Whats the best thing to give great dane to help digestion?

Question

i am getting a 2 year old great dane ***** next week and want to know how to aviod bloot is there something i can add to food or give her each day to help stop this happening. and what foods should i aviod for her safety.
I know to feed 2/3 times instead of one big meal.Not to let her drink too much water after food and not to walk for at least and hour atfer feeding.

Answer 1

Carrots are great for a dane...I have one. And had rescued another. You are very correct in what you already know. They love raw carrots and they are good for them. Check the dane sites, the recommend fresh veggies (I use them as treats). If you have never had a dane they are also incredibly sensitive....if you even yell at a ball game on the tv they tend to think you are upset with them. Don't teach them to lie on their back for you to scratch their tummy as they tend to "roll over." Good for you getting a dane, they are called "God's gentle giants." and they are. NO tight collars, halters are better but if your dane is not used to one they will tend to chew it.

Answer 2

Oh there are lots of ideas about what to do to help prevent bloat though nobody has a real true answer that works in every case. Here's a good summary of most of them.
1. Feed several small meals throughout the day instead of one large one.
2. Crate the dog or otherwise restrict activity for 30 minutes prior to feeding and 60-90 minutes after.
3. Add simethecone (Gas-X) to every meal to help prevent the buildup of gas.
4. Feed a high quality, easily digestible food that has no more than 23% protein and 12% fat.
5. A lot of people recommend feeding the food on a raised platform so the dog doesn't have to reach down to eat and this seems to help prevent bloat because the dog doesn't gulp as much air.
6. One of the most important factors to help prevent bloat is to reduce the amount of stress in your dog's life. Stress is a significant indicator that a dog will develop bloat.
7. A prophylactic gastropexy is often recommended to keep the stomach from torsing. Though it does not prevent bloat, it can give you more time to get treatment and help prevent the stomach tissue from dying before treatment is administered.
8. Add tepid water to the food and never restrict water from your Dane as this leads to gulping a lot at one time.
9. A probiotic (beneficial bacteria, dietary enzymes, and nutritional supplement) to help your dog maintain the proper gut flora and digest the food completely is probably also a good idea.

Answer 3

The rules you state are very general... after much experience in the field, here is what I would recommend:

1. If you feed dry food (as most do), leave out as much food as possible at all times while restricting play after big meals. (This may be difficult if the Dane starts eating too much... try this for at least 10 days.) What happens is they will not gorge on big meals if food is always available, virtually eliminating bloat. If it continues to gorge, stop... you don't want a fat Dane.

2. Assuming step 1 fails, feed in as many meals as possible to your schedule. Don't restrict water. Instead, don't allow them to "hyper-play" within the hour following eating.

3. If it is within your means and step 1 failed, try creating leftovers of the meat/vegetable portions of your meals. Supplement this in its diet. This will do two things: 1) slow their interest in dry food - and 2) decrease the percentage of dry food.

Basically, even a small amount of water (don't restrict water) mixed with large amounts of kibble can cause a lump of food in their stomaches. When playing (running and changing directions), this can flip.

Finally, WATCH FOR IT. It is sooooo easy to detect if you are looking for it. The stomache area expands and they stop excreting. If this ever happens, they need veternarian attention within a few hours. During the surgery, request the stomache to be immobilized so this cannot happen again... but hopefully you won't ever go down this road.

Answer 4

My dane is almost 8 years old now and we've never had a problem with bloat. I feed twice a day, elevate his food dish, and not let him run alot after meals. I've never had the gastropexy surgery, but I've heard that even with the surgery they can still get bloat, but they have a reduced chance. Also, that surgery is very expensive. I don't know of anything you can add to their food that has been proven to prevent bloat. Adding vitamins or mineral oils to the food will probably help their skin and coat, but won't prevent bloat.

Answer 5

I have showed many different breeds of dogs and though I haven't worked with Danes one on one. I do know that soft foods and oily liquids work really well with digestion. One of my German shepherds had a lot of blood in his stool and we put him on a strange diet but it worked! 1/2 of normal hard/dried dog food softened (just run a little hot water over it) add 1/2-1c of rice and put 1T of vitamin E oil (can use any oil really but E worked well, just don't give too much). This diet worked well, but some dogs can't take it everyday so just gage your animal. Maybe you need to alternate days or something!

Answer 6

I'm not sure if it's good for all dogs, but we have dobermans and our vet has recommended a little cottage cheese or plain yogurt added to their food. Both have enzymes that aid in digestion. Ask your vet about those 2.

Answer 7

Try to keep her on the same food that she eats and mineral oil. Just a little or you will have her pooping all over the place. But enough to coat most the food. Good luck! =]]

Answer 8

Something we've tried that works is a herbal product which i believe is called dog smog away. Anyway its helped with our German shorthair. Here is a link to the product
http://designerdogavenue.com/shop/dog_smog_remedy.asp