My brother’s dogs – Lily and Sassy
My brother has three dogs which he likes to spoil, and the dogs definitely know this. One of his favorite things to do is to give them treats. Since they both have special dietary needs, he buys this stick-like treats that he calls stinky sticks. They’re just rolled up bits of flavored raw hide has far as I can tell. Now, I always thought that he called them that because the sticks were a bit smelly. But I’ve never really sniffed one and last week, I think I changed my mind.
One of his dogs is a basset hound mix. She’s a beautiful dog and sweet as can be, but very stubborn. She has a food allergy and can’t eat anything that has wheat in it. Not that any of that is really relevant, but it may have something to do with the results of eating stinky sticks.
Now, we were all sitting around talking and playing with my baby nephew. My brother decided to give his dogs a treat. So they’re sitting there chewing on their sticks and we didn’t think much about it, until about 30 minutes later.
My brother was saying something about the houses in the area, when all of a sudden, he stops and looks up with a funny look on his face. Then it hit me and I just about gagged. Oh my goodness! If your dog can clear a room with her gas – maybe you shouldn’t be feeding her the food that causes that! We all had to get up and move out of the room that we were in because it was unbelievably foul. And to make it even worse, she did it again about 15 minutes later. So maybe my brother knew that would happen, and that’s why he calls those treats stinky sticks!!
Anyway, one of my friends whose dog had cancer fed his dog broccoli a lot as a way to provide extra nutrition to her (a gassy food for even some humans). He told me that he gave his dog Beano, which really helped. If your dog has gas, it may have something to do with the type of food you are feeding him. I recommend talking to your vet before changing his/her diet or giving him/her beano.
Oddly enough, I learned about Beano in one of my introductory mycology classes, so long ago. It’s actually an extract of an enzyme from a fungus. Cool, huh? Ok, maybe you have to be a mycology-nut like me to appreciate that fun fact. Anyway, for those of you that are interested, here’s a link to a website that gives more details about the enzyme and the fungus: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Beano_(dietary_supplement)