A First Post

[Guest SaltiDawg]

Hi,

 

My wife and I just applied to a Greyhoud rescue group to adopt a retired track racer. The vetting of us has just began!

 

I have an extensive backgound in raising, exhibiting, and breeding dogs. Are you ready, (English) Bulldogs.

 

I know nothing about Greyhounds.

 

As I'm researching foods, I normally would start to feed a new dog with the same food that its previous owner had been feeding on and consider switching to a better quality if the dog was not thriving on its existing food... switching, if done, would be done over a period of 3-4 weeks.

 

May I ask if in a scenario where a track dog comes to a Maryland rescue group for fostering prior to going to its forever home, would I be correct in assuming it is likely that the dog would receive whatever food that particular foster family used and that I would make an informed decision some weeks after the dog came to me?

 

I'm sure you'll be seeing equally 'newby' questions from me.

 

TIA

Edited September 11, 2014 by SaltiDawg

[Guest kkaiser104]

.

Edited September 11, 2014 by kkaiser104

[Walliered]

Hey Tia. Good to have you. I have two Greyhounds (had three, but cancer took one). Both of my hounds were rescued. I have also put in for a Galgo in Spain and I will also refer to her as rescued. As for the food, I think you are on the right track. Once you figure out what food you will be buying, Chewy.com is a great place to order. I have used it for about 2 years now with no problems. Again, welcome.

[Guest SaltiDawg]

Thanks for the replies!

 

No one I have spoken to has used the word "rescue" and i don't know why I used the word... I'll not use that word again.

 

I did visit chewy.com and did find my two foods at about the same price w/free shipping as my preferred kibble.

 

Interestingly (at least to me) when I got my foundation bitch after I decided to show and breed, she came to me on a particular kibble... she thrived on it and I transisitoned her from the puppy stuff to the maintenance stuff. Well, when she had her first (of two) litter, I weaned her nine pups to the same kibble. Three years later when I bred her Champion daughter, guess what kibble I weaned her 5 pups to? lol

 

Not very scientific, but if they're thriving why mess with it?

Edited September 11, 2014 by SaltiDawg

[RedHead]

Hi and welcome I think some groups may recommend certain foods over others, whereas other fosters might just eat whatever the family feeds their own dogs. I have always switched my dogs over cold turkey which I know is not the way you are supposed to do it. I have just found that if they are going to thrive on a food, they usually do well on it within a few days. I feed homemade however, which I have always found much more digestible and easy to switch over to. Greyhounds + correct kibble can be a tricky combination to figure out!! Some of the kibbles that are highly recommended and fed on almost every other dog breed board, may not agree with your greyhound. It can be a bit of a trial to figure out what works, so if they are doing well on the foster's food, you may want to start on that.

[Guest SaltiDawg]

Redhead,

 

Great post. I understand completely! I never met two breeders or knowledgeable owners that could agree 100% on nutrition... I have read many of the posts here and see that situation exists here.

 

I would never suggest that my choice or choices is a panacea for what ails the dog - and thus I keep my choice between my dogs and me.

Edited September 11, 2014 by SaltiDawg

[45MPHK9]

Welcome!

 

First, I'll get in before the nasty people do, it would benefit you to not use the term "rescue" when referring to your retired greyhound. Fortunately, track racing is highly regulated and after getting to know my boys trainers, owners, and other people at the tracks, they weren't "rescued". Chances are incredibly high that your new friend was not rescued as well.

Oy vey. Are we still beating this dead horse?

[Feisty49]

It's so very exciting to be waiting for your first Greyhound. You'll read a lot of difference of opinions here but I think we all agree that when it comes to food, whatever works -- that is whatever produces good poos -- is the best food to use. It is not uncommon for a Greyhound to have poo issues, whether from worms or transitioning to a new food.

 

I do introduce food carefully but have never taken weeks to do it. A week at the most and if it's going to work, it will work.

 

Be aware there are many of us on this board who do not think that high-end food is the end all to feed a dog. As a matter of fact, many Greyhounds (and other dogs for all I know) don't do well on a high protein kibble. If you run into trouble, try Iams Proactive Health in the green bag. If you do a search on here for Iams in the green bag, you'll see there are a lot of us who swear by it.

 

Good luck!

[Guest kkaiser104]

Oy vey. Are we still beating this dead horse?

 

No horse is being beaten. Just hoping someone doesn't have to deal with the nasty people on either side of the fence.

[45MPHK9]

No horse is being beaten. Just hoping someone doesn't have to deal with the nasty people on either side of the fence.

 

Yeah, I agree. It would be a shame to drag contentious greytalk semantic bull** into a poster's first thread about food. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Guest SaltiDawg]

No problem folks. I can totally understand the polite way my choice of words was pointed out to me.

 

As I said, nobody I've dealt with had used the tem rescue... and I really didn't need to.

 

I'm a retired 24 year retired US Navy Submariner.... pretty darn thick skin. lol

[Guest OhCatastrophe]

WELCOME!!

 

I feed Kirkland Chicken,Rice, and vegetable! It's both cheap and has a very good rating in the doggy wold. Although if money were not an object I would probably feed her Solid Gold, Blue Buffalo or Merrick.

 

The only thing I don't like about Kirkland is the size of the food. It's a bit small so she has to eat with a slow feeder bowl. I don't have that problem with Solid Gold (which I have right now because of a coupon)

 

When I got my grey the foster parents sent us home with a gallon sized bag of the food they fed her along with the front part of the bag (just in-case I wanted to keep her on that)

 

But all fosters are different! I'd just ask

 

Hope I helped

Edited September 11, 2014 by OhCatastrophe

[Houndtime]

Welcome from Delaware.

[Guest Doggone]

Another "welcome" . Although I've had various other dogs, Autumn is my first greyhound, too. Having had her for a year and a half, I've now become a diehard greyt fan of this breed!

When she first came to me, she had been on Blue Buffalo from her short stay at a foster home (it was their first fostering, and that's what their pug ate). Unfortunately, like other greyhounds, she consistently had pudding "end products" on that food. Having joined Greytalk, and reading that it's a fairly common problem, I wound up taking others' advice and switched her to IAMS green bag. No more pudding!

I hope your hound does well on the premium brands, but if not, don't be afraid to try a less rich kibble. As a new person to greyhounds, you'll probably discover that they're not exactly like any other dogs.

[Guest AmberGusDad]

Welcome!

 

First, I'll get in before the nasty people do, it would benefit you to not use the term "rescue" when referring to your retired greyhound. Fortunately, track racing is highly regulated and after getting to know my boys trainers, owners, and other people at the tracks, they weren't "rescued". Chances are incredibly high that your new friend was not rescued as well. They're just ready to move into a new part of their lives--ruling over your household and sofa.

 

What group are you looking to go through? I would contact them regarding the food issue. You should know that many hounds do not do well on "high-end" kibble. Many of us (myself included) feed IAMs green bag and find that works the best for picky bellies. Of course, YMMV with that.

 

Congrats on your new family member. And remember--the rules say you have to share pictures!

I would hope that "rescue" is not relegated to a forbidden area. Many are precisely that~ rescued.

 

To deny that would be alien to the facts.

[Guest SaltiDawg]

I would just observe, I don't think I've suggested "High End." I did say, "better quality."

 

Also, if "High End" suggests more expensive suggests more expensive, it certainly does not suggest "High Protein."

 

There are cheap "High Protein" foods and there are expensive low protein foods.

 

I appreaciate the advice received, I will wait and see what food my girl has been fed and what I do.... I must again mention, my Greyhound group has not approved me and I am eagerly awaiting the results of their vetting my wife and I.

 

Next thread will be about the age of my hoped for Greyhound fitting my circumstances.

 

I'm learning!

[ramonaghan]

Welcome! Some books that you might find helpful as you research food and other topics are Cynthia Branigan's Adopting the Racing Greyhound and Lee Livingood's Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies.There's a wealth of info in both, and they are even required reading for some adoption groups. Hope things work out for you and that you'll keep us informed.

 

As far as food, my girl was fed Purina Lamb and Rice in her foster home for five months and adjusted easily when we gradually switched her to Blue Buffalo Chicken and Brown Rice after adopting her. That said, she does seem to be the rare grey who adjusts pretty well to most foods she's given. As with many things, so much depends on the individual dog!

[robinw]

No horse is being beaten. Just hoping someone doesn't have to deal with the nasty people on either side of the fence.

 

It is polite not to assault somebody with semantics, especially in response to a first post that was about food.

 

I've always switched food kind of gradually, as it it took a few days. I agree that the most expensive kibble is not always the best and it can be too rich for their systems. It might take a little while to find the right food for your dog

Edited September 11, 2014 by robinw

[Brandiandwe]

Back to food. I've tried transitioning, and I've tried cold turkey switches. In all four cases, the fast switch worked best. But I don't know if this is because dog 1 has guts of iron, dog 2 was so intolerant to everything that nothing was going to make matters worse, dog 3just wouldn't improve till we went to raw and dog 4 came from the pound, wouldn't eat for days and then got stuck straight onto what the others were having.

 

For the last two, we were transitioning onto kibble, kibble-raw and raw diet, but the first two were kibble only. When I finally made the switch to only raw it was cold turket because once they began being fed what they preferred, no kibble was touched.

 

So, this is not a post about raw but rather about the time its taken.

[Guest june]

Welcome from Illinois

 

I am a confirmed Iams supporter, but I also recognize that there are many good dog foods out there. I've always told people to use whatever works best for your pup.

[Guest SaltiDawg]

ramonaghan,

 

Thanks for the suggestions on the two books! They are indeed required reading for the group we are working with. I finished reading them yesterday.

 

Found much of it very interesting, however both books have Copyright dates some ten years ago... of course, the dog interaction guidence and descriptions are still valid and were very, very helpful!

[Guest SaltiDawg]

Correction to my above post... The "for Dummies" book is copyrighted 2011.

[a_daerr]

Also, if "High End" suggests more expensive suggests more expensive, it certainly does not suggest "High Protein."

 

There are cheap "High Protein" foods and there are expensive low protein foods.

 

Unfortunately, there are lots of greyhounds who don't do well on "high protein" foods either. For many, if the protein content is above 30%, you'll see lots of gas, diarrhea, and foul smelling breath. I've tried many quote/unquote premium brands (Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance, TOTW, Orijen), with bad results. I wanted them to work, but my boys both had constant diarrhea. I've always come back to IAMS green bag. It's 28% protein, which seems to be just fine for us.

[TexasMermaid]

Another welcome to the greyt & wonderful world of greyhounds!

 

Here is our food experience with 2 greys; we adopted both in 2006. Our first grey (Connie) came to us on Nutro Lamb & Rice and we kept her on that successfully for 7+ years. When we added our second grey 6 months after our first (you do know that you can't have just one? wink, wink), we didn't even think to ask what they had been feeding him. He came straight from a kennel environment to our home and did fine on the Nutro.

 

So for seven years it was Nutro kibble twice a day (plus a tablespoon of full fat yogurt in the morning to control gaseous emissions and a squirt of flax oil in the evening to improve their coat). Then...Nutro changed their formula! Ack! I opened a new bag and could tell immediately that something wasn't the same. I returned it for a refund thinking that it had gone rancid in the store. Then I found out from the Nutro rep in the store that indeed they had "improved" the formula. We started to look at other options at that point. Ultimately we've ended up with a semi-homemade diet that is working for now and I found a kibble that will work in a pinch if I haven't done the prep needed for the homemade food.

 

Have fun with your new hound when you get her! And don't forget - we like pictures around here!

[KellyandKris216]

I'd suggest talking with the foster and asking what food they're using and how the dog's doing on it (you might be able to find out early if you need to change the food or if it's working), and some fosters might give you a week's supply or so to get you started. Both River and Indy's foster parents started them on Kirkland Natures Domain Salmon, and neither did well on it (your results may vary; I've read many a hound on GT that eat it with no problems). Indy actually came to us eating only boiled chicken and rice because the Natures Domain wasn't agreeing with him one bit. We had some luck with the Kirkland Lamb and Rice, but after trying IAMS green bag (also at Costco) based on the recommendations of GT, we were sold. The beet pulp really made a difference for both of them. As others have said, there's no one magic food that works for all dogs. But I'd start with the foster of your chosen dog and see what they have to say.

 

Congratulations on your new addition!