Puppy farts

[adoggymama]

Anyone's else's puppy do the WORST stinkers??! Honestly- he's the cutest thing (5 month old Cocker) but it's horrendous. Currently laying in the lounge watching TV getting whiffs every now and again.

[BiteyShark]

Only when he's got a bad belly

[princesrules]

I have a cocker who farts ALOT, it tends to make him jump and then he walks around in a circle sniffing his bum!

[WeAllHaveWings]

I would try a different food. What is he currently fed?

Try something grain free, if not already, and a different protein source.

[Tinkobell]

Feed him a probiotic tablet to aid healthy stomach flora. You can buy online. We use BOOSTER. They eat all kinds of crap in the garden that reaks havoc with the guts.

[fivedogstofeed]

Agree a probiotic could help settle his guts, though he may need a change of food.
I have dogs and puppies here at the moment and none of them are farters.

[adoggymama]

@fivedogstofeed @Tinkobell we already give him a probiotic and have since we got him! We use 'yudigest' and we make sure to never feed him human food- maybe too many treats are the culprit?

[adoggymama]

@WeAllHaveWings Good idea- we currently use Waggs puppy food- maybe it's too rich for his stomach?

[adoggymama]

@princesrules Oh my gosh! Your little guy is gorgeous! Looks the same as mine except Colby is brown!

[adoggymama]

@BiteyShark We did give him some plain chicken last night so I'm not sure if that could have caused it?

[BiteyShark]

My cocker does not tolerate chicken (or rice) very well. We find cooked fish such as plain cod fillets are much better for his stomach.

[FairfaxAikman]

Wagg wouldn't be too rich for his stomach because it's one of the worst foods on the market unfortunately- full of filler and very little good stuff.

Take a look at the All About Dog Food website (www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory.) This is written by an independent canine nutritionist, so is unbiased and he knows his stuff.



It doesn’t list every UK food, but the most common ones are there and if it isn’t there’s a section where you can put in a list of ingredients to generate a rating.









As general guidelines:

1. Go for nothing less than a 3 out of 5, but ideally the higher the better.
   
   
2. Look for one with a named meat source as one of the first three ingredients and avoid anything with maize or wheat as many dogs are intolerant. (http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.kvma.org/resource/resmgr/Files/SmallAnimallA-05-Cutaneous.pdf)
   
   
3. Be aware of tricks used in the ingredients list to make it appear like there is more meat. For example James Wellbeloved has the same total rice percentage as Skinners Field and Trial - but because JWB splits it into "brown" (20%) and "white" (19.7%) varieties, lamb actually appears as the first ingredient. Rice appears first on Skinners' ingredient list as they only use brown (40%).
   
   
4. Avoid anything that says "meat derivatives" as this is just whatever is cheapest. Similarly "cereals" could be anything. This means that the formulation could change without you knowing and could cause problems for sensitive tummies.
   
   
5. Take a good look at the ingredients list - the fewer highlighted in red, the better but try to avoid them completely. If you do pick a food with reds, the lower down the ingredient list, the better.
   
   
6. Ignore the reviews - this is about finding what's right for you and your dog, not what didn't work for someone else.
   
   
7. Get the best you can afford but be aware that price is not an indication of quality - there are plenty of poor foods with a top price tag (for example Hills and Royal Canin, which people believe is good because vets sell it - it's not the worst food out there but you can get better for the same price, or less. Vets recommend it because they sell it).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   As a rule of thumb, most stuff you buy in a supermarket (Own brands, Wagg, Pedigree and Bakers) is nutritionally poor - filled out with wheat or maize which dogs do not need nutritionally and many are intolerant of - though some supermarkets have started to stock better quality stuff like Lily's Kitchen. Look at the ingredients, not the brand name.
   
   
   
   If you absolutely MUST go the supermarket route, Harringtons is probably the best of the bunch but under all circumstances AVOID BAKERS - there's a lot of E numbers in there and some have been linked to unpleasant side effects (see the additives list below).
   
   
   
   Beta is another food that seems to be recommended a lot but it's actually almost as bad as Bakers - top ingredient is "cereals", second is "meat derivatives".
   
   
   
   If budget is a concern, then in my view one of the best price to quality ratios is Skinners Field and Trial (the hypoallergenic range only) as it's about the same price as Bakers/Pedigree/Wagg but far superior quality (as an added bonus it's a proper working dog food, so is VAT free).
   
   
   
   Your dog can eat it even if they are not "proper" working dogs, however it is only really suitable if your dog is expending the energy - for example I know a lot of flyballers feed it.
   
   
   
   For budget Grain-free options, CSJ do one called No Grainer, or Autarky has a decent range.
   
   I'll freely admit there are even better foods, but I fully acknowledge that not everyone can afford that, and Skinners F&T and CSJ No Grainer are good compromises on the price/quality front.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   When changing, kibble, change gradually - do 25/75 for a couple of days, then half and half for a few more, 75/25 for a bit longer and finally fully on to new. If looking to change a puppy, its sometimes better to keep in the same food as the breeder for a couple of weeks until they have settled in.
   
   
   
   Also worth remembering that a food that costs more per bag can work out cheaper overall as you need to feed less of a better quality food.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   OTHER FOODS
   
   RAW - Is a good option, but it does not suit everyone or their dogs. It is important that you get the ratios right, or it can cause some problems.
   
   There are some knowledgeable raw feeders here who can advise fantastically on the subject if it's a route you want to take. It's not as expensive or fiddly as you might think. I'm not going to say more on that subject, as there are others who are better informed than me.
   
   Unfortunately the web does have a few evangelical raw feeders - don't let them make you feel you are not doing the best for your dog if you do not feed it raw.
   
   
   
   BREED SPECIFIC FOODS - These are a bit of a gimmick. Compare the ingredients between the Labrador food and the Westie food and you will find the only difference is a few additives right at the bottom of the list - ie in such small quantities as to be irrelevant. The ingredients to worry about are at the top - ie the ones making up the bulk of the food.
   
   
   
   TAILS - Middle of the road food but really another gimmick. It's not nearly as tailored as some users seem to believe.
   
   It's a bit like those "Which boy band member should you marry?" flowcharts in the pop magazines - your answers will take you to a "match" out of how ever many varieties they provide. You could easily do the same with Skinners or CSJ foods (or others but these are the ones I am familiar with), due to the variety they stock.

[WeAllHaveWings]

Try another food, wagg isn't the best, we tried a couple when our lab was a puppy and eventually settled on one of the millies wolfheart recipes and have had no smelly farts and small firm pickupable poo, really makes a difference. The food appears more expensive but a bag lasts for ages as you feed much less.

[Tinkobell]

Our girl loves Barking Heads and no trumps here.....if there is a wiff we blame DH or the cat! 😁