I was gonna participate in Shannon's PhoBloDays but I kept forgetting my camera and even when I had it with me I forgot to actually take pictures with it. Blah! Twenty-six and senile. That would be my personal bumper sticker if I had one.
Anyway, one thing I did do this weekend, was take Giggs to the groomers to get his nails trimmed and his bum glands squeezed. What fun for them! (And him)
We talked a little to the groomer lady about bum glands and how often they should be done, etc. She says the less, the better. I think she just doesn't like doing them...
Giggs' glands were full and she got a good amount out of them but doesn't recommend having them done more often than every three months or so. Well, we just had them done about a month ago and they were already full again! Now what?!
The trouble is, Giggs doesn't exhibit any signs of anal-glad-fullness. He doesn't drag his bum on the floor and he can't reach to lick or chew himself down there (I'm glad for that!) so we can't tell when they're getting full until he starts to become 'fragrant'. He also juiced on Tony's shirt one day while he was sitting on his lap which made him really popular.
The solution...
The groomer lady said that the glands should be expressed a little bit every time Giggs poops, but because most people feed their dogs kibble, all the fiber in it makes bowel movements very easy and the dog doesn't have to push it out and therefore don't express their glands. So we decided to check into a raw diet more seriously since it's technically a more natural diet for dogs to be on anyway. So off we trotted to our favorite shop Bone Appetit to restock on flossies, cookies, and inquire about the raw food they sell.
In the end we decided that Giggs will get his kibble in the morning like usual and raw food for his evening meal. We feed him Innova kibble, which is a high quality protein-based kibble and has all his vitamins and stuff in it so he'll still get the benefits of that, plus now he'll also get the benefits of the raw diet in the evenings.
The raw food is made by a company in our province and it costs just under $14 for the chicken and that's 24 meals. It comes in a pack of six frozen 1 lb 'pucks', each of which provides 4 meals for a dog his size. We may have to play with that, if he starts to lose weight, then each puck would be 3 meals -totaling 18 meals. All I have to do is thaw a puck in the fridge overnight and we've got dinner for the next 4 days!
The meals come in chicken, beef, buffalo, rabbit, fish, duck, pheasant, and lamb. Each is also mixed with various veggies, and ground up bone or calcium carbonate (beef, lamb, and buffalo) for a complete meal. Chicken is the cheapest and the prices range depending on the type of meat used. I made sure to check that the chicken isn't mass-produced steroid GMO two-headed chicken and it's not. It's not certified organic, but it's grain fed chicken from Albertan Hutterite farms.
Giggs' poops are now pretty much 1/3 their former size, WAY less smelly, and are a lot firmer, so hopefully no more bum problems. Even his after-kibble poop has completely changed. He LOVES his new food and so far no problems with it. I just feed him dinner on a plate so it can go right into the dishwasher and he still gets his morning kibble in his regular bowl.
The owner of the store has two large dogs that get the raw food for dinner and he said that his dogs leaned-out quite a bit, but didn't lose any weight. They lost fat and gained muscle mass and are a lot more energetic. I wonder if I could find a similar diet for humans...
Anyway, one thing I did do this weekend, was take Giggs to the groomers to get his nails trimmed and his bum glands squeezed. What fun for them! (And him)
We talked a little to the groomer lady about bum glands and how often they should be done, etc. She says the less, the better. I think she just doesn't like doing them...
Giggs' glands were full and she got a good amount out of them but doesn't recommend having them done more often than every three months or so. Well, we just had them done about a month ago and they were already full again! Now what?!
The trouble is, Giggs doesn't exhibit any signs of anal-glad-fullness. He doesn't drag his bum on the floor and he can't reach to lick or chew himself down there (I'm glad for that!) so we can't tell when they're getting full until he starts to become 'fragrant'. He also juiced on Tony's shirt one day while he was sitting on his lap which made him really popular.
The solution...
The groomer lady said that the glands should be expressed a little bit every time Giggs poops, but because most people feed their dogs kibble, all the fiber in it makes bowel movements very easy and the dog doesn't have to push it out and therefore don't express their glands. So we decided to check into a raw diet more seriously since it's technically a more natural diet for dogs to be on anyway. So off we trotted to our favorite shop Bone Appetit to restock on flossies, cookies, and inquire about the raw food they sell.
In the end we decided that Giggs will get his kibble in the morning like usual and raw food for his evening meal. We feed him Innova kibble, which is a high quality protein-based kibble and has all his vitamins and stuff in it so he'll still get the benefits of that, plus now he'll also get the benefits of the raw diet in the evenings.
The raw food is made by a company in our province and it costs just under $14 for the chicken and that's 24 meals. It comes in a pack of six frozen 1 lb 'pucks', each of which provides 4 meals for a dog his size. We may have to play with that, if he starts to lose weight, then each puck would be 3 meals -totaling 18 meals. All I have to do is thaw a puck in the fridge overnight and we've got dinner for the next 4 days!
The meals come in chicken, beef, buffalo, rabbit, fish, duck, pheasant, and lamb. Each is also mixed with various veggies, and ground up bone or calcium carbonate (beef, lamb, and buffalo) for a complete meal. Chicken is the cheapest and the prices range depending on the type of meat used. I made sure to check that the chicken isn't mass-produced steroid GMO two-headed chicken and it's not. It's not certified organic, but it's grain fed chicken from Albertan Hutterite farms.
Giggs' poops are now pretty much 1/3 their former size, WAY less smelly, and are a lot firmer, so hopefully no more bum problems. Even his after-kibble poop has completely changed. He LOVES his new food and so far no problems with it. I just feed him dinner on a plate so it can go right into the dishwasher and he still gets his morning kibble in his regular bowl.
The owner of the store has two large dogs that get the raw food for dinner and he said that his dogs leaned-out quite a bit, but didn't lose any weight. They lost fat and gained muscle mass and are a lot more energetic. I wonder if I could find a similar diet for humans...
10 comments:
Nothing is as important as being regular and having firm, small poop. Good for Giggs!
Does Giggs get any treats during the day?
Indeed he does. He's always got a bully stick on the go and he usually gets a cookie or two, plus whatever he can get out of his Busy Buddy (it's Kong-like toy but harder to get stuff out of).
Once in a while he gets a smoked bone so he'll eat the little bits of meat off it and the marrow from the center. Maybe one every couple weeks.
We work from home so we have to keep him busy to get anything done.
Here's an interesting tidbit: when feeding a raw food diet to your pug, be sure to clean the nose wrinkle frequently! EEEEWWW!
Everything you ever wanted to know about Giggs's poop, now in blog format! LOL!
I have the same problem. For some reason they get expressed on Mommy's pants every time we are on a roadtrip. She does not appreciate this. We're not into the raw diet thing, but if you know of something that will harden my poo enough to express them when I poop, let me know!
Zelda's ass needs to be constantly "expressed" because she gets the scoots. Winston never does, and his anal expressions are a completely different consistency than Zelda's.
I try and express Zelda once every month or so. It really will not kill the dog to do it that much--believe me that I am a worrier and I check! It sure does stink up a storm though, holy crap. I express her in the tub and then go on a super clean of the bathroom right after!
No, it doesn't hurt the dog to express the glands more frequently, it's just a comfort thing. I wouldn't want my butt violated very often lol!
I think it depends on how nervous the dog is too. We had a sheltie growing up and her glands would always go in the car because she'd get nervous.
This is all very interesting gland talk. My friend has two pugs (10 months and 3 months) and she says they are constantly "juicing" and I know most pugs have to get their glands expressed often, but we have never had Clover's glands expressed, nor has she "juiced" or had any scooting or chewing issues. I wonder if that is normal?! Clover has her spay surgery tomorrow, so I will have to ask the vet about it.
Very informative post anyway, glad the new diet is working for Giggs - sounds good!
We didn't have any problems with Giggs until he was around a year old. Even so, I can't exactly say it's been an issue, it's not a huge deal, just annoying when it happens every other month or so.
I feed Lucy Innova Evo as well and she does very well on it. Her energy level is really high, which is great since she is middle aged now for a dane. Much smaller poops, relatively at least. She is a Great Dane after all.
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