Lurcher Puppy 9 months old (rescue) - wind to make your eyes water and other things!

[MumoftheBoulevard]

OK so Billy our Lurcher puppy has been in residence for three weeks and we are all absolutely head over heels with him. He has settled in to our two children, two cat, two adult household with ease and apart from a couple of accidents he has been an absolute star. Its really endearing to see his puppy traits coming out now he is settling - when he came to us as a straying rescue dog he was almost too well behaved. Now he is settled and doing his best Christmas tree eating and teddy murdering like a good puppy ought to.

One thing is his wind! Good god its frequent and evil! He is on Wagg. Small portion (hard) in the morning, and 200g soaked in a little water for his tea. He is however (aided by his height) a supreme food thief and bin raider so that's not half of what he does eat, although I am getting better at storing food more securely and ensuring the bin is emptied before its near the top. Any tips on how to cure this awful smelly wind? Also is Wagg a good complete food? Our old SBT was on it and she was fine and her tummy seemed settled on it. I also give him the odd ham bone as his teething results in his stealing kindling sticks from the basket by the fire so I was worried about him getting gum splinters so bone seemed a better option. How many bones is too many? Thanks in advance for any advise/tips from lurcher or puppy owning peeps.

My lurchers are both wheat intolerant, so have either Burns pork and potato, or Vitalin sensitive. If they get wheat, then the wind is awful!

We prevent food stealing by having a babygate on the kitchen door

I don't think Wagg is great. I feed my greyhound Harringtons and he's fine on it. Although of course different dogs are better with different foods so you may want to try a few and see which one agrees the best with him. These ham bones, are they raw? You should only ever give dogs raw bones. Cooked ones are so so dangerous, they splinter too easily and can cause horrific internal injuries.

Should I try any grain free? Or just wheat? Who diagnosed them - do I need to see a vet to confirm?

Cant really babygate kitchen as I like him to have the run of the whole of downstairs in the day when Im working.

Yes raw bones

How can ham bones be raw, doesn't it have to have been cured at least to be ham? (Confused vegetarian)

There are loads of grain free foods, try him on one, see if it's any better, if it is try not to feed him stuff with grains in it...it's not like you need a medical diagnosis for him to be catered for at school or work or anything

With my dogs its a straightforward correlation - ddog1 gets grains, you are hosing liquid poo off the garden. ddog2 gets grains, and we are wearing gas masks.

I think ham bone generally means that the bone has come from the same body part that the ham did. Iyswim?

Disclaimer : not in anyway an expert on ham.

I know nothing about dog foods, but my lurcher is on Burgess Greyhound and Lurcher food and it's the only thing he really likes and he seems well on it. No wind!

Also, I think I must have the only non-theiving lurcher in the world! [smug].

Lucky you, I so want another one.

My greyhound doesn't thieve either, it's great! I can leave any number of tasty food out on the worktops and he won't touch it. My friend owns my dogs half brother, he's the complete opposite to my boy. He's a notorious criminal who'll steal anything within his reach. Even cooking utensils

"I think ham bone generally means that the bone has come from the same body part that the ham did. Iyswim?"

I suppose that makes sense, I just always thought ham was how it was prepared or it was pork...but like I said, vegetarian, clueless, lol.

My lurcher boy is on Harringtons, with the occasional squirt of salmon oil as he sometimes has fussy moments with his food (although I suspect that was more related to being ready to come down from 3 to 2 meals a day as he's not shown any reluctance since moving to just the 2 meals; I was probably over-feeding him before.)

He'll occasionally counter-surf, but can't get into the bin or at least he's not figured out he could press the pedal and lift the lid. He used to take things off the side; tupperware and the like, but a billion sacrificial toys later and he's not so bored he goes thieving... well, not quite as much. I give bones and small rawhide chews on occasion, but only when I'm around to remove if they start splintering.

I did find that when I brought pup home, it took a long, loooong time for his stomach to settle; we had many weeks of loose poo, which only settled once I'd moved him from the richer puppy food he'd been on in the rescue to Harringtons, which I chose because it wasn't age-specific, and I could feed my older dog and the pup the same stuff. I put the dodgy tummy mostly down to his being passed from pillar to post a lot and subsequent anxiety - he was bought, presumably from whoever bred him, at 8 weeks, then was in the rescue by 9 1/2 weeks, and then came home to live with me from 11 weeks, so it was a very tumultuous time for a young leggy thing.

my lurcher does not thieve - in fact he will sniff food inadvertently left within reach and give me a look to ask 'do I take it?'. when I first had him he had been trained to wait for the word to start eating from his bowl
another smug lurcher owner here or just lucky.
agree about Burgess Greyhound and Lurcher food - which suits my dog mixed with chappie (2 meals a day) and assorted biscuits and he is thriving (sort of) at 12.

Well last night he ate the Christmas lights off the tree! So its def boredom and not hunger related. This was after an hour long walk! So hes just being naughty I think.

Will try the grain free food thanks all.

Agree with Captain Kit he is just a puppy who has been through a lot so his tummy could take a while longer to settle down. Over the Christmas break I will try him with the grain free food and monitor closely for wind-improvements!

OP, you'll know how farty staffies can be if you had one previously! Our staffy cross has cooked meet and rice, most days - sometimes, fish (she won't eat any commercial foods whatsoever, the diva) and she is comparatively non-fartous. For a staffy.

it can also be the protein type that doesn't suit not just cereals/grains, my dog had awful toxic farts & soft poops on various brands of chicken/turkey kibble, switched to a fish based one and immediately fine.

All about dog food site is really helpful for reviews on dog foods and explaining labelling /ingredients. The bag price can be decieving as feeding quanties can greatly vary, one cheap brand i had to feed nearly double current food so actually wasn't cheap to feed and full of derivaties & cereal crap, plus had massive piles of poo to pick up. Expensive doesn't always equal better quality either which is why its good to understand the labels.

I've been very happy with lukullus by zooplus, the dogs love it (smells nice even to me) its very reasonably priced for the quality (rated 4.4 out of 5) and its cold pressed doesn't swell up like extruded. Skinners hypoallergenic range (salmon or duck & rice is vat free so cheaper). Autarky salmon (chicken not as good ingredients wise) is similar to skinners though has a bit grain its £20 per 15kg which lasts my greyhound around 44 days.

Lovely polite non-thieving sighthounds mollie123 and thecunnyfunt :).

If he is underweight then he may have been starved for a while, in which case thats the problem and it should resolve itself as he puts on weight and gets used to having food.

Wind is often caused by the dog not having the right kind of bacteria in his stomach to digest whats in there. Ask the kennel what they fed him and try that. If you see an improvement in 2 weeks, that was the problem.
Wagg contains an extract to reduce the odour so its an interesting response.

The usual grain allergy is to maize and it shows as hot spots and itching. A lower grain food may help. Barley and sweet potato tend to be well tolerated.
The usual protein allergy is to chicken and poultry.
You can try some different foods first, or go straight to the vet. But they dont do much training in nutrition and may not know much more than you. They can do allergy tests but its often by eliminating items from the diet which you can do yourself.

I have three dogs. The 18 month whippet X greyhound and the nine month whippet are on Gain 28.

Both dogs are in fantastic condition, shiny coat, lots of energy outdoors, calm indoors, go to the toilet fine.

Thoroughly recommend it.

I add a dash of cod liver oil in the morning feed.

Update we are now on grain free dry complete food and thank heavens the situation is so much better. The higher meat content and low chemical content is really agreeing with my boy and his wind problems are much reduced. Also picking up after him has got a lot better, his poo is now much more solid and less in volume.

His food stealing however has not reduced in the slightest and everything has to be tightly lidded etc however Im hoping this is a puppy trait he may grow out of. He doesn't beg while we are eating which is odd he lies down really nicely but once we move away from the dirty plates he is there like a shot, trying to give the dishwasher a helping hand! Thanks to all who posted.

Good to hear the wind problem is better .
My two, though they wait nicely to be told they can eat their food, don't beg while we are eating etc are terrible thieves if out of sight, so he may not grow out of it I'm afraid.