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ADogDad

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  1. Haha good news! It's amazing how happy some firm poop can make us!
  2. I think the heat was part of it. Also him getting a bit dotty in old age. Also old age appetite change. Also stomach still being sensitive after treatment for bladder infection a few months back. A perfect storm! As for firm poop, the thing we've found with the hounds we've rescued is to get them onto a good kibble asap. We currently use Arden Grange (Adult Lamb and Rice or Chicken and Rice). A cup of that with a little hot water to stop it being too tickly dry and mix in half a tin of Chappie (varying between chicken or original). Try that and cut out *everything* else (things like Dentastix might be good for teeth but can upset tummies. The only neutral dog treat that we've found you can give lots of without effect is plain Bonio biscuits). Once they are good, you can try different treats and see what they handle (and how much) before they get loose again. The other thing we give them is Protexin Pro-Fibre additive. I'm not sure it has a huge effect, but every little helps. When our dogs are well, their poops are sometimes like baseball bats hehe, but usually just good and firm.
  3. We had tried various things over the last few weeks and he kept seeming to get better then relapsing. I think it was multiple causes making things confusing! He is mostly better, now, though, so now need to try and get some weight back onto him without upsetting him again. I won't try too hard though - he's ok really. Went from 31kg to 28kg, but we'll slowly build him up again.
  4. He has finally turned a corner! Phew! He was up in the night again, but it was raining, so I didn't trot after him in my underwear with a poo-bag catchers mitt for swamp avoidance... Checking this morning, there were only pickupable (if squishy) poos! Yay! Also no swamp gas farts in the night... Thanks for all you advice, folks! Invaluable information and reassurance. In the end, tried a combo of fresh chicken and rice with a little of his normal kibble and wet food. Probiotic paste for a few days. A little of that clay powder additive. A pro-fibre additive. Weening him back onto 'normal' food might be tough, but it's not so difficult to boil rice and roast a chicken each few days and my old boy is worth it! *collapses in a corner*
  5. Thanks for the further advice. It's very helpful to hear your stories. The little-and-often thing seems to be working. He just had quite a bit of fresh cooked chicken and rice with some wet food mixed in and has been eating kibble hand-fed over the rest of the day, so I'm less worried about him starving now (though it's a good thing I work from home and can sit at a desk handing him kibble every couple of hours!) Now I just have to fix the diarrhoea and accompanying terrible farts! I'm hoping the probiotic will kick in soon and have ordered some clay-based stool stiffener. Hopefully he's still a fair way away from "that decision". He still loves walkies time and can get up the stairs in 3 bounds at bedtime.
  6. Thanks for further replies and the crossed fingers! I would love to spoil him! He's been one of those hounds that can only tolerate a few treats before he gets an upset stomach though I'll look into the clay and vitamin supplements and, yeah, the chicken and rice is always a good fallback position, though I have to be careful with any change. I'm hoping the probiotics will get him back on track so I can try supplements and foods without further gut upset!
  7. Hi, thanks for the replies. Yeah his teeth are ok. Good for an oldie. I'm not super regular with brushing, but he lets me use dentist tools to scrape away plaque, so no gum disease and I'm not seeing any decay. Dentist said yesterday "his teeth aren't too terrible"... They are a bit brown, but not along the gum line. Some vets these days expect you to brush them twice a day. Some are pleased if you pick off the plaque with your thumbnail every year... I'll look into Entice or something similar, thanks. He used to have a simple canned food topper - Chappie - and loved it, but he turns up his nose these days. Part of the weirdness. I always used to wet the kibble too, but that seems to put him off now I'll look into puppy food - do you know what they add to make it good for puppies? I've heard the chicken broth thing. We were adding actual chicken to get him interested, but it leads to upset stomach. It's that thing that a lot of greyhounds have. Anything they aren't used to upsets the stomach, so when the vet says to try Royal Canin, even introduced slowly, the change is almost as bad as the original upset, in fact, historically, makes things worse, hence my reluctance to try. I just spent 10 minutes feeding him kibble one-at-a-time like treats. If I put down a few in front of him he sniffed and ignored. If I hand feed or throw him one like it's a treat, he eats it. Feels like a mental thing.
  8. Hi, folks! New poster here - please be gentle! I'm not a new greyhound owner. I'm on my third and forth currently and have rescued hounds for something like 18 years. I've got one of those weird situations, though, so I thought I'd look for advice from fellow houndies So, my oldest boy is 12 and a half and over the past year has had a bladder infection and a rat bite that went nasty (poked his head in a neighbours hedge - came out with a rat on his face!) so diet got a little messed up, but he was back on normal food (Arden Grange kibble, softened with hot water and some Chappie wet food mixed in) and stomach all good. A little over a year ago he had a cancerous growth removed, but they got it all and he recovered fine. 2 or 3 months ago though he started skipping meals - just looking and walking away or even not bothering to look. He would get the odd bout of runny poops for seemingly no reason (I know that just happens with greys, but more often than usual this time), but then get better. Went back to eating. Went off it again. I did the usual of adding a little interest (cooked chicken, sardines etc) but that seemed to result in upset stomach (as we know it does with some) which is worse than not eating much. Over the period he's lost 3 kilos, (was 31kg normally) so is looking a little skinny. It seemed to be getting worse, so I went to the vets for blood and urine tests. Nothing. What makes me think it's senility or something is recently I've found he will turn his nose up at his food, but be interested in what the humans are eating. Not unusual, but it means he must actually be hungry I thought. For some reason I thought to try him on the dry kibble alone. He took it when I hand fed him and then ate some if I lead my hand to a bowl of dry kibble. He ate it slowly so not too worried about choking... The last couple of days, though, he won't even eat it from a bowl, but will if I hand feed him! Just today he won't take a whole load from my hand but will eat one after the other from my fingers! It's feels like if his brain thinks it's a 'treat' situation he'll keep doing it over and over, on doggy autopilot, but a 'food' situation he can't be bothered with. I know dogs don't starve themselves and usually, if a dog doesn't eat for a meal or two, it's ok (in fact starving them when they have upsets is what some do), but this has happened for too long and too often to just let him 'get hungry' to force him back to eating what we know his gut is good with (or has been for many years). I'm not sure if I'm explaining it well, but hopefully you've read this far through my waffle and might have some advice for me? I'm quite worried, since I've been through something similar before. My previous girl lasted until 14 but in the last few months went through something very similar. Nothing was 'wrong' wrong with her, but she lost her appetite in conjunction with upset stomach and slowly disappeared. We had lots of tests done because we didn't want to give up on her, but I get the feeling we maybe kept her around too long. She was effectively starving and weak and unhappy a lot of the time. The vets basically said "She's old. Her guts just aren't working well any more" and eventually, with nothing left to test or try, we made 'that decision'. My current boy is mostly still himself - some senior moments, but still enjoying walks and cuddles and bounding up the stairs at bed time. I know he's quite old and they don't last forever. I just want to give him the best quality life I can no matter how much he has left. Vet-wise I guess my next step can only be ultrasounds and x-rays (and MRI?) but I'm not sure what would show up that doesn't show up at all in bloods and urine. Anyone have any advice? At the moment I'm doing the hand feeding kibble and giving him a paste probiotic twice a day. I'm hoping if his gut feels better he will just start eating his normal food again. Anyone have this experience themselves? Is it 'normal' for a grey to get senile and/or go off their food? What would you do re. feeding? Thanks in advance for any and all advice!
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