Digestive Enzymes for Aging Dog?

Question
Hi there, I have a beautiful 8 year old Bernese Mtn dog who last visited the vet in May for a bout of gastroenteritis.  Apparently bones with lots of marrow are too rich for him now!  He is currently being switched from Orijen 6 fish to a Orijen seniors diet (this is a grain free diet; meat & veg/greens only) for the reasons I am about to ask. I should also note that he also survived bloat and gastric torsion 7 years ago which may make him more prone to issues??.  Prior to his gastroenteritis bout, he had been experiencing a lot more gas (burping and farting).  We have implemented the following "tricks" to try and deal with the gas:
- raised dish
- water in food
- food soaked for 12 hours (mushhhhyyyy)
- switching to "senior" diet
- adding plain yogurt (2 tbls) once per day
- feeding twice per day.

So, what I am wondering is what are your thoughts on digestive enzymes added to the food?  If so, should I continue the yoghurt? Any other suggestions to deal with the gas - it is just that he seems to be in some discomfort after he eats, panting, grumbling, huffing, etc. and we would like to take care of that.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer
Natasha,

I apologize for the delayed response, allexperts notifications were being filtered by my mail server!

Digestive enzymes are great and by all means, continue the yogurt. Orijen is a great food (I'm very familiar with the brand) but I would strongly suggest you consider moving away from a kibble diet given his history with bloat and recent issues with air in the digestive tract. Dogs do not need dry food at all and it sounds like you are already having to work pretty hard with additives and soaking so the convenience factor that keeps most pet owners feeding kibble isn't really there. I would look at canned, dried, and raw foods as alternatives that will be less likely to cause this problem. Feel free to take a look at my website for a long list of options in each of those categories.

Best,

Tracie Fowler
www.TrianglePet.com