PrairieProf

Welcome to you and Hillary! (I'm originally from NY too, now living in Iowa.)

Sorry for your loss. Rest in peace, little greyhound hedgie.

It's what my vet recommends now as a probiotic instead of Fortiflora; he said he's seen good results with it. I've used it. Of course it's not going to do anything magic. It's pretty expensive for ongoing regular use.

I am so sorry for your loss. Homer was so very handsome, and he does look exceptionally proud, dignified and gentle. His daddy Fortress was my Beth's granddad -- he sired a number of important sires, so there are a lot of relatives on this site.

Glad to see an update; I was just wondering about Rogan earlier today. I'm sorry he's having a rough go of it, poor guy. And you go, Neylasmom, about the old vet.

Sending good thoughts. I get so stressed with one hound and two cats, I can't imagine the stress with that many.

How beautimous! Congrats!

Pretty much agree with what others have said. Pick-upable poop, reasonably firm unless it hasn't been long enough since the last time, not excessive quantities. I think the color of the poop is greatly influenced by the color of the food itself, so that wouldn't be a factor unless it was bizarre somehow. No gas or other digestive symptoms. Good energy and I'll say good coat (I can see that might vary between hounds, but Beth has an extremely soft coat so if that changed it would be a bad sign), no signs of allergies. Oh, and the dog maintains a good weight easily on a reasonable serving of the food, doesn't tend to get overweight or underweight. Also, the hound should have appropriate blood values insofar as those might be affected by food. The dog should like the food of course, but Beth is not a picky eater so that's not a real factor for me. We hit all those benchmarks wonderfully on a prescription food that would have some people rolling their eyes at the ingredients. Beth nearly got pancreatitis before that and things have been so much better once I learned that what is central for her is a lower-fat diet as opposed to grain-free, limited ingredient or whatever. She poops about three times a day, sometimes four, but that's because we walk a lot and it stimulates her -- it's a highly digestible food so the poops are very small.

Poor guy! He needs serious oral antibiotics for sure. I don't know about sutures.

I know Shelley has a pretty strong sense of what the osteo lines are, at least informally, even if this is not verifiable. And alas I know she clearly regards Gable Dodge as one of them; I can't speak for the others. And yeah, he's Beth's maternal grandsire. I've been feeling pretty crappy lately about that.

Oh crap. I am so so so sorry. Sending you strength for the decisions ahead.... Oh crap. I am so so so sorry. Sending you strength for the decisions ahead....

to Cully (and the houndie equivalent to Havok)

I'm pretty sure I see at least some of it 12 hours later, or certainly before 24. Sweet potato rawhide --> orangeish poo!

Rating of kibble means NOTHING in any objective sense. Some individuals (with no formal certification in animal nutrition or whatever) come up with a matrix based on their idea of what constitutes good or bad ingredients or parameters and apply it. It's totally subjective, takes nothing into account but ingredients (not sourcing, not safety standards, not whether a food has ever been tested in a feed trial) and has nothing to do with any actual results in actual dogs. Total ideological garbage on the whole.

Congratulations and welcome! Zoe is so beautiful and great and thanks for all you've done for her. (Love your screen name too!) I see she's a DK's Prime Time girl ... I know a bunch of them out here in Iowa (all brindles!).

Same plant in SC that caused the recent TOTW incident.

Just seeing this ... I am so very sorry. Kara was beautiful, and I love the pictures of her with her brindle kitty.

I really don't think a dog could poop that much unless they are getting what is for their system a crap-load (literally!) of food. If the poop is formed it suggests she isn't having trouble digesting it per se or having other medical issues, so I would really try cutting back. You could certainly try another food but cutting back seems a simpler thing to try first -- and if she gets too much of a different food she's still going to poop a lot.

Good thoughts to poor Munchie!

I'm wondering that too. Very odd if she wasn't given metro, though the fasting is right. I would say that if she isn't on it and shows ANY sign of the problem not improving quickly you get right back to that vet or another and insist on it. It is absolutely the first-line treatment for any serious GI issue.

Oh noooo! Holding Havok in my thoughts, and you too.

Also make sure you have Flagyl (metronidazole) on hand at home so you can start giving it at the first sign of GI problems -- that's very important if you have a hound prone to issues. Your vet shouldn't have any problem giving you extra. It also might be just one of those things that would have happened even without having switched her food. That has happened with no discernible trigger to other IBD hounds on the board. (Merlinsmum is a good person to consult on this, as unfortunately Merlin has had similar issues.)

Good you're going in. Dogs with IBD (I assume that's what you mean, not IBS?) can get hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. She should be OK iwth treatment. But yeah, it might very likely be the food switch. What works for your dog is much, much more important than the list of ingredients on a bag. Trust your vet.

For starters, maybe you might try feeding her less? Four cups is quite a lot for what sounds like a small female. I have a 58-pound girl and she eats more like three cups of the various foods she's been on. Mine is on a low-residue prescription food and still goes at least three times a day. 1-2 times seems rather infrequent for a kibble-fed dog, so I wouldn't assume that's what you should expect with another.

That is an amazing and funny picture! It could be in a greyhound calendar.