[Elisa C. R]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum, and have a question for you all. Any suggestions/feedback you have would be most appreciated.

I adopted a puppy in January, and have been feeding her Precise Holistic (dry food for puppies). The dog that I lost in October had been eating Precise Senior for a few years and loved it!

My question is this. My pup eats way to fast. I have tried the slow eating type bowl, but doesn’t seem to help. I elevated her food bowl, doesn’t make a difference. She has terrible gas, and I don’t mean occasionally, I mean several times a day / night. Her stool is sometimes firm, and sometimes runny. I cannot figure out if the issue is from eating too fast and getting air in her stomach, or an issue with grain; should I possibly switch to a grain free food and see if that helps with the gas issue?

Thank you in advance for any advice/help you can give.

Regards,
Elisa

[Elisa C. R]

My apologies, I should have put this under Diet and Health issues. Can I use the excuse, “First post and new to the forum?” ; )

[mogavero1955]

Elisa, I have two beagles. The larger one has the same problem. He is 10 though.
His food is changed often due to allergies but is now on Fromm’s duck. It’s not that though.
He’s had this for a couple of months. I hear his tummy all night. It sounds like
springs….I always do grain free.
I just think he doesn’t chew but I’m not sure. Hope someone willknow.

[Shasta220]

I’m honestly not sure what exactly causes gas. I’m assuming she’s up to date on wormers? Gas is often a sign of worms in pups.

For the gulping: Try putting her daily food into a kong or other treat-toy. I’ve also heard that spreading it out on a big cookie-sheet helps because they have to lick up a few pieces at a time. I even heard one genius idea to put a giant link-chain in the food bowl, so they have to lick through the links!

I know many people use yogurt to help with gas. My boy gets gassy too (like, stay outta the room kinda gas!) sometimes. I have no idea why, but one day when I added a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to his food, the gas disappeared within a day! (If you do the ACV, I’d suggest only 1/4-1/2tsp mixed with at least 1tsp water) Probably just coincidence, though. I’ve also heard of using activated charcoal or chlorophyll – they’re supposed to help with several digestive problems.

[Elisa C. R]

Thank you. Mogavero1955 and Shasta220, for your response.
Shasta220, yes she is up to date on worming.
I might just give the apple cider vinegar a try, I also keep a bottle around.

Thanks again!

[aquariangt]

I like slo feeders for gulpers. Kyjen makes some awesome ones that tire the dogs out a bit as they are a puzzle to get the food out of as well.

Could also try probiotics/digestive enzymes, or switching the food

[Shasta220]

Again on the gulping – I wouldn’t worry too much about buying fancy bowls when you could have a DIY version for a fraction of the cost 😉 my guy gets half his meal as treats when we work obedience. I have him work, then give him a few Kibbles as reinforcement. The other half is either in a bowl mixed w his supplements, or stuffed into a kong. 🙂

[kvee]

Susie was horrendously gassy when I had her on Wellness Puppy. Maybe because of the rice and barley? The food was obviously not agreeing with her. So perhaps finding ingredients in your dogs diet that could be causing some chaos internally.
She is also a gulper, so I got her a busy buddy squirrel (the kong “beehive-looking ” toy dispensed the kibbles too fast. The Busy Buddy squirrel has some tabs to have the dog actually work for his/her food.

Good luck!

[Mom2Cavs]

Hi and welcome! You’ve been given some great ideas for the gulping. The one gulper I had was fixed by a slow down bowl. There are lots more products out now than when he was living that might help, like food puzzles. I would also try adding a probiotic/enzyme supplement first to see if that helps. Nature’s Farmacy offers one that is dissolvable in water called Digestive Enhancer. I order mine from them. So if you’re feeding straight kibble you could add a tiny bit of water and the supplement. Supposedly it doesn’t have a taste….mine take it in their food just fine. There are also other good brands available, too. Most times yogurt isn’t enough. If that doesn’t work after a few weeks, then I’d think about switching foods for your pup. Precise is a decent food (I just bought a bag myself) but just because it worked for your other dog doesn’t mean it’ll work for this pup. All dogs are different. I hope this helps a little. 🙂

[InkedMarie]

We just got two feeders that we got from Chewy.com. If you go to the website, put feeding bowls in the search. We got the ones that are called Slo so something. We got one that looked like a flower. They work very well.

[aquariangt]

I use that flower one, Marie. It’s great. more durable than the picture makes it look too

[InkedMarie]

Aqua: it’s big, too! Boone eats ground raw & I stuff it in his. He’s got a grey one, can’t recall the pattern.

[theBCnut]

Stinking gas is cause by anarobic bacteria digesting protein in the gut. Rebalancing the gut bacteria by adding a good multistrain probiotic will help. Look for a probiotic with as many different strains as possible.

[Elisa C. R]

My thanks to everyone for your help, advice and suggestions. I called my vet tech and gave her some symptoms over the phone (as far as the stool). She suggested a fecal exam; turns out Zoey has hookworms. I have been taking her to the local park for the past couple of weeks, and that is more than likely where she picked it up from because the loose stools started a week or so ago. Also put her on a probiotic for the next week. I am also going to start weaning her off her current food and change her food to Dr. Tim’s grain free.

Again, thank you all so much! It is great to be a part of such a wonderful forum!

All the best,
Elisa

[Shasta220]

By the way, what breed(s) is your puppy ? I’m assuming it’s your gravatar pic. She’s cuuuuuute!

[Elisa C. R]

Hi Shasta220;

I adopted her from a shelter when she was about 9 weeks old. They had her listed as Border Collie / Lab. The Mom looked a lot like a Border Collie, it is unknown what breed the Dad was. Yes, that is her picture in my gravatar. (THANK YOU!) : )

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