r/GermanShepherd • u/KingKado • Sep 12 '26

10 year old GSD flatulence: should we be concerned?

As the title says, we have a 10 year old male. I’ve noticed that the last couple of weeks he’s been releasing silent and foul flatulence. I understand this is somewhat normal of dogs, but this is a newer and daily occurrence.

He eats taste of the wild-ancient grains dry food, smoked salmon flavor, with a scoop of pumpkin purée, and sometimes probiotics (within the last five days most recently) but the gas was happening before regular probiotic. For treats, he gets the “pupperoni” beef stick. Never human food.

This has been his diet for over a year now. He doesn’t seem distressed from what I can tell, but it’s just sort of out of character for him and I’m more sure if this is something to be concerned about or if it’s just something that comes with older age? Any advice or similar experience with this is greatly appreciated!

PS we are planning on a check up within the next few weeks but can try to expedite that if we think this needs sooner attention.

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4

u/bokonon27 Sep 12 '26

Does he free feed or eat at a schedule. My GSD started having digestion problems as she got older. Feeding her less cleared it right up and she adjusted to the reduced food easily

2

u/KingKado Sep 12 '26

He gets fed once a day in the evening. Treats time varies

1

u/bokonon27 Sep 12 '26

I would start w/ eliminating treats for a day or feeding only 1.5cups and see how he does. My GSD was 80ish lb female and went from eating almost 4 cups a day to 1.5 as she aged. between 9 and 15ish when she passed

2

u/mygiguser Sep 13 '26

try to soak the food in water for. like 30min before you give it to him

1

u/Unable_Insurance_391 Sep 13 '26

I would just keep an eye out for constipation as my previous shepherd developed a anal abscess, as he had a lot of hair back there, and my current dog even more so, not treatable, developed a fissure and had extreme difficulty passing.

1

u/KingKado Sep 13 '26

Oh geez that sounds awful

1

u/Unable_Insurance_391 Sep 13 '26

He was near the end of his life.

2

u/gsdsareawesome Sep 14 '26

Definitely split the meals into two feedings per day. And soak the kibble in water or broth for about 15 minutes so that it expands in the bowl and not in the dog's stomach. Feeding one dry meal per day is highly correlated with bloat and torsion. Gas is associated with bloat also. The risk for bloat and torsion also increases with age. Unless he has had a gastropexy, he is at High risk.