Dog flatulence
Okay. We all like to have the dog to blame. But let’s face it: it would be a whole lot better if the dog did a whole lot less of it.
Yes – it’s flatulence. That room-clearing, eye-watering, nose-aching, often silent message that dogs let go at the most inappropriate moments.
What to do?
The obvious place to start is diet but there are some other tips and tricks worth considering.
First, make sure your dog has good quality food. Cheaper pet foods tend to contain fillers such as soy, which causes excessive flatulence. Good quality foods contain more digestible food, so less goes through the system as wind or even poo!
Limit your pet’s intake of milk and 'human' foods as these are hard for pets to digest, increasing flatulence. The same applies to some nutritional and vitamin supplements.
If you need to change your dog’s diet, do it gradually over several days to avoid an outbreak of wind! Think how often the car trip home from holidays was terrible because you fed your dog a different food while you were away.
Adding a teaspoon of natural yoghurt to each meal can help reduce wind, as can special dog charcoal biscuits that help absorb odours.
It probably won’t apply but fresh kangaroo meat is notorious for bringing out a particularly strong odour, so avoid it when you can.
Walk and exercise your dog. Obese and sedentary dogs tend to pass more wind and walking gives the pet pooch a chance to empty its bowels, which can also reduce wind.
Try to get your dog to eat slowly. Feed it on its own so it doesn't feel it has to compete with other dogs. Dogs that gulp down their food also gulp down air, making them windier. Dogs that over-eat also take longer to digest their food, so by the time the food works its way through the system it is smellier and gassier.
Most dogs just pig out so feeding them smaller amounts more regularly may help.
See the vet if your dog has diarrhoea, blood in their stools or a bloated stomach. These symptoms can be signs of more serious medical problems.
And while this is largely a doggy problem, cats can make us suffer as well. The same techniques apply if you need to address cat flatulence.
| Sound familiar? Well, we are here to help. We are going to try to answer your questions, give you some tips for reducing the 'annoying' behaviour and sometimes just give you some understanding. A wise person once said, understanding is the booby prize because sometimes you just can't do anything about it ... but we can try. So if you have a question click here and let us know. |
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