What do you feed your greyhound?

quietheart

I've only had my ex-coursing hound for 2 months and have been feeding her on Wafcol Maintenance and Country Value complete. She has sardines with this once a week and a few portions of uncooked chicken quarters.
Her hair has started falling out, I knew her kennel coat would go but this is coming out in patches and she's a bit scabby/scaly where the hair has gone. I think I'll get the vet to look at her in case it's ringworm but wondered about food allergy also. All the patches are on her back.

katz03

We used to feed ours with greyhound racing food, which we got from the RGT kennels - but were recommended to put her on dry food for her teeth. Tuna in oil is good for their skin, and also a spoonful of vegetable oil on their food.

quietheart

I got the Wafcol from RGT, it's dried food so good for her teeth - am I missing something?!

double_mummy

my little one is a greyhound cross saluki and has wheat intolerance which makes him poorly

he eats this:

http://www.medicanimal.com/product/~skinners-hypoallergenic-field-trial-duck-rice/~product_id=B20955

he likes it lots with a little bit of water makes a bit of gravy stuff in the bottom, he always cleans his bowl

he has a little liver every now and then and as he needs to put on a bit of weight he has raw chicken thighs with the skin on (no bones)

also if you dont already have one get a raised feeder as our little man wont eat in a floor one as it can hurt their necks

dizziblonde

Ours has James Wellbeloved or P@H Wainrights (it's slightly over the 20% protein level they recommend to avoid the "kid on too many blue smarties effect" but trial and error seems to show we can get away with it) - but did lose a lot of fur recently (particularly under her neck) which is only just starting to grow back (her butt is still bald though - resigned to that being part of her charm). Did a lot of looking around about it and it seems to be triggered a lot by the heating coming on and that setting off a moult so them looking pretty grotty and bedraggled this time of year's fairly common - particularly when they're just losing kennel coat as well.

Ours was looked over by the vet when she was in for something else and was physically fine - just a bit bald!

Sometimes they have really grotty teeth cos of how they've been fed in their racing life - only possible issue with dried food - having said that our toofless wonder manages pretty well with what gnashers she has left - just the odd bit falls out the side of her mouth back into the bowl for seconds!

herbily

It could well be a food allergy, so you could try one of the hypo-allergenic types of dog food that are either lamb, or salmon and potato, something that isn't the usual beef or chicken. My greyhound girl was always scurfy and scaley until I discovered she was allergic to chicken - bit of a disaster because it's the other dog's favourite food! Arden Grange Lamb is now the (expensive) main food, with occasional bags of Vets Kitchen salmon from Sainsbury's. Prior to that it was Burgess Greyhound & Lurcher food, which is rich in fish oils (but contains chicken meal).

Then there's always the home-cooked diet option, or raw feeding, and if allergies turn out to be the issue, sometimes it's the best way of controlling exactly what's going into your dog. It's not for everyone, but worth considering.:)

emiliah

We feed our greyhound twice a day, once with bakers complete with tuna oil or gravy and the other meal of ordinary mixer and tinned dog food. Also give him a couple of bonio's a day for his teeth.

He was a rescue ex racer and had dry scaley skin on his stomach and patches of fur missing but after a few months this all disappeared and he has a beautiful soft shiny coat now. Occasionally he will get a bit of fur loss at the back of his legs but nothing serious.

moomin5

My 2 are fed on Skinners F&T salmon & rice, if budgets a bit higher the fish4dogs food is better. Adding salmon oil to food can also help with skin & coat condition.

I would check with the vet as balding on the back seems an unusual place.

BitterAndTwisted

This thread is useless without pictures of your beautiful greys. I love greyhounds but can't have a dog right now *sigh*

dizziblonde

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

This thread is useless without pictures of your beautiful greys. I love greyhounds but can't have a dog right now *sigh*

All I can currently see of mine, since she's buried under every sofa cushion she can find, is about 2 inches of pointy nose sticking out!

lionheartedgirl

I have 2 rescued retired racers and I am feeding them the Country value stuff (used to be SuperGreyhound, comes in a big red bag). They were on Odds On at the RGT kennels they came from but erm...'things' were rather squidgy and my old greyhound was nothing like that and he was fed on SuperGreyhound.

I've had them about 6 weeks now. Both had quite bad kennel coat when they came, the girl has now lost hers and is now glossier than a piano - she's jet black, all her winter fur has gone and she looks stunning! So sleek and slinky!

The boy is still very scaley though- but he still has his winter coat. He is jet black too but unfortunately his nickname is Snowflake at the mo! I spoke to the vet and she said it might just be his skin, or it might be the change of environment, or it might clear up when his summer coat comes back through.

I had been brushing him every couple of days which was helping, but the weather is too cold now - he just shivers (I have to do it outside as I'm asthmatic and need to try and keep fur/dust levels down inside). He doesn't scratch and it doesn't bother him. His back is the worst bit too.

I have added cod liver oil to both their dinners to try and help their coats plus their joints of course.

Once the warmer weather comes, on the vet's advice I am going to try giving him a bath with some really gentle shampoo to see if that will clear all the itchy old skin out, and then see how he goes.

Food wise I also top them up with bonios, dental chews, rawhide bones etc to try and keep their doggy breath under control and their teeth in good condition.