RedHead

Glad the necks were a success! Lucky you to have a butcher who sells stuff just for dogs. Should be waaaay cheaper than buying premade!

Generally speaking, if you feed the same amount of RMB to balance boneless meat, you should be getting a good amount of calcium without having too much. So...if you are feeding 1/2 lb of boneless meat, you could feed around the same weight in necks or a little less. I am assuming you are adding some organ meat in as well?

Yes, I always feed chicken and beef from the grocery store. Ideally I would love to feed organic, grass fed meat, but that is not economical here. The way I see it, grocery store meat is at least human grade and fresh. It certainly can't be worse than the "animal grade" meat in kibble. Not perfectly ideal but my dogs have always done well on it.

I totally agree with this too assuming the dog doesn't seem to be struggling with the distance. I love to see my dog tired out when I leave for the day (again, if there are no health problems). I never let mine on the bed either because he used to get sleep startle. He usually chooses to sleep alone in the living room, which is fine. This could definitely be him just settling in and feeling more secure in his environment. I used to think my greyhound was depressed at first too because he just kind of lay there and didn't show a lot of interaction with people and other activities. Completely normal with many new hounds. The lack of interest in food could also just be a sign that he is settling in and doesn't need to gobble his food down all at once (plus they often get bored after a while with a food so may not eat as fast as when it was new to them). Is he still showing enjoyment and energy with walks and with playgroups? Does he eventually eat all of his food? Sometimes a happy and content greyhound can be confused with a "depressed" one as they can sometimes be more aloof and lazy compared to other dogs. It can take 6 months-a few years for a greyhound's personality to come out. It sounds like your guy has made a lot of progress and is doing well so don't feel too bad yet!!

Mine are fine with pork, but they mostly eat it raw. They have eaten it cooked before with no issues. I am guessing it just depends on the dog. Some cuts of pork can be fatty which can cause issues, especially if the meat is cooked. You could always cube it into little pieces and freeze to use as training treats. Then they will only get small amounts.

I won't add any more suggestions, but glad things seemed to go better today. Crossing fingers you can make this work. I know it is expensive, but if you are really stressed you may want to look into some doggy daycare until he is more settled

I walk twice a day. In the winter they are only about 20-30 minutes each. When the weather is decent we go much further (4-6 miles per day) and do a lot of hiking. For most young greys off leash running is important. Walking is great for mental stimulation and exercise but a lot of active young greys just need a chance to run and gallop. Do you have any off leash places you can go?

Mine aren't on a strict schedule but generally they eat at around 8 am, and then anywhere between 4-5 pm. Mine get walked twice a day. On the odd days I can't do the evening walk I am usually woken up at 3am by a whining greyhound who has to go potty. I have a small yard I let them out in, but they often need a walk to actually go potty. My suggestion would be to try to incorporate an evening walk into your schedule (if you can with your work). Good luck!

I recently got a bloodwork panel done in the same units as you would use in the UK. From my lab report a creatinine of 165 isn't necessarily too high if the BUN results are normal. My grey actually has a creatinine level of 179, my vet also told me he may have kidney problems. Luckily, after getting his urine tested, we found out his kidneys were just fine. I did a lot of searching, and read that a good percentage of greyhounds can have creatinine levels that are slightly elevated even from the "breed standard." This is normal for many greys as long as everything else is functioning properly. I don't know a lot about the Globulin, but FYI my grey's Globulin was 24.6 and this was listed as "normal" on my sheet for a greyhound. The normal range was from 18-38. If your BUN checks out okay, I wouldn't think you would need to worry about a kidney diet.

Positive thoughts for you and Chase!!

Not really...just add a little extra water and overcook it a bit. I boil the chicken in with it so that it makes a broth and flavours it a little more.

You can, it is sometimes just harder to digest. Cook it with a lot of extra water, and for a really long time. Then mash it up a bit before feeding. You can also sub in pasta instead of rice if you have it.

Sending good thoughts as well. I can imagine the stress you are feeling now.

Yes I feed a mixture of a ground or chopped meal (either the one I buy or I make my own) that is boneless. I supplement this with meaty bones which provides some chewing. My dogs don't inhale the ground, but they don't exactly chew it either. It doesn't have any starches or additives like canned food, so I don't find it collects plaque to the extent of kibble/canned. Teague has not-so-great teeth no matter what he eats, but all of my non-greys had fabulous teeth on this diet.

I would try some lean beef chuck or stewing meat. Not as fatty as ground beef. Pork is also cheap. And, yes I know how expensive raw can be if you don't have a good distributor. I can get a good ground mix when I travel to visit my parents. When I don't have that, I have to make most of my food from the grocery store. It can get very pricey. I currently have mine on kibble (mixed with canned, homecooked, leftovers, etc.) in the morning, and raw in the evening due to cost. They love the variety though, and seem to do well on this.

Mine have had that occasionally. I think it was caused by something that they ate that irritated their digestive tract. Blood is not "normal" but in my experience it went away in a day or two. If not, definitely check in at the vet, as it could also indicate more serious issues.

We hike almost daily when the weather is nice. I even take them snowshoeing with me in the wintertime. I didn't really train for hiking, but in the beginning mine could only do about 30 min. We just gradually went further. We don't do huge hikes, but usually do 4-5 miles daily in the nice weather. From my experience, greyhounds do horrible in the heat. I have another non-grey with way thicker fur, and also hike with many other breeds but Teague (by far) has the lowest heat tolerance. There isn't any training you can do for this unfortunately. My grey loves to go into water, but he won't swim. When he is hot he will run in and just stand there enjoying it for a minute or two. I don't let my grey off leash, but I do much prefer hiking with a body harness and longer (20 ft) leash. This is not for all greys, certainly not if they bolt, but it works great for us. It allows him to explore the fields and ditches without me being dragged behind.

I researched all of the Canadian companies and went with Trupanion. In terms of coverage, for only a slightly higher monthly fee I can get unlimited coverage as opposed to a couple of thousand from other companies. I pay just over $60 a month, I think I have a $500 deductible (can't even remember exactly ) for unlimited claims. Mine doesn't cover routine things like dentals unfortunately. I have never had to use them yet, but I can only hope they pull through if I do.

My dogs are the same. They won't touch beef marrow bones. If I get the buffalo/venison/lamb ones they love them. Probably a different smell. Luckily our grocery store carries backs and thighs, which are super cheap.

Was the beef burger cooked? I would try lean raw beef for sure. My dogs both have terrible results from cooked beef if it has fat in it. Raw is totally fine. Most greyhounds are fed raw beef on the racetrack so I am sure she has eaten it before. No harm in trying, boneless beef is definitely cheaper than boneless chicken. I would add a small amount with the chicken to see how she does. I don't know if you have seen these but they might be helpful: PacNWRaw ( a yahoo group in the Oregon area...members will likely be able to give you some good meat sources) https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/PacNWRaw/info There are some local companies in your general area (Darwin's Pets, The Meating Place) but these places can be more expensive. Not sure if you have looked into them. Also...if your goal is just to get her to eat, you could always stick with raw/kibble mixes. Sometimes just having the variety in the diet will make them more eager to eat their kibble. Glad to hear she is finally eating though, I hope she gains some weight back!

Sorry, I am not on the FB group. I can PM you my e-mail. I don't have any problems at all, am always happy to answer questions! Sorry Busderpuddle for taking your initial question a wee bit off topic . We'll no longer hijack your thread (but feel free to ask any more questions too!).

I know, I think it was around $80 when I checked (don't know what's going on there). Anyhow, I went to dogwise (dogwise.com) and ordered it for around $20. I found this article very useful on recommended books (based on nutritional soundness of the diets). This was one of the few that were highly recommended (I like Monica Segal too but her diets are not very practical imo). http://www.dogaware.com/diet/bookreviews.html#raw (if you click on each book a summary with pros and cons will appear below). I also have the Lew Olsen book and personally these are my 2 favourite books in terms of advice and ease of reading (and I have fed raw for 15 years and am pretty sure I own every book on the subject ).

As Lillypad mentioned that diet is fine for the beginning, but eventually you will have to introduce organs and some boneless meat (otherwise the excess calcium can throw off other minerals). Ideally, around half of the meat should be a meaty bone (like thighs) and half should be boneless (like ground chicken, beef chuck, heart, giblets, etc.). You can also sub in other proteins some days such as eggs and tinned fish. It is recommended to start off simple though so what you are doing now if completely fine. Are you feeding the large thighs or the little drumstick things? If they are the big thighs, 4 may be a bit much. I would probably feed my 78 lb male 3 in a day. I usually take the skin off but you don't have to. I would also suggest that you do further reading if you decide you want to switch after a month or so to get all of the specifics. The internet is a great tool but also has a lot of misleading information so I prefer books. I also really like this vet (I don't do prey model, I add extras in). She has a website and I just bought her raw book after seeing it voted as one of the top raw books in terms of the scientific/nutritional analysis of her diets and being easy to follow and read. I personally like this because I am a bit obsessive/analytic about diet stuff, so I like to follow an actual "recipe." Most people just follow the percentage guidelines which works fine as well.

It was -44 C (-47F) here this morning too. It is FREEZING!! This is the first day all year that we aren't going for a walk. That being said, the dogs have still gone out to go potty in the backyard a few times today. They just stay out for minute or two, and are totally fine. Teague even looked like he was enjoying himself Have you tried actually walking him instead of letting him out in a yard? Sometimes that distracts them enough to go. I have heard of greys holding it for a long time in bad weather. I guess if he won't go, you can only keep giving him the chance by taking him out. Hopefully he will have to go bad enough to go later on today. Good luck and stay safe!

Sending good vibes!