greyhounds and tinned food?

Question

i am aware of not feeding greys canned food when they are racing as it slows them down..but am not sure of the problems feeding canned food to my grey would cause now she has retired..any sensible advice

she is fed fresh meat at the moment but its a costly job

will just add that she refuses dry food..yes iv done the starve for 3 days etc,she has bones fresh and raw meat but its costly and was looking to an alternative i.e tinned food ust wanderd wot peoples take on it was thanx guys xx

will just add that she refuses dry food..yes iv done the starve for 3 days etc,she has bones fresh and raw meat but its costly and was looking to an alternative i.e tinned food ust wanderd wot peoples take on it was thanx guys xx

Answer 1

Do NOT give your dog dry food!!!! Deep chested dogs (Greyhounds, poodles, danes, etc.) get gas easily from dry food and it can kill them in a matter of hours!!!! Ask your vet if you do not believe me. It is called Stomach Bloat (slang), but gas causes the stomach to twist and seal itself off. If not caught within a few hours, the dog dies a nasty death. Surgery is expensive, and unless done very quickly, too late to save the dog. I lost my dear Bradley to this about 1 1/2 months ago...I know what I am talking about.

Answer 2

you can't change a dogs diet overnight so whether you choose dried or tinned the principle is the same. Add new food in small amounts mixed into the meat well. Take a few days at each stage before increasing the new again. To encourage her to accept dry food giving biscuit type treats instead of bones may help. Always clean your dogs teeth whatever you feed, a diet of tinned food just means doing it more often.

Answer 3

People who breed and race greys feed 4-d meat and they do it becaue it is cheaper than feeding high quality dog food.
When the dog retire they should be moved over to a dog food diet. It should be done slowly as not to upset their stomachs.
Tinned or canned dog food is fine.
If it were me I would mix a high quality canned food with some dry kibble to get them used to eating dry. Most dry kibble is higher in nutrition than canned stuff with less by products and nasty stuff than the canned food.
Just pci a nice high quality diet and your pet should do really weel on it.
Retired racing dogs are some of the best companion dogs i have ever had the opportunity to work with. They are so sweet and I just love thier looks so sleek and fast.

Answer 4

I have owned greys for 10 years (my own and fostering dogs awaiting homing) and pretty much always fed them dried complete food. On occasions I have fed them canned foods mixed in with their food with no gastric disturbances apart from wind. If you are going to feed canned (changing from dried), do it gradually adding a little more canned and a little less dried each day. that way you should minimise the gas output as you change.
If you want any specific advice I can be contacted via my profile. A couple of sites you might be interetsed in are listed below. Both are grehound forums and a great source of support and information;

EDIT I just saw that you are changing from fresh, the principals are the same, just mix the canned as described above.

Ted (one of my present greys) pictured above sez any food is fine by him, as long as it arrives on time!!! lol;

Answer 5

Keep her on fresh meat, with some bone, it's a natural diet for dogs. I feed my GSD raw meat and bone it costs me about 7 or 8 pounds a week.

If you are in the UK, there are some good reputable fresh meat pet food suppliers. Personally I use Landywoods, take a look at their website http://www.landywoods.co.uk/

Answer 6

A whole lot of greyhounds already have bad teeth and feeding her canned food will only make the problem worse!! There's also very little nutrition in canned food - read the label!! - you're paying for water. Find a good dry food and feed it to her - add a little non-fat, no-sugar yogurt, or low-fat cottage cheese, or a chopped up boiled egg, or add a little chicken or vegetables - she'll eat her dry food.

Feeding them canned food does not slow them down - it's way too expensive for them to feed at tracks plus there's very, very little nutrition in it.

Answer 7

As long as it's a high quality product, it should be fine. Remember that Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina One, ProPlan, etc are NOT high quality products. Personally, I use Natural Balance (NOT one of the other 10000 "Natural" named products) because it's free of fillers, uses only human quality ingredients, is free of allergens (like corn), and is easily procured.

Canned food of good quality DOES NOT really cause bad teeth - this 'fact' has been proven wrong time and time again. But, good dental hygeine is still needed.

Be sure you keep up on brushing her teeth and haveing regular vet visits and all should be fine. Just be sure to do the transition slowly. Good luck to you and your grey. : )

Answer 8

Dry kibble is much better for a dogs teeth. Nothing wrong with mixing a little canned in for a treat now and then though.

I have never heard canned food slows them down and I have had running dogs for years, that makes no sense.

Stalked is right, nothing wrong with canned as long as you tend to her dental care, it is just that most people don't.

Huggywell - cute picture!!!


Referring to the poster below - I have had Whippets for 10+ years and have always fed them kibble with never a problem, as do most Sighthound people I know.

Answer 9

my two greys are on tinned food and they are fine,but my vet has advised me to put them on dry because it has less protein and is good for their teeth,so i tryed it and my eldest grey who is 11 starved herself for nearly 2 weeks so i had to put her back on tinned food.My other who is 3 loved it but i could'nt afford to buy both food so im afraid tinned it is.If it will eat dry then it is far better for them and it is also cheaper for you as well.

Answer 10

try mixing half a tin of dog food in its normal food to start with,