[Virginia D]

I have an almost 2 yr. old lab who bloats and farts daily. Sometimes the farts stink bad, sometimes they don’t at all. I have tried different foods; sometimes they work for a day, then we’re back to square one. He is now eating California Naturals Limited Ingredient dry dog food, and his treats are SportMix Grain Free dog biscuits. He takes Beano before every meal, per my vet; my vet is not a nutritionist & has run out of basic ideas for us. Pal is a rather timid guy & sensitive emotionally, we feel; our household is busy & that’s got to be part of it, we think (adult children complain about his farts & slobberiness, which is understandable). Would a probiotic help? I’ve heard, ‘they work/they don’t work.’ Any ideas or suggestions are much appreciated!

[anonymous]

Is the dog overweight? Is he getting enough exercise? Maybe your adult children could take turns taking him for a brisk walk for an hour a day instead of complaining. Are you feeding him too much?

It sounds like he needs more activity/exercise and maybe less food.

PS: Regarding probiotics:
Homeopathic views differ from traditional medicine.
Here is a science based view, if anyone is interested
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=probiotics

[Bobby dog]

Hi Virgina D:
I have had mostly good results when adding probiotics to my pets’ diet. I started out trying some commonly recommended OTC products such as yogurt, kiefer, and products for humans. My guys liked them, I did see some improvement for my dog, however not much for my cats.

Did some research, talked with my Vet, and came to the conclusion I needed products specially formulated for a cat or dog. I now only use Forti Flora when I need a probiotic for my dog or cats. I have had great results using it for my dog and one of my two cats. It was a great appetite stimulant for one cat, but it did not help him digestive wise; he was very sick and on hospice care. My other cat responded very well and is currently on them again.

Probiotics also made a world of difference for my senior horse in his final year. He was 35 and eventually his body gave way, but he managed to keep decent weight on after the addition of probiotics.

I only use probiotics recommended by my Vets.

IMO it’s worth a try for your pup. The food he’s eating now is marketed as an limited ingredient diet so that should be a plus as well. I used to feed Cali Nat’l cat food before they discontinued it. Good luck!

Here’s some short articles on the subject:

Good Bugs/Bad Bugs – The Confusing World of Probiotic Supplements

http://news.vet.tufts.edu/2016/11/should-your-dog-be-taking-a-probiotic/

http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/probiotics-dogs-what-you-need-know

[crazy4cats]

Hi Virginia!
I second BDog’s recommendation of probiotics for your stinky dog. I have sometimes stinky golden labs as well. They had a rough start and often had diarrhea and stinky gas. Fortunately, things have settled down and I only give them Forti Flora on Sunday’s when I give them sardines with their dinner. It helps a lot with the fish farts!

Previously, when their tummies were healing from a very bad bout of giardia, I used VetriPro BD and Gastriplex with good results. But, only Forti Flora occasionally now.

You can buy these on Chewy, Amazon, or Healthy Pets. Good luck!

[Virginia D]

Thanks for the tips & I will definitely order from Chewy as suggested. As for exercise and how much Pal eats, he gets lots of exercise (2 trips to dog park daily and/or long walks) and he is at perfect weight; my husband & I are very weight/health conscious for not only ourselves but our pets too & would never overfeed any of them. Good questions, though, thanks!

[Susan]

Hi Virginia,
Oh your poor boy, he would know you all dont like it when he farts, does he walk off with his head hung low? lol, I’ve told my daughter, DO NOT make a fuss when Patch farts as he feels real bad & cant help it, it’s cause of his IBD…
You need to work out what foods ur dog is sensitive too?? sounds like food sensitivities/intolerances….Food Sensitivities/Intolerance can take anywhere from 1 day for a dog to react up to 6 weeks to show intestinal stress, my boy reacts within 20mins when eating certain foods he’s sensitive too, I had to do a food elimination diet to work out what foods he can & can’t eat..
Have you tried the “California Natural” Lamb & Rice? it just has 3 ingredients Lamb Meal, Rice & Sunflower oil..
Which “California Natural” formula is he eating it’s not a grainfree formula?, CN grain free range all have Lentils, stay away from grainfree foods that have Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans) & Lentils as these ingredients can cause gas, farts, wind pain etc, I have found grainfree formulas with limited ingredients with sweet potatoes & potatoes as carbs stop Patches smelly farts….

Have a look at Purina “Forti Floria” dog probiotic, there’s a few probiotics on the market that do not have any live cultures & are a waste of money, they tested 10 popular dog probiotics & only 3 of them had live cultures & Purina Forti Foria was one of the good probiotics…
Look back on all the foods he has eaten & did his bad smelly farts on & what was the common ingredients that he might be sensitive too?
Sometimes when I first start introducing a new kibble my boy starts to do smelly farts but then it all goes away after 4-7 days…
Has your vet tried a round of Metronidazole (Flagyl) to get rid of the bad bacteria in his stomach & bowel? Metronidazole fixes my boy Patches intestinal problems, he also was put on a Hydrolyzed vet diet then Patch was put on a dog Probiotic when I first rescued him I had to work out what foods he’s sensitive too, the Metronidazole seems to fix the fart problem as long as he’s not eating any ingredients that he’s sensitive too…
Sometimes their stomach bacteria goes out of wack & there’s more bad bacteria then good bacteria.
Try the Probiotic first & see if it fixes his problem, Patches vet swears by probiotics & has seen really good results but if teh Purina Forti Floria doesnt help the problem ask vet about trying a course of Metronidazole a 10-14 day course then give the probiotics to flood his gut with good bacteria…
Probiotic are best taken without food either first thing in the morning when stomach acids are low or inbetween meals… I just mixed 1 teaspoon probiotic powder with 15ml water mixed in bowl then Patch drank it…

[poodaddy]

Hi Virginia D and others. Here is our story on this specific issue of dog gas. I hope it reveals some aspects of the nutrition side. First, the advice about exercise can be 50%+ of a solution with any dog since all dogs are to some degree “athletes” that NEED exercise; exercise is not just cardiovascular but also depending on the breed can resolve many other issues that do not “seem” to be related, such as anal gland functionality. Now, I am neither a vet, nor a certified anything, but I have been a field dog handler and student of canine performance for a very long time, now using some skills to start my understanding of canine nutrition science.

Before my current two cockapoos, I had a yellow lab raised from birth as a field dog (and household pet). He lived a long healthy life and I want to share with you and others on this posting, the experimenting I did with my yellow lab AND recently (less than a year ago) with my two cockapoos. I decided to figure out in both cases (my yellow lab diet) and the two poos diets, what would happen to their digestive tract, specifically in the generation of gas, if I kept all other factors as constant as possible. What I did was figure out what percentage of their diet was protein from their kibble and then I moved them into a kibble/raw diet and stabilized the protein at 50% for a while. We raised the protein percentage in about 5% increments starting at 50% until noticeable gas started, then we leveled off to ensure it was constant. Then I increased it more until just shy of 80% and the gas creation (making sure all other things were held constant) was amazing (from a biological view). I had some old notes from my yellow lab days that I needed to convince myself of with the two poos and the results compared favorably. The nutritionist readers will have LOTS of variables that contribute to this and I would probably agree with them all, such as some combinations of foods work together to control the chemical processing in a digestive tract. For this little experiment we did, we simply wanted to know how did our dogs’ digestive tracts react to protein percentage (period) nothing more sophisticated. And we found that percentage for our specific cases that correlated for one yellow lab and two cockapoos. That result was when we reached 80% protein % from raw meat where raw boneless chicken was 60% and raw red meat was 30%+ (the remainder of protein was from other non-meat ingredients), the gas production increased rapidly.

For the testing period, and menu stablization, we used these macro goals: Protein 60%, Carbohydrate 20%, Fat 20% and then increased the protein using boneless chicken until gas started and then continued increasing it to see if there was more production and there was a correlation. By the way, body builders and most human athletes have a similar issue with protein in their diets.

So, the other comments made about overeating are on solid ground if feeding a yellow lab from kibble where the lab will eat whatever amount is placed in front of them. My reading suggests that some canines will eat low protein foods until they get the protein they need which some authors suggest that this contributes to canine obesity. The point is, some of the comments above are right on in that there may be a correlation with your lab and the amount of bulk he/she is intaking compared to feeding times and exercise.

For this post though, I wanted to share with you that for one small item in a controlled environment, we proved that changing one item (protein % using raw chicken as the variable in an otherwise balanced diet), caused the onset of gas and continued to increase as the protein % increased. Here is the makeup of the most recent raw diet our two dogs are on. These ingredients are part of an integrated nutrition model that is in development. This the first time I have shared this data but it is nearing time to engage the nutritionist forum posters. I am providing this data primarily so you know the above is not some quacked out post. This was a real experiment and perhaps the results and posts will help you (and others) where gas is an issue. All numbers are in grams weight.

Raw Chicken heart 1252
Raw Chicken liver 765
Raw Chicken gizzard 2106
Raw Chicken Marrow 315
Organ 10.8% by weight

Raw Eye Round Roast 6000
Raw Whole chicken”fryer”/deskin/grd bone 16200
Whole XL eggs 2232
Raw Bottom Round 2000
Muscle meat 64.3% by weight

Shredded Carrot 500
Raw Zucchini 484
Boiled Sweet Potato 3500
Raw NAPA Cabbage 953
Boiled Raw Edamame 800
Boiled Green Beans 1000
Raw Butternut squash 459
Raw Whole Apple 921
Raw Baby Spinach 400
Kelp Powder 100
Yellow Squash 423
Vegitable/Fruit 23.2% by weight

Coconut Oil 600
Oil Supplement 1.5% by weight

Sea Calcium 65
Macromineral Supplement 0.16% by weight

Notes:
1. The Sea Calcium is used to force the CA:P ratio to 1.2 in this menu.
2. This made 60 days of food each for two dogs, one at 13.5 LBs and one at 15.5 LBs.
3. The menu planned cost for food was $0.94 per day per dog.
4. The final results after shopping with same %s design was $1.10 per day per dog.
5. Energy analysis resulted in 306 g per day and 339 g per day for each dog.
6. Custom MER factor used as 1.4 (based on iterations over 6 months of menus).
7. 1,260 g contribution by weight due to bone.
8. 2.5% contribution on the organ side due to chicken marrow, based on my own experiments.
9. Energy required per day: 381 Cal for 13.5 LBs and 423 Cal for the 15.5 LBs poos.

Results of this menu are outstanding in all measured areas. Am in the process of peeling back “supplements and vitamins” for what they really are or aren’t. Hope this detail helps you or others. More to come from our quest for canine nutrition knowledge and practical applications.

[Author]

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