Lamb Based Foods

[Guest greyers]

Heard an interesting comment from my vet the other night that I wanted to toss out there and see if others have had the same experience.

 

I wish I could recall the exact wording my vet said but it was something about the fact that many greyhounds do NOT tolerate a lamb and rice diet well with their tummies. I had never heard or seen such a thing and I doubt there is anything even written on the topic, but from her experience this is what she has found. Now keep in mind that my vets #1 top breed is the greyhound. I would estimate probably close to 30% of her clients are greys, she does the spays, neuters and dentals for one of the local adoption groups and she owns her own greyhounds. She is has had many years experience with the breed and and probably enough to draw conclusions regarding what types of diets and protein sources are more likely to work better. I am not saying she is right or wrong, it has simply been her experience that greys tend to not do as well digestive wise on lamb. I was just curious to know if others have had good or bad experiences with lamb.

 

Here has been my lamb experience:

Of the 3 greys I have fed lamb based diets to, 2 did wonderfully well on them. I even use to crockpot lamb and apples for them and they had no difficulty. I had just started Rego on a lamb and rice based diet by Precise while we were awaiting our order of precise chicken to come in. The ingredients and protein between those two precise foods are very similar, with the exception of the protein source. He did NOT do well at all on the lamb. I actually cold stopped it on Sunday when we got the new food because his poop was so awful.

 

If I had to make a prediction, I think we will be at a 50/50 split between greyhounds who tolerate the lamb well, and those who do not. Just like all dog foods, it is individual. But out of curiosity, because of what my vet has experienced, I am curious to know if a greater proportion have NOT done well on it.

[Hubcitypam]

Mine have all done fine on lamb tummywise but I quit buying it because they just didn't like it as much as chicken, etc.

[XTRAWLD]

Both boys do not do well on lamb. Very, very soft stools and a lot of gas. We have experimented quite a bit with Kasey because he has food allergies. If only lamb would be tolerable, we wouldn't have to search high and low for good kibble.

 

All of our vets also told us that lamb seems to upset their stomachs in some way. They never spoke much about gas, but it's an instant switch the second they eat lamb for us. If the stool was a little more firm, I "might" continue feeding the kibble if I could wear a gas mask in the house 24/7, but it was a lose-lose for stool and gas so we don't go anywhere near lamb based kibble anymore.

 

As for raw lamb, I couldn't say for sure. It's very expensive to feed that raw, and while he may have only had a couple pieces of it if we were making lamb chops for dinner (a rarity), I would have to say he was gassy then too.

[krissn333]

None of my dogs have ever done well with lamb, but Ace and Fritz are REALLY bad - if they have anything lamb-based, within 10 minutes they will have a diarrhea accident. Their littermates (placed by my group) are the same way. Fritz also does not tolerate chicken or turkey either.

 

We stick with salmon as our protein source because it works for everyone

[racindog]

Based on 9-10 personal greyhounds & several fosters ALL did well on the Solid Gold Hundn Flocken which is lamb based. I now feed raw and none of my present houndies (3) have any problem with the raw lamb either when they get that. Havn't tried mutton yet but I've got some in the freezer(along with raw Alpaca & raw goat) that I'll break out for them before long!

[Guest Swifthounds]

Never had a problem with lamb.

 

If her experience is with hound's coming off the track, the drastic dietary change from a meat based diet to a grain based kibble diet is probably skewing the results.

 

Than again, how many people tell you variety causes upset tummies? I can toss anything at my hounds without worry. Variety creates tolerant to variety. Go figure.

[Guest greyers]

 

 

If her experience is with hound's coming off the track, the drastic dietary change from a meat based diet to a grain based kibble diet is probably skewing the results.

 

 

I do not think it was. At the time we were discussing some of her regular clients over the years who have has consistent digestive problems with their hounds. IBD dogs and the like. So I think she was referring to dogs who have been in homes for awhile, even for years.

[Guest KennelMom]

We didn't have much luck with lamb based kibble. Soft-serve poo in most of the dogs. Never tried actual, real lamb though.

[Guest Swifthounds]

One of the issues with lamb may be it's higher water content than many meats. The ingredients are listed by weight. Once cooked, the water is removed and there is less actual meat as a total percentage of the kibble produced. Issues may be the result if the greater ratio of junk grains and carbs, rather than anything specific about lamb meat.

[Guest greyers]

One of the issues with lamb may be it's higher water content than many meats. The ingredients are listed by weight. Once cooked, the water is removed and there is less actual meat as a total percentage of the kibble produced. Issues may be the result if the greater ratio of junk grains and carbs, rather than anything specific about lamb meat.

Good point. May very well be the case. And that explains too why the protein level was lower between my two precise blends.

[Guest Melissa516]

Very interesting... both foods we've tried with Ginger so far are lamb based (Avoderm & Iams). As a general rule her poop is soft. We are still searching for the perfect food, but don't want to change things up too often or too fast.

[tydyelady]

Our Opie eats Kirkland lamb and rice food from Costco. When we got him, he had been eating chicken, so we bought that. Poos were awful, and we gave him plenty of time to settle in with us. Finally switched to lamb and he is fine. Recently we added the salmon food from Costco with it (half and half mix) as he seemed to be a bit bored with the kibble, and his poo is even better!

And as far as eating lamb, he loves it. I like lamb, so if we eat lamb chops, DH and I always save a few pieces for Opie, and he absolutely loves it! But if we give him any more than a small amount of turkey or chicken, he gets loose poos again. Different dogs do well on different foods / different proteins.

[OwnedBySummer]

I don't feed lamb... but for no particular reason. I just found a kibble she likes to eat (after a year) and I'm sticking with it and it happens to be chicken. BUT I have fed canned dog food with a lamb base and she's been fine. But that's not a long-term thing because a day later, I could be feeding a different flavor for dinner.

[Guest sirsmom]

Ours prefer to eat chicken over lamb. Iams lamb was just okay and sometimes left in the bowls--I finally had to mix it with another food 50/50 before miss picky pants would eat it. If I put a lamb based food in my late Sir's bowl, he would walk away with a very insulted look on his face.

[Guest mountain4greys]

My 6 pack does well on Lamb. But I do know it's not for every greyhound.

[brindlehound]

When I first adopted Magic, I gave him lamb and rice and he didn't do well. It could easily have been track vs. non-track food. It could have even been the brand. I've gotten other brands of lamb and rice and he's done fine.

[GreyTzu]

Our Opie eats Kirkland lamb and rice food from Costco. When we got him, he had been eating chicken, so we bought that. Poos were awful, and we gave him plenty of time to settle in with us. Finally switched to lamb and he is fine. Recently we added the salmon food from Costco with it (half and half mix) as he seemed to be a bit bored with the kibble, and his poo is even better!

And as far as eating lamb, he loves it. I like lamb, so if we eat lamb chops, DH and I always save a few pieces for Opie, and he absolutely loves it! But if we give him any more than a small amount of turkey or chicken, he gets loose poos again. Different dogs do well on different foods / different proteins.

 

And how is your poop after a lamb meal?

 

 

 

:rofl

 

 

Over the years, we have fed 8 greyhounds L&R diets will good results.

[Guest tellybelly]

We have never tried lamb for Telly, however we did find that chicken and turkey weren't working for her and have gone to a salmon based diet (Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream) and she loves it and so does her skin and coat! Now with our IG's, we did try lamb years back, and wow.....that was a disaster of epic proportions, aka the Big D....not good!!!

Edited November 9, 2011 by tellybelly

[Guest greyers]

Thanks to all who have taken the poll! I am finding this topic interesting.

[Batmom]

Have had plenty of problems with various kibbles, but never had a problem with lamb in and of itself. The only meats we've had trouble with here over the years have been chicken and fish. One dog had a digestive intolerance to chicken, another was allergic to fish.

 

I don't think you can evaluate protein sources in kibbles very easily -- too many other ingredients.

[Guest greyers]

Have had plenty of problems with various kibbles, but never had a problem with lamb in and of itself. The only meats we've had trouble with here over the years have been chicken and fish. One dog had a digestive intolerance to chicken, another was allergic to fish.

 

I don't think you can evaluate protein sources in kibbles very easily -- too many other ingredients.

 

Likely so. Just was curious about the basis of the comments I heard. So thought I would do my own "research"!

[Sambuca]

Bu did horribly on lamb years ago and if he even gets 1 piece of kibble with lamb in it, it's gas mask time. When Sailor was my foster I already had my foster Tuffy and we got a bunch of lamb kibble donated. Lets just say I passed that on to another foster home after a few weeks. It was horrible. I feed Bu and Sailor salmon based kibble and I couldn't be happier.

[tydyelady]

And how is your poop after a lamb meal?

 

Do you really want to know???? Let's just say, I keep on eating it!

[seeh2o]

Both Carl and Claire did well on the Kirkland Lamb & Veggie kibble. I cannot say the same for the chicken, or for that matter any chicken (except for treats) for Carl. Chicken kibble and raw chicken, give him runny poo and tooth melting gas. I ended up switching them both to raw last Feb for the health benefits. I don't feed them any raw lamb, it's just not that available. I continue to stay away from raw chicken, however, raw turkey, cornish hens and duck cause no problems at all.

[kudzu]

So far any red meat or fish based, grain-free foods have been great for mine with the exception of EVO. Ugh, EVO was horrid. Chicken & turkey based food is ok for some, not others. Duck based required a gas mask for humans. That fowl was foul.