Hi, I'm Dr. Fiona Caldwell and I'm a veterinarian at Idaho veterinary hospital. I'm answering questions from pet owners today, for Pets Best. And this question is, "I have a gassy dog. Can I give my dog Beano to help?
Unfortunately, this happens. Dogs can clear out rooms sometimes, with their gassiness, so I sympathize with you. Beano has not been shown to be toxic in dogs. However, as with any human drug, definitely consult with your veterinarian before you're using over the counter products that are meant for humans.
A better option I think is going to be to get at the root of the problem. Why is your dog so gassy? Typically, I find that the gassier dogs sometimes are on a lower quality food. So, make sure you're really purchasing a high quality food that doesn't have a lot of fillers, or a lot of byproducts or that type of thing in it.
If you're already using a good quality food, you might try switching the protein and carbohydrate source. Maybe your dog has sensitivity to beef or lamb, or whatever protein you are using. Some dogs can have gassiness that have food allergies or food sensitivities, and your veterinarian is going to be really useful tool to help you determine if there's actually a medical problem for the gassiness; and anything that you might try if your dog's gassiness is potentially related to more than just their food. Are you giving them a lot of table scraps? Do they get a lot of treats, that type of thing? Go a week or two, maybe even three weeks of just not giving them any people food, table scraps, goodies or anything like that. If the gassiness clears up, then clearly it was related to those extra goodies that they were getting throughout the day.
If you have questions or comments, feel free to post below, or on the Pets Best Facebook page.