Old dog being difficult with food

My 14 year old dog is the fussiest ever, I swear she has an eating disorder! If you offer her something when she's not hungry (which is most of the time) she will actually shrink away from it. She has never eaten dog food so probably not good as a comparison, but I'd say you can't go wrong with chicken and lamb/beef hearts.

I don't see anything wrong with indulging them in their later years, I suppose it depends how much your Collie eats. My dog is only little so it doesn't cost me a lot to feed her fresh food as she eats such small amounts.
 
I'd give him whatever he'll eat at his age. If he eats kibble, maybe soak it in warm water so it smells more appetising. There's dog gravy you can get or maybe try tinned sardines/mackerel in tomato sauce or salmon oil: my lot can't resist salmon oil, plus it's fab for joints and much better than cod liver oil which is too high in vitamin A for dogs.
 
My 18 year old JRT was like that a few weeks ago, so I took her to the vet thinking it was going to be her last journey. Bloods showed her organs were all fine, and turns out she had an infected tooth - always worth a check up. When she wasn't eating I kept some nutrition into her with milk and honey dissolved in it, honey is a really good food. Now she is slightly picky but will eat some of the premium foods in pouches or trays - not a choice you can make for a bigger dog, but maybe raw chicken or beef mince might tempt her.
Local pet shops do it for dogs, not quite as pricey as buying human grade, and if she won't eat much else, mashed potato. You can use instant, I had a dog with digestive problems (megaesophagus) and kept condition on her with Smash as well as her other food.
 
Feed according to condition, not what the label on the side of the tin says. If he is in good condition, don't worry about it. He will eat what he wants.
 
My jr is really fussy - but that's because he has bouts of tummy upsets (like ibs or colitis)

I tried so many foods, but have finally settled on fresh cooked chicken and a small amount of royal canin gastrointestinal biscuits. Some days he'll leave the biscuits but always eats the chicken and touch wood we haven't had a tummy issue for a few months now.
 
Dry Rot said:
Feed according to condition, not what the label on the side of the tin says. If he is in good condition, don't worry about it. He will eat what he wants.
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This! For years I worried that my dog would go days, quite literally without eating. It never did him any harm and he always looked good on it!
However I understand the spoiling him bit!
I've started giving mine tinned Pedigree Chum, something I've never ever fed a dog in my life, but, he now looks forward to dinner time and gobbles it up!
 
My 14 yr old cavi goes days without eating then will just bonios or winalot biscuits.
She does lime the tuna wrainwights pouches.

She has had three teeth out and a good clean about a month ago as I thought she needed a look at. Buy other than that I just let her get on with it.
 
my 13 year old JRT has been getting like that. Adding about .. 100ml? of warm water to her kibble, so it's very watery/suspended in water, not soggy [she HATES that] and she gobbles it down, it produces a gravy when the kibble meets the water :)
 
We've just been through all this with our old (rescue) dog, she got very picky and one day would eat everything and anything and the next day look at her bowl like it had poison in!

The key was variety, keeping her wondering what she was getting and not worrying too much if she just didn't feel like eating.

We found that frozen tripe cooked up with some plain rice always went down a bomb!, ditto rice & cooked egg, or chicken.

Cheese was always a winner too!

Probably not a good thing every day, but we always found that if she was being particularly picky then a raw egg would always get eaten up!

Sadly we lost our old girl in January, bless her :( She wouldn't even eat her beloved raw egg............. and so we knew it was time to PTS.

Oh, and ditto what someone else has said re. getting teeth checked.
 
I give my oldie slightly warmed food by mixing a little bit of boiling water though the food.When its cooled a bit he scoffs it down.Although hes never been one for going off his food warming it helps bring out the flavours.
 
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