Greyhound Advice

[colouroflies]

I want to do it right for my retired racer and I know from experience that different breeds, sizes etc have different needs, so If there is anyone who has experience in feeding greys I'd love some advice

First of she's a 5yo (recently desexed) 31-32kgs female (had pups in 95').

This is what I've put together at the moment.

This is her DAILY amount;

2 Cups of Great Barko,

200g Coles pet roll,

1.5ml Hemoplex Paste,

3ml Omega 3,6 +9 Oil,

1 Teaspoon Peanut butter,

*On Mondays and Thursdays she gets a whole raw egg added.

*On Tuesdays and Fridays she gets 1 cup of plain, fat - free yoghurt.

*On Wednesdays and Sundays she gets a handful of grated cheese.

Also 3 times a week she gets 1 Greenie Dental chew, 1 Pedigree Dental Bone, 1 standard dog biscuit.

I don't think 2 cups of kibble is enough but she won't touch it if I give it in the morning and if I add all recommended 4 cups in at night she doesn't finish it. I know it's not good practice but should I just leave it out all night and she may finish it then?

[anniek]

I want to do it right for my retired racer and I know from experience that different breeds, sizes etc have different needs, so If there is anyone who has experience in feeding greys I'd love some advice

First of she's a 5yo (recently desexed) 31-32kgs female (had pups in 95').

This is what I've put together at the moment.

This is her DAILY amount;

2 Cups of Great Barko,

200g Coles pet roll,

1.5ml Hemoplex Paste,

3ml Omega 3,6 +9 Oil,

1 Teaspoon Peanut butter,

*On Mondays and Thursdays she gets a whole raw egg added.

*On Tuesdays and Fridays she gets 1 cup of plain, fat - free yoghurt.

*On Wednesdays and Sundays she gets a handful of grated cheese.

Also 3 times a week she gets 1 Greenie Dental chew, 1 Pedigree Dental Bone, 1 standard dog biscuit.

I don't think 2 cups of kibble is enough but she won't touch it if I give it in the morning and if I add all recommended 4 cups in at night she doesn't finish it. I know it's not good practice but should I just leave it out all night and she may finish it then?

Hi CF - welcome to DOL.

Firstly I don't see any meat and bones in her diet.

ie not a lot of good nutrition.

I would swap the dog roll for raw beef and add a couple of chicken necks.

Cut out the dentabones and greenies and feed chicken frames and lamb necks.

Distribute the 1 cup of yougurt to a teaspoon a day over the kibble.

And the handful of grated cheese????? And peanit butter?????

This is what I feed one of mine to give an idea.

37kg male

Brekky

1 cup Eagle Pack holistic

100g raw beef

couple of chicken necks

drizzle of flaxseed oil

teaspoon yoghurt

once a week a raw egg

Dnner

chicken frames, lamb necks, turkey drumstick, lamb shank, chicken legs, wings, necks, raw beef - to come up to 700g.

Hope this helps

annieK

[Rebanne]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Greyhounds

I never weigh my dogs food. Depending on the time and the day my guys might get a couple of chicken carcass's and I mean a whole carcass, not those tiny things sold at supermarkets as frames. Or they might get 20 or so chicken necks at a time. That's one meal for each greyhound Piper, 7 yo male 40 kilos, Fern, 8 month old female need to check her weight but I'm guessing high 20's. Then their other meal for the day, and Piper doesn't always get fed twice but Fern does, would be dry food. 2 cups for Fern, plus whatever I feel like chucking in. Eggs might be added 3 times in a row or sardines for a couple of days or Nature's Gift (tin) a couple of times or it might only be plain dry food. Then there are the times I chuck out the bread crusts for them to demolish, the marrow bones for a good chew and sometimes I get their chicken carcass already minced up. I feed the Pedigree Natural from the supermarket, can't get Great Barko here or I would give it a try.

I used to feed a pure Barf diet but quite frankly, after seeing one dog too many die of cancer while fed from puppyhood on Barf, I no longer believe it is everything I was told it would be. So now I mix and match and my dogs are doing beautifully, as they did when on pure barf and as they did when fed on the cheapest food going many years ago.

Unless your bitch is very large 31-32 kilos sounds like a good weight. Not all dogs eat the recommended amount of dry food.

[New Age Outlaw]

Yeah, I agree with what has been said here. My girl Cleo (second from the left in my sig) gets:

Breaky: 1 cup Eagle Pack

200g mince (sometimes roo, beef, chicken lamb or a mixture of these)

A splash of pet milk

1 scoop joint guard powder

Dinner: 1 cup Eagle Pack

turkey neck (around 250g)

1 teaspoon yoghurt

1 fish oil capsule (replaced twice per week with tinned fish...sardines, salmon, mackerel etc)

She does really well on this...she was pretty fat when I got her (around 34 kgs!!!) but is down to a comfy 29-30kgs (she's not a tall dog). Every dog is different in their needs depending on their metabolism. You'll soon get a feel for what's right for yours. :D Now,where's the pictures???

Edited May 27, 2007 by New Age Outlaw

[imy]

Goodness, your greys have it good!

Mine get:

Brekky

1 cup of supercoat dry food (vegemite toast on weekends )

Dinner

1 cup of same dry food

300-400g mince

1 cup cooked veggies

I also add (not every day, these additions are just to break up the routine a bit) some cod liver oil, an egg (and shell crunched up!) chicken necks, raw bones, dollop of yoghurt, rice, pasta, a little milk, tuna, salmon, sardines, liver

and very rarely a treat like gravy or human food like stew, pumpkin soup or something like that, not very much though, the staple meal stays the same, the additions are just for a change of flavour

And everyone thinks my guys are fatties! LOL

Edited to add: swap your coles meat roll for raw pet mince from the butcher... much better and cheaper. When I HAVE to feed my guys processed food roll or a can (I've only done it twice when the butcher was out of meat) I find they get bad wind and runny poo! Gross! So now I keep a spare pack of raw meat in the freezer :D

Edited May 27, 2007 by imy

[trishalouise]

Hi there!

My 34ish kg 5 year old boy gets :

3 cups dry

250gm "Formula" which is a preservative free mix of chicken, rice, pasta, vegies, egg, cheese etc

3 or 4 chicken necks

1/2 cup of yoghurt.

He doesn't get all of this in one meal (!!) but spread over the day. He gets some dry first thing, the "Formula" in his Kongs when we go out and the rest whenever.

Doesn't sound like heaps when compared to some others but it works for him.

Oh, he also gets a tin of sardines a couple of times a week.

You will soon be able to work out if he is getting too much or not enough by his condition. I agree about finding something other than the Coles roll too!

Trish

[shmoo]

My grey girl gets 1 meal at night time

200g of chicken mince

2 cups of vegies (mix between pumpkin, potato, carrot, califlower)

2 cups of rice.

for a treat i throw in one of the following

chicken neck

chicken frame

egg

she gets a regular supply of raw meaty bones from the butchers too.

[colouroflies]

Thanks so much! Your advice is greatly appreciated! :p

[Dogsfevr]

Just watch she doesnt end up with apeanut butter reaction,not something i would honestly give any of my dogs as its no benefit but can have more issues.

Personally im not a believer in a regement diet ie mon this tues that.I give the same thing everyday & any extras added when its suits.

I agee dish the denta bones aswell.

Feed more meat (beef can give dogs the runs & skin issues & we never feed beef to any of our greys.

We use natural yoghurt daily

We did alos at one stage cook up chicken mince ,rolled oats,mix veges & they luved that & easy on the tummy

Our greys got a good dry,raw mutton,chicken,necks,Tuckertime roll,tuna(oou top show girl was 40 kgs plus)

Dont leave food down

[Peachie]

My guys get a cup and a bit of eukanuba morning and night. On the weekends they usually get a fresh roo tail, and a few chicken necks. We tried other dry foods, but it goes straight through them, for my guys, the euk works best for them - good poops, nice shiny coat, good muscle condition.

We did have to try different amounts with them, to get the quantity correct. They seem to go great on this amount, they still look almost race condition, and you can really see their muscle tone.

[Daisy]

Thanks for starting this thread, it has lots of useful info. I have two greyhounds, and must admit that I find it hard to keep condition on them. They are fed on dry kibble, with chicken carcases once a week, and the occasional leftovers or an egg or sardines or a bit of rice.

I feed all my dogs on Bonnie, the greyhounds get 4 cups per day (over two meals morning and night) and I have actually just increased Ryan's to 5 cups as he seemed to be losing condition :p My other dogs do well on this kibble, but maybe it is not so good for the greys. After reading everyone's responses I think I might add in some fresh meat to their diet.

[colouroflies]

cool thanks again all!. I switched off the pet mince because it gave her LETHAL breath !

But she hasn't eaten anything since I stopped adding it so I will get some for her.

I've stopped on the peanut butter - she did like it and I read somewhere that it's a good fat replacement.

Where's the best place to get their fat from though? Have you guys heard of feeding fat drippings? Alot of peeps do it. yuk!

Also she prefers the eukanuba over the great barko (I'm mixing them together at the mo'). But has anyone used Nutrience Active? I love the results im getting from the Nutrience Derma (for cats).

[anniek]

Where's the best place to get their fat from though?

If you feed chicken frames and other chicken parts and lamb necks or flaps, there's plentry of fat there.

Raw fat is much better for them than cooked fat.

annieK

[New Age Outlaw]

Some trainers give their greys a spoonful of suet (beef fat) in the evening meal to dogs that have trouble keeping weight on, and especially those that start to loose weight when the cool weather comes. This is particlularly helpful when feeding a lot of roo, as roo is comparatively low in fat. You need to be careful not to overdo the fat though.

Edited May 28, 2007 by New Age Outlaw

[kdf]

Thanks for starting this thread, it has lots of useful info. I have two greyhounds, and must admit that I find it hard to keep condition on them. They are fed on dry kibble, with chicken carcases once a week, and the occasional leftovers or an egg or sardines or a bit of rice.

I feed all my dogs on Bonnie, the greyhounds get 4 cups per day (over two meals morning and night) and I have actually just increased Ryan's to 5 cups as he seemed to be losing condition My other dogs do well on this kibble, but maybe it is not so good for the greys. After reading everyone's responses I think I might add in some fresh meat to their diet.

Someone told me that they had great success with Great Barko for weight gain. I started feeding it to one of my greys and it worked for him too. I only feed it 50/50 with another dry food but it really worked and he looks great.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Katie w/greys

[SkySoaringMagpie]

Ours aren't greys, but are close enough (salukis and an Aff).

We feed a mix of kibble and raw meat and meaty bones. We adjust the kind of meat for the dog. The overweight Affie never gets lamb flaps, the skinny toaster rack boy gets them regularly. Some our daily diet options are:

- tinned mackeral

- chicken frames (chopped in half for the ones that don't need the cals)

- marrow bones (marrow scooped out for the one on a diet)

- hamburger mince (human grade) and vegies with an egg or yoghurt or fish oil mixed in

- offal of some kind although a couple of them don't like kidneys

- chicken wings

- lamb flaps

- beef "dog bones" from the butcher (nice chunky bits of cow backbone and such)

We adjust the amount of kibble depending on the meat, and I also feed the 12 month olds extra kibble in the morning. The kind of meat often depends on what is on special at the butcher, but we try and mix it up a bit. I love those 2 dollar a kilo chicken wing specials!

I guess my only caution is that sometimes ex-racers have horrible teeth. I'd check that out before getting her to do any hardcore chewing for her dinner.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

I began feeding a raw, whole foods diet b/c of Lilly and her inability to do well on cooked/processed foods. Most ran right through her and the one that didn't certainly didn't get/keep weight on her bones. She's just lost some weight b/c of the move/kennel stay/change in climate. So I'm increasing her raw bones and offal and trying to incorporate higher fat bones but it's not easy to source bulk bones around here.

I use chicken parts (whatever I can find these days!), lamb flap (or I would if I could find it...haven't tried too hard as yet but will take all suggestions offered), roo tail which is lean but also very good for them, lamb neck or neck chops, beef ribs, soup bones (great for cleaning teeth and the extra meaty ones are fabulous)...I'm trying to find BARF patties but no joy as yet.

Really, raw foods provide better quality nutrition IMO...bones are the best food b/c they offer great nutrition and other benefits including teeth cleaning and jaw exercise, both of which is important for a dog's overall health and wellbeing.

Greyhounds do have sensitive stomachs in many cases. A raw diet can help tremendously with this.

[colouroflies]

I gave a couple of chicken necks with her dinner last night SHE LOVED THEM! but left everything else :D . I've only had her almost 2 weeks and the stress of a new home could be a major player - the thing is though she started off eating everything in sight and now will pick at it and eat just a quarter of it. I don't like leaving it "down", because the cat eats it all.

Also this will proably be a stupid question but is human milk bad for them? I just haven't seen it on any of the toxic lists. I remember my step dad used to give a bowl of warm milk to our irish wolfhound once a week but does it agree with greys?

[imy]

I sometimes give a splash of milk as a treat with dry food breakfast, too much and they will have runny poo. It won't hurt to give just a little.

She may well be a really picky eater. Some greys are. Go with necks if she likes them and maybe some chicken mince mooshed into other things because she obviously likes the chickeny taste and if its mooshed with just a little dry food, she might take it.

Have you tried fish? My guys love tuna and sardines and its easy to get the fishy taste through everything else.

As for weight gain. I've never seen any dog refuse kabana or kransky sausage and its riddled with fat!

[Daisy]

I know that most of you greyhound lovers are too far away to attend, but just in case...

There is a DOL greyhound picnic in Goulburn on Sunday the 17th of June, see here

http://forums.dogzonline.com.au/index.php?showtopic=101087