Greyhound Nutrition and Gut Health: The Best Diet for a Happy, Healthy Hound

Does Diet Matter? 

What do you feed your greyhound? 

Greyhounds evolved as hunting hounds, and now as racing dogs (even retired ones!), they need a diet that supplies carbohydrates and fats for energy, protein for muscle and other tissue repair, fibre to regulate digestion, plus various essential vitamins and minerals (micro-nutrients). 

Their daily requirements are easy to achieve with food that is manufactured to supply all these nutrients in the correct proportions, with a total calorie intake of about 1500-1700kcal/day.

Preparing Your Own Home-cooked Diet

It’s harder to put together a home-formulated diet that meets requirements; although it’s not impossible, it requires a calculator and knowledge of the nutritional make-up of the foods that you are using. There are also foods that need to be avoided – for example, onions, garlic, leeks, avocado, mushrooms etc.

Commercial Diets

Many greyhounds do well on kibble-type foods only, either fed dry or moistened with gravy or water. However, as dogs are natural scavengers and enjoy a varied diet (including grass – see below!), many people prefer to feed a mix of wet and dry food. The choice is endless, so how do you pick a brand of food that you can rely on?

There are basically two types of food: the first (usually cheaper) type does not specify which types of meat or other animal ingredients are included, using terms like ‘meat and animal derivatives’, so you don’t know what you are getting. The second type states the source of its animal products (e.g. ‘50% chicken, 20% salmon’ etc.). This can be useful if you suspect that your greyhound has a food intolerance or allergy – usually to a particular meat protein – as you can then avoid foods that contain that protein.

Should I Feed Raw?

There has been a huge increase in feeding raw diets to dogs in the past 10 years, as owners have sought unprocessed food for their pets. You can now buy raw diets that are balanced nutritionally too. The downside of raw diets is the potential spread of food poisoning bacteria (such as Salmonella, E.coli and Campylobacter) from these diets to humans (and to dogs too). 

There is no doubt that raw feeding is more ‘natural’ and may lead to better dental health if bones are included in the diet (a reason to consider this type of diet for greyhounds perhaps?). But a decision to feed ‘raw’ should not be taken lightly – you need to treat all raw dog food like raw chicken, keep it separate from human food when storing and preparing, and run your food prep area like a restaurant kitchen, paying particular attention to the cleaning of all bowls and utensils used. It’s not for the faint-hearted, and it is expensive.

What About Grain-free Food?

There is little evidence that greyhounds are prone to allergy or intolerance to wheat or other cereals, so there is no need to go for grain-free options. In fact, feeding grain-free can be dangerous as the peas, beans and lentils that are often included in grain-free diets prevent absorption of the nutrient taurine. A lack of taurine can cause a serious heart condition, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). So, unless your vet has diagnosed a wheat intolerance, please continue to feed your greyhound diets that include grains.

Greyhound Gut Health

Greyhounds are not more prone to digestive upsets than other breeds, it just seems like that to some owners! 

Acute diarrhoea is usually self-limiting (clears up on its own within a day or so), although feeding a bland diet (such as fish or chicken and rice, or special diets from your vet) can help. There is no need to starve your dog for 24 hours, as vets used to tell owners; in fact, this can do more harm than good, but there is evidence that probiotics (which contain ‘good’ bacteria) can shorten recovery time. Antibiotics are not needed or recommended.

Chronic diarrhoea is usually due to inflammation of the gut lining, which can be caused by food intolerance or parasites. If the dog is up to date with parasite prevention, then a food trial is usually conducted. This involves feeding a ‘novel protein’ diet (a meat source that the dog has not had before, such as salmon or venison) or a hydrolysed protein diet (the proteins are broken down into small pieces that are easier to digest and less likely to cause a reaction). This food trial needs to be conducted for at least 4-6 weeks. Dogs with chronic inflammatory bowel disease often also need drugs such as corticosteroids to reduce the inflammation of the gut lining. Adding fibre to the diet can help too.

Why Does My Greyhound Eat Grass?

Greyhounds often eat grass, and this seems to be a form of self-medication (some people have suggested it can help to get rid of worms). However, if they have indigestion, acid reflux or gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining), they will sometimes eat grass obsessively until they are sick. If this persists for longer than 12 hours, then a visit to the vet is required.

Normally, eating grass is perfectly normal and all my greyhounds have been occasional ‘grazers’. It also adds useful fibre to their diet (but we have all been at the other end when it gets stuck on its way out).

References

The following references were used to help with this blog post:

Groat, E. F., Williams, N. J., Pinchbeck, G., Warner, B., Simpson, A., & Schmidt, V. M. (2022). UK dogs eating raw meat diets have higher risk of Salmonella and antimicrobial‐resistant Escherichia coli faecal carriage. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 63(6), 435-441.

Guilford, W.G., & Matz, M.E. (2003) The nutritional management of gastrointestinal tract disorders in companion animals, New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 51(6), 284-291,

O’Neill, D. G., Prisk, L. J., Brodbelt, D. C., Church, D. B., & Allerton, F. (2025). Epidemiology and clinical management of acute diarrhoea in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK. Plos one, 20(6), e0324203.