RedHead

I agree with the posts above. Shedding is not always diet related, it can be stress related, shedding related (right now is shedding season here) or can take a while to get rid of with a new dog. Having said that, a good overall diet and some supplements may help as well. There are a lot of vitamins and minerals that are really important for skin health...especially things like zinc, B-vitamins, etc. It can be dangerous to overdose with zinc, but foods like oysters have the highest amount of any food. I always feed the canned oysters (they are usually smoked, so I rinse the oil off a bit to tone them down!) once a week or so, and they are a great supplement

Cottage cheese mixed with rice and eggs (with maybe some bacon or ham )are a big hit here (for dogs, not humans!). Also, if I am running low of things, canned fish (tuna, salmon, sardines, or oysters) come in handy too as mix ins.

Ideally, I would love to feed grass fed or wild meat, but that is not an option financially (I can get some wild meat occasionally). I have fed raw for 10+ years with human grade meat and have never had a problem with bacteria. A healthy dog should not have a problem, and your greyhound almost certainly ate some raw meat at the racetrack. I don't weigh meat anymore, I just sort of feed by eyeballing amounts. I do find my greyhound eats quite a bit more than my old dog (a malamute) even though they are the same weight. I probably feed between 2-3 lbs a day, but I also mix it in with some kibble and leftovers on most days. I add salmon oil, but that is it for supplements.

To me, it just sounds like you startled him, he wasn't trying to be aggressive. Greyhounds seem to be prone to this, it is almost like they are not fully conscious or half asleep as it is an involuntary thing. Usually as soon as you speak to them it seems to snap them right out of it. Teague does not have any aggression at all, but for the first year that I had him every so often at night he would get startled by something and make the most ferocious growling sound that literally made me jump out of bed (he sleeps on his bed on the floor next to the bed). He was just very scared, and snapped out of it in a few seconds. If I were you, I wouldn't be too concerned. Growling at something when they are fully conscious is something that would concern me more than sleep growling. I never let Teague sleep in my bed...he is really gentle but I don't know what he would do if I suddently bumped or rolled on him in the night. BTW I found this gradually decreased after the first year of adoption.

I do have a yard but it is very tiny, so I mostly walk the pups for potty brakes and exercise. We go about 45 minutes in the morning (we jog on the sidewalks, I let them sniff/walk in the parks) before work and then, depending on the weather, 1-2 hours after work. We go between 4-8 miles each and every day, I do a lot of jogging and hiking.

I was lucky to be off on a months holiday when I adopted Teague. I made sure from the start that he wasn't overly clingy (not hard ) by leaving him be most of the day and gradually left him alone for short periods of time. I run him 2-3 miles every morning before work, and leave him with his breakfast just as I leave. This seems to work out really well. I don't know what I would have done if I only had a weekend or even a week to work on this though.

I have a library of dog food books, and I'm sure a lot of cooked recipes! So many, that it would be hard to post them all. What kind are you looking for? I have recipes for health problems, grains, no grains, etc. I am not sure if I can post the recipe's here due to copyright (? ) as they are all out of books. But if you let me know more details I can message them to you!

Welcome to the board!

Omega 3 is not always a cure for dry skin. There are a lot of things that could cause it in the environment (e.g. season changes/shedding, dry air). Also, there are a lot of other vitamins that affect skin health too such as zinc, copper, vit. B, etc. etc. I'm not suggesting to supplement with these, but just pointing out that omega 3's are only a small component to skin health (but they are certainly beneficial for lots of things so I would still give them!). I don't know where you are located but I have had dogs that get dandruff seasonably...either with a change in weather with shedding or sometimes dry winter air. Also, some dogs just get dryer skin with age. Keep brushing, and hopefully with summer it will decrease!

We had a grey playgroup last year with just 2-3 greys. Teague was often the only one that would run. There was one grey who just never, ever ran. Even the temptation of a pack of greys didn't interest her.

Teague is super picky....but he will basically eat anything that is meat, so he likes the dehydrated liver treats, cooked chicken pieces, chicken feet etc. The only non meat treat he will eat is cheese

Most raw food is in the 20-30% range for protein, but this analysis is broken down into dry matter, which takes all the moisture out and makes percentages a lot higher. 33% does seem high for fat though, but it seems to have similar ingredients to most prepared raw diets which are not nearly that high (?). There's no harm in giving it a try, if your pups do well on it, and it is made locally and fresh (not a nasty brown, gross smelling paddy like some of the petstore raw diets!). A lady near me makes a fantastic ground mix, she is starting to sell it in Ontario Global's now, and it is by far the best I have every seen or used. I can dig up the website if you want it.

Knock on wood, but no problems right now. Teague is just a young boy, and my other dog Karma, who is 10, is one of those super hardy, healthy mutts who never have problems (again...knock on wood )

My vet recommends equine joint formulas for dogs. Often they have the same ingredients, but they tend to be cheaper (as are most "large animal" supplies vs. the pet market). Also, they come in massive bulk containers too.

I don't know if you have tried yet, but maybe you could just switch the protein type but use the same food? A dog's sense of smell is way better than their simple taste buds, so they normally eat food based on smell and not so much taste (dogfood isn't too flavourful if you have ever tried ). Sometimes just rotating with a small amount of some different scents (liver powder, fish oil, sprinkled parmesan cheese etc.) works perfectly to keep their interest in a food. Some dogs become less enthused over time if they have the same food, same smell at every meal.

How long have you been on the Hills? If he's eating it with the lamb with no problems, he should start gaining soon and you may have a solution. If this doesn't work, I would personally start with a very simple diet of maybe one or two ingredients (e.g. a boiled meat with a novelty veggie or grain). You can create very simple balanced diets that have only a few ingredients. Each dog is so different with IBD, so it is hard to suggest one thing that will work. It is hard to put on weight when you can't feed a lot of fat, I feel for you! My friend's dog was skin and bones because of this, but they found a food that worked and now he is back to his chubby, happy self. Hoping the same for you!

I would be especially careful about feeding rec bones (marrow/knuckle) to dogs who already have bad teeth. Their teeth are already in a weakened state due to the plaque eating away at the tooth, so chewing on a really hard bone can easily cause a slab fracture on a back molar. Smaller meaty bones like necks, meaty thighs, etc. do an even better job of cleaning in my experience anyways. It is more the tearing and chewing of tough meats, tendons/sinews that cleans the teeth, you don't even need any bone.

I used to feed a really great oil called Arctic Vigor which had a variety of oils from northern "marine species" , but it is really hard to find, so I switched to salmon oil in a squirt tube since my dogs won't eat the capsules. I try to give 4 or 5 squirts into their food each day, I honestly don't know if it makes a difference in their coats, but I know that all of our modern food is lacking in omega 3's and they have so many health benefits so hoping it will help prevent or aid any health problems down the road.

What chemical is used on these collars? I don't have a huge tick problem here, but the deer flies drive us nuts! Do they repell those to?

I have fed raw for 10 years to 4 different dogs. I obviously haven't calculated it, but it would work out to over 30,000 rmb's and I have never even had a hint of a problem. These are meaty bones, not weight bearing bones, but I haven't had any trouble with either.

When I go jogging I often use the waist belts, but I always keep the leash fairly short, otherwise it can hang down, get tripped on/wrapped up, etc. If your dogs are generally well behaved though, I think they are great!

Thanks for the heads up. It is really hard to know what to buy these days, I have been trying to buy all my treats locally. Actually, the lady who I get a lot of my treats and food from recently wrote an article breaking down the price for making dehydrated treats. Considering it takes 4 lbs of fresh chicken to make 1 lb of dehydrated chicken, plus adding in all the processing, packaging, retail and shipping fees, the price is just waaaaaaay to low. I don't know what sorts of meat scraps and more importantly contaminants get in there but it will just be a matter of time before another big recall.

Although I don't believe dogs need grains, I don't think they are so bad in moderation. Both sides of the argument often have claims that are untrue. I feed a small amount of pasta, bread, rice, or oatmeal and it does no harm. If you asked me if I think a dogs diet should be BASED on grains though, I personally strongly disagree, which is why I don't feed dogfood as a major portion of any of my dog's diets (grain free included). Most dogs will do fine on any food no matter how cheap, simply because they add vitamins and minerals. Over time, feeding this to an animal designed to eat mostly meat is not optimal nutrition in my opinion. Having said that, most dogs survive on this and do fine, but everyone has their own beliefs and theories, so feed whatever you are comfortable with and works!

Welcome to the board! That is great your hounds are settling in so fast. Little Violet looks like a young pup in that first shot. What sweet faces!

I would try to get titers done, but I am not sure if a yearly titer counts the same as an actual shot for local laws. It should if it was done by a veterinarian, but you may want to look into that.