Any fattening foods suggestions

Bosworth

Bosworth

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devon
www.ballhillequestrian.co.uk
My lovely lurcher is now nearly 16, he is a small lurcher, some terrier x whippet. He is fit and healthy apart from a heart murmur which he has had all his life and is totally deaf. He still has a trot round the farm evey day and is very bright and happy. He is not food orientated at all, he has dry food all the time and nibbles whenever he wants, never loads. His weight has always been good, about 13.5kg and the vets have always been pleased with his fitness. I tried all sorts of food with him over the years and finally ended up with Bakers complete because at least he ate that. The other better quality feeds he just would not eat. He has had Bakers for years - in fact I have had him 15.5 years and he has probably had it for about 13 years.

Recently he as started to lose weight, the vets have said it is just old age and to try and get him to eat more but I am struggling.

I had managed to get him to eat the Pets at Home own brand adult dry dog food as that had a far higher protein content than any of the other complete feeds, and I also was giving him 2 cans of dog food a day - one morning and evening. now he has gone off those completely, last night he just didn;t bother with the food at all, in desperation I gave him some of my left overs and he ate them, tonight I have boiled up a big pan of rice, with mince, marmite, sunflower oil - and tinned tomatoes (he loves them). He ate a good amount, but left some.

I can give him 3 meals a day, and have been feeding him whenever I can get him to eat, as well as a bowl of dried down all the time, but I am not getting any weight on.

Any suggestions of food that will put weight on, that he can eat in small quantities, he won't eat raw at all. He has fantastic teeth, all there and all clean, his eyesight is good, never misses a treat that is tossed to him. i have treats, bones, etc, but he is not that bothered about them - never has been.
 
Senior dog foods are easier for the older doggies to digest, try him on tinned, he might have cavities in hsi teeth, also heat it to room temp, makes it more appetising xx
 
thank you, where can I get Tripe mince from - I will have to cook it as he is really odd with uncooked meat - takes it, then shoves it under his bed and ignores it! And never heard of salmon oil. how about linseed oil. eggs - not a problem but won;t eat raw - these is def a raw issue with him. My other lurcher wolfs down all raw including eggs - this chap likes his scrambled!!
 
Pets@Home do blocks of tripe, chicken, beef, lamb, rabbit and fish mice from the freezer. Or just be a bargain bin fiend like me, got enough food for me and two dogs for a week from Tesco for £25 tonight :o as the other poster, are his teeth OK?
Fish4Dogs do salmon oil.
 
Trouble is all senior dog foods are weight control. I did have the vet look at his teeth and they are all fine - an hardly any tarter. he will knaw on a bone for an hour - then is not that bothered by it - but then that is the same behaviour he has always shown since he was a pup.
And I have tried feeding him at the same time as the other lurcher to see if competition makes his stuff it , but no he has what he wants and happily shares it with her, no competition.
 
Ok - will be raiding the freezer at pets at home, I seem to be spending ages in there looking at the protein/meat content of all the foods, never thought about the freezers. He has always enjoyed rude health, i don;t care what he has to eat as long as he eats it and it helps keep his weight on.
 
Just another thought, my dog is also 16 and very very fit, he went off his food a bit and was loosing a bit of weight, his heart murmour is now a grade III, although he runs around like a loon!! We adjusted his heart meds (vetmedin) and his appetite has now gone back to normal, not sure when you last had your dogs heart listened to, but things can change fast, so maybe an idea?

Kidney probs may be a factor too now?... I scale my dogs teeth and are also brilliant white and tartar free, but when i do the back teeth his jaw trembles a bit, so i know his are sensitive.

hth xx
 
Senior foods make them fat! I can only have my boy on senior foods for a short time then back to regular food as hes gets porky and hes a 10kg terrier who gets half baked bean tin size of senior meat and cheapo mixer biscuits xx
 
Will he eat tinned sardines in oil? Our old dog went very ribby in her last year - she was always on the slender side. We continued to feed the recommended amount of dry food and added to it - sardines, eggs, mince and any table scraps. Used to cook a bit more than I knew we would need - she never turned her nose up at "human" food.

Our ESP is exactly the opposite and consequently NEVER gets "human" food :D

Good luck with him x
 
I will go back and ask about the heart medicine - he is not on anything for it - never has been as it has never been serious. But that may be something to look at. He went about 2 months ago - but has his annual check up this month so will have it listened to to check whether it has changed

As for senior foods - which ones have you tried, i spent ages looking at the senior packets and all stated weight control so assumed they were to prevent dogs running to fat. I was even reading the puppy food to see what that contains as i thought that may be an option.
 
doesn;t appear to be any kidney problems, he did have a urine sample taken and bloods and everything is fine. lovely shiny coat, and bright eyes, getting stiffer, but never lame, or in pain.
 
Am a veterinary nurse and a strong believer in cheap non complicated foods, my dogs have got fat on the likes of hills and eukanuba, out collie lived a long life on chappie alone!

My dogs aged 16 and 13 live on cheap tesco tinned meat and cheapo mixer, they are perfect weight and very fit and well. Tesco does a senior tinned meat, our practice recommends senior food for the oldies because its easy for them to break down and digest therefore they gain weight, give it a go, my boy gets thin over the winter and has senior, but then tends to get plump so i go back regular adult food.

Most of these expensive diets are far too rich and cause obesity, I bet bakers do a senior diet, give it a go.

I definately think a vets check won't go amiss, there is probably a reason for this weight loss, may be something simple as your dog is having trouble digesting its grub, and something like tryplase caps to digest the food before your dog eats it may work? What are his motions like, not in a grey skin sausage skin are they?? xx
 
Thanks DD, I tried the hills and Eukanuba and he just wouldn;t go anywhere near them, I tried chappie, pedigree, royal canin, and god knows what else. I went to Bakers after I tried everything and he ate it.

I will try a senior diet and see how that works, and also try the sardines in oil. I am lucky in that my other lurcher can eat anything without any stomach problems and is so energetic she never puts weight on so if my old boy leaves anything - she will hoover it up.

his poo is good, healthy and formed. Def no grey sausages and he is only drinking the normal amount.
 
Bosworth said:
Thanks DD, I tried the hills and Eukanuba and he just wouldn;t go anywhere near them, I tried chappie, pedigree, royal canin, and god knows what else. I went to Bakers after I tried everything and he ate it.

I will try a senior diet and see how that works, and also try the sardines in oil. I am lucky in that my other lurcher can eat anything without any stomach problems and is so energetic she never puts weight on so if my old boy leaves anything - she will hoover it up.

his poo is good, healthy and formed. Def no grey sausages and he is only drinking the normal amount.
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Ahhh good good!! I suspect his lil old organs are a bit rubbish now and he needs an easy digestible food, senior all the way :-) xx Also you want him nice and slim with his heart murmour, but i understand hes gone below normal for him, you sound like you love him very very much :-)
 
My old German shepherd lost weight with age, I added cooking oil to his dinner, he loved it, licked the bowl clean, it added the calories he needed.
 
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to sardines - routed through my cupboard and found a tin - gave him it and its gone. other lurcher just got the chance to lick the empty bowl. I adore this little chap, i got him as a rescue when he was just 5 months old. He had been abandoned in Derby city centre at only 4 months old, I collected him from lurcher rescue in Hinckley on the day the IRA closed the M1, the M25 and the M6 - so it took me 3 hours to get him home. By the time we got home he was my dog, I never used a lead, he walked to heel, he learned to ride my horse with me to cross roads, he jumped on my foot, I grabbed his scruff and we would walk trot and canter like that. When i left my husband he was my friend, who came with me wherever I went, made me laugh and snuggled up with me when I was upset. When I met new people he was quick to suss them out, I ditched boyfriends for him and made my current OH love him when he decided to sit on his knee in a bank while they were waiting for me. He knows when I am on my way home from anywhere, his ears prick up and he waits by the window. When I go out riding he sits on the yard and waits for me.

I know he needs to be slim, he always has been, he has lost muscle tone which I would expect, but he has lost 3kg - he was 13.5 and has been all his adult life. i would like to get him back up to there as that is a slim but healthy weight
 
Try the Bakers Moisty chicken chunks,it is a great fattener,scrunch in the sardines for all the lovely vits and oils..bingo perfect job.:D
 
H is a bit of a skinny dog and most lunchtime I give him a can of tuna. Sainsburys basics ones are 63p.
 
Ok - now this is wierd - tonight he looked at his food and walked away, till i pretended to eat it, then he decided to eat it off the spoon. So I fed him his tea from a spoon - he ate it, when I put his bowl down again he wouldn't touch it. Explain that!
 
I wondered about whether there was a problem bending, but I gave him a tub of natural yoghurt cos he licked the pot lid from mine, I decided it could do him no real harm if he wanted it so gave him a tub on the floor. He managed to stuff that down, and pursued the pot all over the kitchen.
 
Bosworth said:
I wondered about whether there was a problem bending, but I gave him a tub of natural yoghurt cos he licked the pot lid from mine, I decided it could do him no real harm if he wanted it so gave him a tub on the floor. He managed to stuff that down, and pursued the pot all over the kitchen.
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In that case I'd mix natural yoghurt in with his meal & see if he'll eat that. There's someone else on here who has a fussy oldie (sorry I can't remember who it is, I think the dog may be Brigg) & she uses natural yoghurt with every meal & it works a treat. You haven't got anything to lose.
 
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