OwnedBySummer

I've always bathed my dogs once a month. But Summer, my first grey, had some allergic reactions to cedar beds and wheat... so I haven't been bathing her every month. But now that everything is better, it's time to teach her to jump into the tub on command, the same as all my other dogs did. Hmmm... wonder if the greyhound will be as obedient? Something tells me that this may be a challenge! Ed.: I forgot to add, that in the summer she has her own little pool, so she's rinsing almost every day.

I was just out treat hunting and couldn't find the Rachel Rae ones. Although they do sound like a good thing. I bought Blue Buffalo chicken liver cookies and Zero-G lamb/venison cookies.

Summer did that with kibble with grain in it! The exact same weird behavior. When I switched to wheat & corn free kibble, that behavior stopped almost right away. I add water to her kibble right before serving it, did that with both grain and grain-free kibble. With her Blue Buffalo Wilderness kibble, she gobbles it right up, water and all. Sometimes she gets the Puppy Gruel on it, sometimes I chop up a wiener into it, sometimes she gets just boring old water. Every meal is now eaten with great delight!

I just have to ask the question... I assume he doesn't have worms or anything like that? That's just sooooo much kibble. If that's just his metabolism... can you bottle it up and send me some?

Welcome from Canada and I'm so sorry for your loss. What a way to start on the forum, eh? But we're all here!

All I can offer up is a recipe that I took from this forum, to make an additive that makes their kibble much more appealing. Wow, your boy has a big appetite! -- Summer is 68 lbs. and gets 2 cups of kibble and a dollop of this recipe for breakfast and a 1/2 can of canned meat for dinner. Here's a recipe from another member, Becky_R. I have made this recipe for Summer and she gobbles up her kibble now, no problem. I only used half the amount of yogurt by stirring it into the full recipe, THEN divided it up and froze most of it in double servings. BTW, I use Blue Buffalo kibble. Puppie gruel recipe Thoroughly mix 1 pound of lean ground beef with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and add 2/3 cup brown rice. Turn the heat back down to a simmer and cook 15 minutes. Add 2/3 cup red lentils and cook another 15 minutes, or until the rice is soft. Check periodically, and add more water if needed. Let this mixture cool, then freeze half of it and use it later. Take the other half and mix with a two pound container of plain, low fat yogurt. Serve a dollop of this mixture tossed with your dog's kibble. Becky_R's notes: If you can't find lean ground beef, brown it first and drain off the fat. I was surprised at how little fiber was in brown rice, so that was why I added the lintels. They are high in fiber and protein. Red lentils cook quickly, which is whay I add them toward the end. If you can't find them, use another type of lentil, but add it to the pot earlier when you add the rice. I was tired of adding hamburger and rice, plus yogurt separately to the food bowls, so this is how the gruel recipe was born. Maybe you can suggest a better name for this recipe.

Maybe if you switch the meat to something she likes or tolerates better? Or reduce the water and perhaps leave out the lentils?

Ewwww, that's nasty! My old boy (lab/pointer) had the same thing and I also put Vaseline on it, twice a day if I remembered. As long as I remembered, the thing went away. If I started forgetting, it came back.

Summer has a reaction to wheat in her kibble so we feed Blue Buffalo Wilderness, readily available in Canadian PetSmart's. A lot of people also recommend Taste Of The Wild but I haven't tried it yet. But are you sure the parasites are cleared up? Did you have a second fecal flotation done? I've heard that panacur is not the best choice... And here's a kibble additive recipe that I nabbed from this forum, which you may find useful: Here's a recipe from another member, Becky_R. I have made this recipe for Summer and she gobbles up her kibble now, no problem. I only used half the amount of yogurt by stirring it into the full recipe, THEN divided it up and froze most of it in double servings. BTW, I use Blue Buffalo kibble. Puppie gruel recipe Thoroughly mix 1 pound of lean ground beef with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and add 2/3 cup brown rice. Turn the heat back down to a simmer and cook 15 minutes. Add 2/3 cup red lentils and cook another 15 minutes, or until the rice is soft. Check periodically, and add more water if needed. Let this mixture cool, then freeze half of it and use it later. Take the other half and mix with a two pound container of plain, low fat yogurt. Serve a dollop of this mixture tossed with your dog's kibble. Becky_R's notes: If you can't find lean ground beef, brown it first and drain off the fat. I was surprised at how little fiber was in brown rice, so that was why I added the lintels. They are high in fiber and protein. Red lentils cook quickly, which is whay I add them toward the end. If you can't find them, use another type of lentil, but add it to the pot earlier when you add the rice. I was tired of adding hamburger and rice, plus yogurt separately to the food bowls, so this is how the gruel recipe was born. Maybe you can suggest a better name for this recipe.

I picked up a recipe on this forum for a kibble additive. It will make him like his kibble more (i.e. eat more), plus it's yummy. Summer loves it! Here's the recipe: Here's a recipe from another member, Becky_R. I have made this recipe for Summer and she gobbles up her kibble now, no problem. I only used half the amount of yogurt by stirring it into the full recipe, THEN divided it up and froze most of it in double servings. BTW, I use Blue Buffalo kibble. Puppie gruel recipe Thoroughly mix 1 pound of lean ground beef with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and add 2/3 cup brown rice. Turn the heat back down to a simmer and cook 15 minutes. Add 2/3 cup red lentils and cook another 15 minutes, or until the rice is soft. Check periodically, and add more water if needed. Let this mixture cool, then freeze half of it and use it later. Take the other half and mix with a two pound container of plain, low fat yogurt. Serve a dollop of this mixture tossed with your dog's kibble. Becky_R's notes: If you can't find lean ground beef, brown it first and drain off the fat. I was surprised at how little fiber was in brown rice, so that was why I added the lintels. They are high in fiber and protein. Red lentils cook quickly, which is whay I add them toward the end. If you can't find them, use another type of lentil, but add it to the pot earlier when you add the rice. I was tired of adding hamburger and rice, plus yogurt separately to the food bowls, so this is how the gruel recipe was born. Maybe you can suggest a better name for this recipe.

I am a later person, Summer's last potty break is usually around 11pm, sometimes later. Then we both get up at 8:30. And she's in no real panic for me to let her out. And I don't take away her water in the evening, although once we go to bed, the bedroom door is closed so she doesn't have access. Nothing deliberate there, just what I've always done. So... when she's sleeping, she comfortably holds "her water" for 9 hours or thereabouts.

You'll get there, just takes time. But now you know you have some real good stuff to look forward to!

I was just going to post on the Just 6 when I saw your post, and went and got a pouch from the kitchen. I bought the chicken, lamb, and 2 of the beef, since they were 4 for $5.00 at the grocery store. The ingredients on the beef are: Rice Flour, Barley, Beef, Oat Fiber, Olive Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Malted Barley Flour. They have eaten all of the chicken and lamb ones, so just had this pouch left. But the lamb & chicken had almost the same ingredients. The pups love them (Penny doesn't like any treats, so not speaking for her here . I have not bought her kibble and probably won't after what I read here. The cookies sound great! Like you, I'm not going to touch the kibble but the treats -- I'll have to see if they're in Canada (yet). I'm with Pam on this one. When I first became a member of GT I became convinced that only premium high dollar food was good enough for my dogs and I was jumping through hoops to keep up. Then reality set in and I looked around and realized I was spending more on feeding the hounds than I was myself. I looked around and saw ppl around me whose dogs lived long and healthy lives eating Alpo and doing fine. Heck, I have a friend with an 11 yr old Dobie who has been eating Ol' Roy since she was a puppy and is still healthy and active. I currently feed Purina One Chicken and Rice (and I can buy it at Wal-Mart) and everything is fine here. I've certainly been "brainwashed" that I have to buy expensive kibble. I still don't want to feed corn or wheat to her (as I think she's actually allergic to the wheat anyway) but I certainly don't need to buy such expensive kibble, methinks.

Gentle hugs. She was beautiful!

That's funny, Taste of the Wild is what I wanted when I ultimately bought the first bag of Blue Buffalo. But I couldn't find it. Either it's not in Canada or I didn't look hard enough. Will try again!

JAJ2010, sure sounds like you're speaking from an absolutely terrifying experience! Jeez, I hope I never have that one!

I also just have the netting barrier. I have a Buick Century sedan so anything else (crate or one of those metal barriers you see in SUV's) is impossible. She travels very well, lying down 99% of the time.

I'm with everyone else! I have dog experience but Summer is my first greyhound. Although SHE chose ME (god, I love that!), it took a couple of months until her personality really came through. Every week now, I see changes. For me, the best one is that she'll now sleep at the TOP of the bed, where I've always wanted her. And that only happened in the past couple of weeks! So be patient, the changes will come! Oh, and another really really wonderful thing... she'll come to me out of a pack of greyhounds if I call her! I love my houndie! Just give them time.

You think? If it's not broke don't fix it. If you pup is eating and happy and looks good then that is all that matters. I know. But I always want to do the absolute best for her. I think Blue Buffalo is good for her and it's certainly a premium kibble. But if everyone thought Zero-G was a stunningly wonderful kibble, then I'd try it. But apparently it's just one of the grain-free lineup so... Blue Buffalo it is!

Yum! I looked them up and they look great. Doubt I'll ever get them up here but maybe, one day when I'm in the US...

I agree. I think perhaps she was just trying to drum up some business? If Summer likes Blue Buffalo... then that's what she'll get.

Currently, I am feeding Blue Buffalo Wilderness (Salmon) to Summer and she loves it. Her coat is plush and lush and her poops are great. So I'm quite happy with it. She also gets a teaspoon of human grade fish oil every day. She gets the kibble for breakfast and canned meat for dinner. That being said... I was in a dog food boutique the other day and the owner turned up her nose at Blue Buffalo. She said that she "doesn't like the protein sources". Not sure what she meant. She also said she'd "never feed her dogs food that's sold at PetSmart", i.e. like all those foods are crap. I don't agree with her about that, surely they can't ALL be bad? At any rate, she was promoting a kibble called Zero-G. Which is NOT sold at PetSmart. At least, not in Canada. It can be found at her store plus all the Global and PetValu pet stores. I don't think of Global and PetValu stores as being all that different from PetSmart, except they are smaller (less inventory) but more personal. Anyone know anything about Zero-G? Is this dog food boutique owner full of it?

The hounds food comes from Wal Mart. Poodles Wellness Core comes from Canine Commissary. Oops -- some of our treats even come from there and some come {{{{{{{shudder}}}}}} from Dollar General as even tho they are the same DG is actually cheaper than Wal-Mart. I did a lot of looking went to food heck and back with Rex and just quit being a food snob based on what "they" say and having the "better" foods (especially Blue) rip out his insides. No meat and bone meal is about my only hard and fast rule. That said -- there are better foods at Wal-Mart. Oddly enough I rember seeing it at the Wal Mart in East Texas, but not here.... Canadian Walmarts, as far as I'm aware, don't sell quality dog food. I shouldn't have icked before considering that perhaps the US Walmarts have different inventory.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I looked him up and wow, what a handsome boy he was!

Sold at Walmart? Ick. Anyway, I dug around on the website and here's the ingredient list for the "beef and brown rice" version. I am not all that good at analyzing dog foods but this doesn't look all that good to me. I don't like the corn meal being in the top 5 ingredients and I don't like "animal fat". Don't they know what kind of animal? And then right after that, we have a corn ingredient again. And ingredient #5 is soybean meal. I know soybean oils aren't good for greys, dunno about soybean meal. Beef, Chicken Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Corn Gluten Meal, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Dehydrated Alfalfa, Dried Peas, Dried Tomatoes, Dried Carrots, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Olive Oil, Iron Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Dried Parsley, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Mixed Tocopherols, Niacin, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K activity), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Folic Acid I feed Blue Buffalo Wilderness to Summer and here's their ingredients. They seem better to me. Deboned Salmon, Menhaden Fish Meal (natural source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Chicken Meal, Potato Starch, Peas, Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Potatoes, Tomato Pomace (natural source of Lycopene), Natural Chicken Flavor, Flaxseed (natural source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Alfalfa Meal, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Yucca Shidigera Extract, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Turmeric, Oil of Rosemary, Beta Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), d-Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Choline Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Salt, Caramel, Potassium Chloride, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium.