Post Adoption Stress Belly

We  would be rich if we got a pound every time we marked ‘greyhounds have  sensitive belly’s’ off our bingo cards.  Just this week at work, a  customer was asking about our greyhounds in the office with us and said  they would love to have one, but they are just too much of a risk with  their bad teeth, sensitive bellies, prey drive…the list went on.  

It was definitely a bingo kind of day!

Now,  we’ve covered these topics numerous times.  While greyhounds have many  myths and misconceptions that follow them, when it comes to their teeth  and bellies, the problem is perpetuated by poor diets and  misinformation.   Any breed, or dog, can have a bad belly and poor  dental health when fed food that is one molecule away from being  dirt...which is what greyhound specific diets are.

But,  in saying this, there are times in which a greyhound will genuinely  have a sensitive belly.  Most prominently, at times of heightened  stress.  Just like in humans, stress can cause physical symptoms in dogs  and one of the most obvious symptoms is digestive upset.

When  greyhounds are newly adopted, their stress levels are pretty darn high,  even if outwardly they appear to be coping well.  As we have seen on  countless occasions, this results in diarrhoea, bloating (and farting)  in those initial days, and quite a lot of weight loss in the initial  month.

Under normal  circumstances, diarrhoea is a self-limiting issue that resolves itself  within 24-48 hours.  The general rule of thumb for when a dog has the  runs is that a vet visit isn’t a necessity if they are otherwise bright,  active, happy and fine in themselves.  It is only if there are concerns  over other symptoms, alongside it, such as vomiting, a temperature,  blood in the faeces, lethargy and that it’s gone on for more than a  couple days that you should be considering a trip to the vet.

Except,  post adoption stress belly isn’t a normal circumstance and can go on  for several days if not weeks, in which your hound will act completely  normally otherwise.  But people do tend to panic and get their hound  down to the vet.

While this isn’t  the wrong thing to do, goodness knows you want what’s best for your new  companion, but there are ways to manage it at home.  Our issue for  running your hound to the vet for stress belly is that they will charge  you the earth for some probiotics and will somehow manage to convince  you to put your hound onto one of their overpriced ‘prescription’ diets  ‘designed’ for digestive care.  Fleecing you nearly £100 a bag for what  is effectively a poor-quality food.
ain, this isn’t necessarily the wrong course of action…it’s just a very expensive one!

Now,  we should probably disclaimer this post a bit because we have no  science or evidence to be able to back up what we’re going to discuss  next.  Only anecdotal evidence from seeing many a hound through the post  adoption stress belly stage!

Something  that we have seen on countless occasions; is that stress belly has led  to food intolerances – particularly for those common allergens, chicken,  wheat and other grains.

This is  also most likely exacerbated the misconception that greyhounds have  sensitive stomachs, because if that post-adoption stress belly stage  isn’t handled correctly it can lead to ongoing digestive issues and  sensitivities.

So, what should you do?

Something  that we have found to be very effective is recommending that all  adopters put their hounds onto probiotics for the first week  post-adoption.

ProKolin, ProMax,  ProZyme, or any of the other countless options out there, have your  hound on a probiotic of your choice from the get-go.

This approach has made the world of difference in preventing diarrhoea post-adoption.

Couple this with a good quality diet (ideally one that has a good meat content and low-to-no grain).  Crisis averted!

However,  if it doesn’t work and your hound does get the runs, we do not  recommend starving your hound for any period of time to ‘rest’ their  digestive system.  Instead, take them off their kibble and move them  onto small, regular meals of something easily digestible and free of  common allergens like cereals.  

One  of the best things we have found to feed a hound with diarrhoea is  Forthglade grain free trays.  Which is hardly surprising as one of the  highest rated wet dog foods on the All About Dog Food website!  Do not  give them anything with it other than probiotic, not matter how tempted  you might be to give them a bit of toast or something else to bulk out  the meal.  Treat it like an elimination diet.

Genuinely,  a tray of this 3 times a day with some probiotic for a couple days.   Your hound will be back to solid poos in no time at all, and at a far  more digestible cost than anything the vet will give you (pun fully  intended).  Once they’re presenting with solid stools, you can start to  very gradually re-introducing their kibble.  

If  they tolerate the kibble, gradually increase the kibble as you reduce  the Forthglade (or whatever wet food you’ve chosen to use) over the  course of a week or two, all the while maintaining the probiotic.   Theoretically, they should continue to maintain good firm poops until  they are fully back onto their kibble.

Though,  what quite often happens, is that they cannot go back onto the kibble  that was used at the time of the diarrhoea.  Especially if the diarrhoea  went on for several days or weeks.  The diarrhoea will have irritated  the intestines, causing colitis or IBD, making it more likely to react  badly to certain things like wheat, maize and other grains when  reintroduced to them.

In this  event, reintroducing the kibble tends to make the poo go all soft and  mushy again, if not full-blown diarrhoea…and while you can try to go  back to the start of the process and try the kibble again in a few days,  chances are you’ll have to seek out a new kibble.

This  is because (as we’ve discussed in a previous post about allergens and  intolerances) once a dog develops an intolerance to a specific  ingredient…they can’t come back from it!

We  have primarily seen this response to greyhound kibbles, or other  low-quality diets.  Hounds that have been adopted and put onto higher  quality, or grain free, diets, have rarely been affected.

While  we have written this in reference to post-adoption stress belly, the  same theory can be followed for other instances of diarrhoea such as  post-anaesthetic.  We have always tried to put hounds onto Forthglade  when recovering from anaesthetic, as it can often have the same  influence on the digestive system as stress…but we’ll cover this more  fully in a future post!

It is  also important to consider worming your hound as soon as you are past  the upset belly stage, even if they aren’t due.  Or, if necessary,  during as quite often the suppressed immune system that comes with the  stress and change of environment can bring about an increase in  parasites…even if they were treated prior to adoption!

Additionally,  if you are going to take your hound to the vet for stress belly or  post-anaesthetic gastro.  Ask for metrobactin (metrodizonal, probably  spelt that wrong!).  It is a life saver for most gastrointestinal issues  we have encountered!

There is  always the age-old advice about giving chicken or fish with rice when a  dog has a poorly belly, but this is not a sustainable solution as it is  not nutritionally complete.  Additionally, white rice as a grain is  inherently inflammatory and difficult to digest.  The hound must put a  lot of work into digesting it which is a poor choice when a hound is  suffering from any gastrointestinal issues.  Similarly, chicken is one  of the most common protein types that hound may show a sensitivity  to…and one of the most common ingredients in dog food, and probably the  main ingredient of the food you were giving when they got the runs!
Fish is a safer option, but again, it is not nutritionally complete.

But,  as we said before, this is all anecdotal from experience…and at the end  of the day, we are not vets!  Whatever you have found to work for your  hound, you stick with it!  This is just our suggestion and one that we  have found has worked, time and time again!

(Also, side note, this post is not sponsored by any of the brands we have mentioned!)