What Causes Dog Flatulence?

By Ruthie Bently

Has this ever happened to you? You’re watching a movie on TV and a horrible odor assails your nose. You know it wasn’t you or your spouse, and it couldn’t be the dog could it? When Skye came to live with me, she was on a premium brand of adult dog kibble (with corn) and she had a problem with flatulence (aka breaking wind, passing gas, farting). It doesn’t matter what you call it, she could float the house off its foundation. A green fog would settle in the room and you were afraid to light a match.

But what causes that toxic green fog? It is basically a buildup of gas in the gastrointestinal tract. In a human it can be as simple as drinking too many cans of soda, and can be caused by the carbon dioxide that is used to make your soda fizzy. For Skye, gas is usually caused by something she has eaten, that isn’t her regular dog food. For Skye it could be the cat food that she loves or any other food she has found while counter surfing that her stomach isn’t used to digesting.

Flatulence can also be caused by your dog eating their food too quickly, which can cause them to swallow air. It can also be caused by a poor quality dog food or eating table scraps that are unsuitable for your dog. Now I am assuming here, but I would also think it can be caused by any food that normally gives a human gas issues. I have given Skye cucumbers from our garden but we grow the “burpless” kind, so no gas there. But if you are feeding foods to your dog that you normally eat and they cause you to be gassy, then it is a good assumption that your dog will be gassy too.

I had not yet found the CANIDAE® Grain Free ALS dog food for Skye, as this was a few years ago, so I used an old trick I learned. We used to feed our Boxers charcoal biscuits when I was growing up. The charcoal helped filter out some of the odors of the dog’s flatulence, they passed gas less and their feces didn’t smell as bad. I got Skye some charcoal biscuits and the gas did occur less often and was not as potent. But I didn’t like that there was corn in Skye’s food and didn’t know if that particular food was on the recall list in 2007. I just knew I didn’t want to feed it to her, so I went looking for something new.

As soon as I put Skye on the CANIDAE Grain Free ALS the gaseous intervals ceased completely, and she doesn’t chase us or our company out of a room anymore. Other benefits with the CANIDAE food are that Skye’s stools are nicely formed, don’t smell, and are easy to pick up. She will still get into something outside that she shouldn’t and then we have to deal with the “green fog” issue. (I wonder what Skye’s methane output is in a year.) However, I am happy to say I have never had that issue feeding her the CANIDAE Grain Free ALS.

Bless you CANIDAE for your wonderful food; you make my life with my dog that much sweeter. That includes our air too.

Read more articles by Ruthie Bently