I have a very active 2 year old Border Terrier X who has been fed on Orijen for over a year now and really enjoys it. She does however suffer from bad and very smelly wind, her stools are fine, and wonder if this could be causing her any discomfort. Should I look at an alternative food?
Hello and welcome to the forum. Flatulence is rather unpleasant and can be a bit embarrassing, especially when visitors arrive. Most dogs have it from time to time so I’m just wondering how often it occurs in your Border. I guess it must be fairly frequent for you to be bothered about it. Orijen is reputed to be an excellent food and as he is doing OK with it there seems little point in changing until a few options have been tried.
Speed eating - dogs that eat too fast can swallow air which can contribute to the problem. If this is the case, you could try to slow him down by use of a Green Feeder or similar.
Probiotics - these are supposed to aid digestion and may help. Couple of articles here and here. In the past I have given Yeo Valley organic plain yoghurt.
**Charcoal biscuits ** - this is an old fashioned treatment for flatulence in dogs and I don’t know whether they work. They are still made, one product being Wainwright’s Charcoal Bones Dog Treats with Lamb & Rice.
If you try any of these and are still getting the problem then maybe you might want to consider a change of food.
My terrier used to be a bit windy. I am not sure if it was due to stress in the early days. It did seem to change when we changed her food to Markus Muhle but it could have just been coincidence and that she was more settled. She is still relatively wind free on raw.
I only notice it now if she is getting stressed being in the car or when she has had a big bone (possibly lamb) I also give her a little natural yogurt every other day.