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And now we have epic gas.

2K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  SS-GSD 
#1 ·
I finally fully transitioned my GSD (9 years) to the Royal Canin prescription from the vet (duck and potato). The transition was complete Tuesday evening's meal.

I'd been feeding brown rice with either elk, venison, lean beef or chicken and he was doing fine. And the transitioning period was fine. He wasn't freaking out to go out in the night. Tuesday night he had to go out, so I let him out but he was just sort of so-so about doing whatever (it was 3 a.m., dark, cold and windy so I didn't go out with him, don't know if he had diarrhea or not).

Last night he wanted out about 3:30 a.m. so I put on my shoes, glasses and bathrobe and put him on a leash and he had TERRIBLE gas and it smelled awful. :sick:

He hopped around trying to poop, just letting out gas, then was happy as a clam and ready to go back inside...it took me over an hour to warm back up and go back to sleep. And of course then the cat wanted out. I'm exhausted.

He also isn't thrilled about eating it again all of a sudden, so he'll be going back on meat and rice tonight.

So thoughts on the food? It's the Royal Canin Veterinarian, duck and potato.
 
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#2 ·
I don't know anything about that food but it sounds like he is reacting to it. Hope that your boy can get adjusted soon, it can't be good for him or for you. :sick:
 
#3 ·
Thanks...I did call the vet and he just called back. Apparently the duck food has caused issues with other dogs. He recommended the venison.

But while I was at Costco I picked up the Nature's Domain Turkey and Sweet potato. He's always done well with chicken based foods before so maybe this will be better. But he'll be eating just chicken and rice tonight!!!! :sick:
 
#5 ·
What about just cooking his food if he's been doing well on the rice and meat? You've already got a great protein variety going on, throw in some organ meats, juice a couple veggies (Bell peppers, kale, parsley, squash, carrot, ect.) a couple times a week and for calcium give him a raw meaty bone or dry out some egg shells in the oven and then put them through a coffee grinder until they're powdered and use that. BAM! You have dog food. Lol! If you feed it raw you can do just muscle meats, organ meats and bone for a complete diet. Can't be worse than a prescription diet that causes him that bad of gas!!
 
#7 ·
Thanks, I've actually considered just going that route, or going partially dry (the Nature's Domain if he'll eat it) and partially the mix you're recommending. Egg shells will work for calcium though? I know we used to give them to our chickens so that makes sense. And I usually give a spoon or two of greek yogurt too.
 
#6 ·
IMO, Royal Canin is a terrible food. In the end, gas is a result of the food going into their belly.
 
#8 ·
And what the recommendation for organ meats? I don't eat any organ meat myself, so what's the variety that's good?
 
#9 ·
I use a lot of kidney and liver, most any animal will be good. Chicken and beef tend to be the cheapest. You can also see about getting things like heart, it's not used as an organ meat but it can replace muscle meats for a swap of nutrition too. Yogurt wouldn't have nearly enough calcium to take care of the dogs needs. I use egg shells a lot since we eat a lot of eggs. Give a 1/2 teaspoon of powdered egg shell (Or you can buy bone meal from the store/online) per pound of FRESH food. Don't account for any kibble you may feed, I think just going for a cooked diet may be best though since you know he does so well on it vs. kibble. Oh and I'd feed a good ol' raw bone once a week to help keep the tartar down on the teeth. Chicken quarters are a cheap way to replace some of the muscle meat you'd feed for the day AND offer calcium. I buy the bagged ones for like 60-70 cents a pound. (They come in 10lb bags) Sometimes I can catch them on sale for as low as 30-50 cents/lb! ;)
 
#13 ·
...Chicken quarters are a cheap way to replace some of the muscle meat you'd feed for the day AND offer calcium. I buy the bagged ones for like 60-70 cents a pound. (They come in 10lb bags) Sometimes I can catch them on sale for as low as 30-50 cents/lb! ;)
Wow. I thought I was getting a good deal on chicken leg quarters for .79 per pound. I cook them in the slow cooker with lots of filtered water to make plenty of good rich broth and mix the meat and broth with TOTW. Where do you find them so cheap?
 
#10 ·
Where do you buy this stuff? I do have a couple of co-workers who raise cattle and may have some of this stuff or know where to get it easily, but do you just talk to the butcher in the grocery store?

Update, the gas is finally gone. He's eating mostly chicken and rice (though the latest batch is elk and rice) and we've started on 1/2 cup of the Nature's Domain Turkey.

I will definitely start saving, drying and powdering egg shells for him. It seems to me that the one co-worker was talking about needing to clean out one of her big freezers and she mentioned organ meat. I will have to follow up on that the beginning of the year since she won't be in til them.

And while I know yogurt has calcium, I'm mainly feeding it for the good digestive properties.

He went all night finally last night without needing to go outside thankfully. I feel like I actually got a decent night's sleep!
 
#12 ·
Thanks...that's sort of the direction we've had to go...right now he's eating brown rice and today it's elk for protein just to try to get his tummy straightened out. The vet had him on Royal Canin Duck and Potato selected proteing prescription but that's what gave him so much gas.

He's always done well with chicken or lamb based foods, so we're going to try Nature's Domain Turkey and Sweet potato, increasing it VERY slowly with the brown rice and meat (beef, elk, deer or chicken since that's what's in the freezer) and we'll see how he does. He may never be able to be solely on kibble again, but that would be okay. I just want him out of the distress he's been in.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I buy them from the grocery store. I prefer to buy food when it's at it's "best by" date and marked really low since they have to get it sold. Food Lion, Walmart, Just Save. Dunno what you guys have in ya'lls states, you just have to check around. I think Walmart is the most expensive, I don't shop there very often so I can never fully remember the price on quarters. I think it actually might be about .79 cents/lb.

You should be able to find it all with the rest of the meats, things like hearts (With the exception of chicken hearts which are typically packaged together with gizzards) might be a little harder to come by. Chicken liver is the easiest type of liver to find, they come in plastic cup containers at every store I've ever shopped. Typically by the bagged chicken quarters. I normally pay about $1-1.25/lb for those but have gotten them as cheap as 25 cents/lb on sale. Oh and you can use cow tongue as a muscle meat too, that's the "oddest" thing I've found on Walmarts shelves but it was a bit pricey for my taste. You can stop by regular butcher shops for things too, though you can ask them or the butchers are grocery stores for things if you don't see them on the shelf. Any Asian or Mexican markets will have the best selection of "odd" foods including yummy treats like chicken feet. Lol! (Which also make a fantastic bone broth) If you can get things that are grass fed and hormone/steroid free from a local farm then that would be even better! :)

You may also ask your cattle friends about getting tripe from them. Stinks like whoa but sooo worth it! Especially for a pup like yours that has digestive problems, it's full of natural digestive enzymes. This you can't get from a store since it can't be sold for human consumption unless it's cleaned/bleached. The white stuff from the store is no good, you need smelly green tripe. ;)
 
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