Whippet puppy food and bad stomach advice please.

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philipsno2

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Hi.

We have a 6 month old Whippet pup. He is not a working dog and the first time we have had this breed. No regrets as his temperament and nature is fantastic. Whippets are the best kept secret in dogs !!!

One thing we have noticed is that he wants to eat EVERYTHING. Jumping up when preparing food, eating and licking all kinds of nasties on a walk and he at the moment has really bad diarrhoea. We are unsure if this is his food and when we got him at 10 weeks from the breeder he was on Alpha Sporting puppy. Prior to this particular spell ( which may be food or a bug he's picked up, we don't know) he would have one good poo in a morning then the rest would be very loose. We have just today moved him onto Alpha Sporting Sensitive Extra and we will wait and see how that goes but does anyone have any advice on a tried and trusted dry food for whippets. One concern we have just realised after buying the Alpha is that it appears to have quite a high protein content for working dogs but he is a pet who has the usual daily walk and then lounges around. Could it be this that is causing the problem? We have today been to the vet and been given the Promax syringe and this evening has been dose number 1 but the vet could not do much apart from discuss over the phone due to the coronavirus situation.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as he is struggling a bit to be honest trying to go and just passing wind and water :(

Thanks very much
 
29% protein???!!!!! I would think he is climbing the walls poor lad!!! I would strongly recommend moving him gradually to a lower protein diet which would be more suited to his needs at the moment (around 20% protein?) - that should hopefully suit him better for his lifestyle ?

I’m not recommending anything as I’m not a dog dietician, but I feed my hounds Skinners Field and Trial Duck and Rice or Arden Grange Chicken and Rice - it seems to suit them well ?
 
My oldest very similar when I got him as a puppy. MY youngest who is a lurcher rather than pure whippet, came at nearly a year with similar issues. The previous owners had really struggled with her before she came to us, several vet visits and it still wasn't resolved. A week of raw feeding and shes not been an issue since. Raw isnt for everyone and if you don't want to go to raw then change to a high meat content food. The middle one has a stomach made of iron, but the other 2 are definitely a bit more sensitive. My oldest behaviour was awful on "normal" dog food as well.
 
Thank you, would that be suitable for a 6 month pup ? The vet recommended Burns but are you recommending that the food must be 20% protein or below.

Thanks again
 
philipsno2 said:
Thank you, would that be suitable for a 6 month pup ? The vet recommended Burns but are you recommending that the food must be 20% protein or below.

Thanks again
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As I say, I’m definitely not a dietician so I’m simply saying what works for my hounds - Burns is good stuff, but pricey IMO? Not to say it isn’t good quality of course!

I will now put my hands up and confess that 20% was rather arbitrary and I didn’t actually check the protein levels in the stuff i feed ? (sorry!!) - I think it will
be slightly more than 20%?

yes I’ve been to check - Skinners is 22% (hounds now think it is tea time ?) - so sorry a bit more than I originally said but still quite a bit less than what you are currently feeding
 
Leo Walker said:
My oldest very similar when I got him as a puppy. MY youngest who is a lurcher rather than pure whippet, came at nearly a year with similar issues. The previous owners had really struggled with her before she came to us, several vet visits and it still wasn't resolved. A week of raw feeding and shes not been an issue since. Raw isnt for everyone and if you don't want to go to raw then change to a high meat content food. The middle one has a stomach made of iron, but the other 2 are definitely a bit more sensitive. My oldest behaviour was awful on "normal" dog food as well.
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thanks for that
 
i had trouble with my lurcher many years ago and she kept getting stomach upsets and loose stools. my vet suggested finding hypoallergenic food and i changed to james wellbeloved turkey and rice kibble. as long as she didnt eat a rotting rabbit or similar she stayed pretty well all of her life. i have stayed with the same food for my other 2 but dont know how much protein is in it i just know it helped with my girl and my others look well and feel fine..your whippet is gorgeous..
 
Leo Walker said:
My oldest very similar when I got him as a puppy. MY youngest who is a lurcher rather than pure whippet, came at nearly a year with similar issues. The previous owners had really struggled with her before she came to us, several vet visits and it still wasn't resolved. A week of raw feeding and shes not been an issue since. Raw isnt for everyone and if you don't want to go to raw then change to a high meat content food. The middle one has a stomach made of iron, but the other 2 are definitely a bit more sensitive. My oldest behaviour was awful on "normal" dog food as well.
Click to expand...


We have never fed raw on any of our dogs and would be complete novices when starting that. Can I please ask what you feed.
 
splashgirl45 said:
i had trouble with my lurcher many years ago and she kept getting stomach upsets and loose stools. my vet suggested finding hypoallergenic food and i changed to james wellbeloved turkey and rice kibble. as long as she didnt eat a rotting rabbit or similar she stayed pretty well all of her life. i have stayed with the same food for my other 2 but dont know how much protein is in it i just know it helped with my girl and my others look well and feel fine..your whippet is gorgeous..
Click to expand...

thanks
 
philipsno2 said:
We have never fed raw on any of our dogs and would be complete novices when starting that. Can I please ask what you feed.
Click to expand...

All sorts! We use Bulmers and feed their minces. Turkey, lamb, tripe, beef, salmon. We add some offal and feed ribs, chicken carcasses etc. I stuck to the guidelines rigidly in the beginning but bow we are much more relaxed. I wont feed anything else now. If you want to raw feed there's lots of resources and people on here will be happy to help, but its not compulsory :)
 
Interstingly, my whippet as a pup had loose stools. He was on Burns puppy food to start with and the vet put him on probiotics, but didn't make a huge difference.

As an adult he is on James Wellbeloved turkey and rice - his stools are slightly firmer now, but am never suprised if he does a 'mr whippy', and have accepted it is just him….he has a lovely glossy coat and holds his weight well so try not to worry.
 
Our spangle started like that at about 14 weeks, after antibiotics didn't really help our vet recommended changing from his original chicken to fish based food and he hasn't looked back since.
 
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