The Best Dry Food for Retired Greyhounds

Retired greyhounds love to run, sleep and eat.

Retired greyhounds love to run, sleep and eat.

About twenty thousand retired racing greyhounds enter adoptive homes each year, according to the National Greyhound Association. These gentle and calm dogs may be new to home life, but they quickly become members of the family. Greyhounds can thrive on a number of different kibbles, provided you choose high-quality food.

Primary Protein Source

Premium dry dog food, the type that Greyhound Pets of America recommends for retired racers, will contain a primary protein source listed as the first ingredient. Common protein sources include lamb, beef, chicken and, less commonly, fish such as salmon. The dry dog food for your retired racer should list meat or fish as the first ingredient, which assures you that your pet is getting adequate nutrition from quality protein sources.

Additives to Avoid

Dry dog food additives such as corn, corn glutenate, wheat, and soy do not provide nutrition and serve only as fillers. Golden Greyhounds Greyhound Adoption recommends dry kibble that contains no artificial preservatives or dyes, since they don't provide any nutritional value.

Regulating Kibble Portion Sizes

Because retired greyhounds often have a very different diet than they did as active racers, owners may need to experiment to arrive at correct portion sizes of dry food. As racers, greyhounds ate "track chow," a wet mixture of fresh meat, kibble, vitamins and other ingredients, so it isn't possible to simply feed the dog the same exact amount he had as a racer. Greyhound Pets of America generally recommends that greyhounds under 60 pounds need around 3 cups of premium kibble daily, while dogs weighing more than 60 pounds might require up to 4 cups.

Gauge Response to Foods

A kibble that works well for one greyhound may be completely wrong for another, even if they are the same sex and age. If your dog responds poorly to a certain food—with loose stools, for example—trying a different food may be the solution. Owners of multiple retired greyhounds may even feed individual greyhounds different foods, depending upon how well each pet responds to the food.

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