sound but after years of having to use 10 bags a time to mop it off the pavement, this food has changed my life!!!).

Much cheaper on Amazon but also available (but v pricey) in Pets at Home etc

[BettyBitesBums]

We use Barking Heads which has suited our DDog really well after trying a few. We buy it in 12.5kg bags from Fetch online.

[OreosOreosOreos]

We used to use Pro-plan for OreoDog, then I discovered Purina is owned by Nestle, so we've switched to Lilly's Kitchen kibble. She gobbled it up, and her poos do seem to be a better consistency on it.

[FuzzyWhiteLegs]

Ooooo a thread about greyhound poo. My favourite topic!

Fwiw I have had my retired 3.5 yr old grey for about 5 months and have been on Millie's (also obedience mix!) for a couple of weeks. Poos are dramatically different - dark and firm - and the characteristic grey stench disappeared overnight

BUT, but. On anything over a 20 min walk we get poo number 2 which changes to soft, even completely liquid. Sometimes it changes literally mid poo

Does anyone have thoughts on this? My vet suggested gastritis but others suggest this is common in greys...

[GuinefortGrey]

My greyhound suffered from regular gastritis and occasional colitis for a long time after we got him. He was 2 when we adopted him and it gradually happened less and less until he had "outgrown" it by the time he was about 6/7. He has a pretty strong constitution now thankfully. Vets could never find anything specific wrong with him although he was hospitalised a few times needing to be rehydrated via drip

[MaynJune]

One of my lurchers is like that, FuzzyWhiteLegs. My other lurcher has perfect firmness at all times.
I asked the vet about it, just to check, and he said some dogs needed longer to digest the food and what's been in longest comes out firmest. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong.
It's better at the moment, as she's being fed on expensive Lily's Kitchen tinned food!

[MissBeaHaving]

We also feed Millies Wolfheart & agree with Pp about the poos,small & dark,easy pick ups.
I like the fact that you can buy small sample bags & that the advice line is there if needed.

Op Soft poo can often be a sign of over feeding,we weigh ours out once a week & store in takeaway containers.