Sorry - me again! - food issues with oldie :-(

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 March 2010
Messages
14,086
Visit site
My 14yr old hasn't eaten anything substantial now for two days, picky eater anyway but has got worse with age. I've tried everything that I can think of that she normally loves but apart from a few treats she's eaten nothing. She now only has wet food as won't touch dry food at all anymore.

I'm just concerned that we can't go on like this as she's skinny anyway, all recent blood tests have been ok and she gets so incredibly stressed at vets I don't want to put her through more tests etc. My gut feeling is it's a age thing although I am wondering about pain - can't give her oral pain meds as she won't eat but am going to pop into work and get her a injection on pain killer just to see if it does help at all, fingers crossed!!
 
What is she fed at the mo? Have you tried Allen and Page Fast Fibre or Dengie Alfa-Beet? Both are soaked into a mash and very good for weight gain without fizz (which you wouldn't want your oldie to have!). Also, have you had her teeth checked (I'm sure you have but always worth checking)
 
Could she have eaten something? My oldie got very sick about 18 months before we lost her because she ate too many apples, the vet came out and gave her a few shots and after a couple of days she was picking up ok. She had a similar problem about 6 months befofre she died and it was because a tooth was infected, the vet took it out and she was back to normal. She was totally freaked out by the vets but luckily the vet knew us well and came out to us each time :)
 
Talking about a dog not a horse :) Tried tuna etc, I'm a vet nurse anyway so yes vets would come out to me but think it's more a age thing so on speaking to colleague I've started her on vivitonin and a new anti-inflamm
 
Sorry this is going to sound incredibly harsh but I would have her PTS. I had a greyhound who stopped eating, being a greyhound she very quickly turned to skin and bone, loads of blood tests and everything but they could never find anything wrong....

Better a month too early than a minute too late :(
 
It's not harsh CareyR - my OH and I have discussed this tonight, she can't afford to loose any weight and I don't agree with keeping them alive just for the sake of it.

I want to give her a week on these new drugs and if things havn't improved by next Monday then it'll be time to do the right thing for her xx
 
My old samoyed bitch is 13 and is getting fussy with her food. She is on James Wellbeloved which suits her just fine, but recently we've had to mix it with tinned meat (just a taster) and sometimes a sprinkling of cheese, or even cat biscuits.
The tuna idea sounds good - have to try that one.
Echo Carey if there's a lot of weight lost (fortunately Idun doesn't have that problem!!!)
 
Have you tried some cat food? Our dogs loves cat food (especially the real expensive fancy stuff you can get in stupidly small tins - typical!). Otherwise, how about Webbox? Our oldie (who has always been fussy but has yet to refuse food completely) does seem to like the webbox dry food and also the meat - comes in a big smoked sausage style packet. I don't think it's got an awful lot of nutritional content if fed all the time (sort of like macdonald's burgers!) but it does seem to encourage them to eat and is not expensive. May be worth a short.

Also, try sardines, they seem to go down a treat.

At the end of the day though if she really is refusing to eat there must be a reason for it and if it goes on too long you may sadly have to look at having her PTS.

Our oldie was sick at one point and didn't eat for several days and also was projectile vomiting all the time and pooing blood. Vets couldn't find anything physically wrong. However, I actually then discovered a large thorn imbedded in his paw (he hadn't been limping). Pulled it out and I think it was blackthorn. I am convinced the toxin from this was what caused him to be ill as he soon seemed to get better even though at that point he'd been ill for well over 1 week. The vets did give us some stuff to put in his water to help his digestion and keep him hydrated. I actually had to spoon feed him the water with this in though as he was reluctant to have anything.

I wish you the best of luck!
 
Freshly cooked roast chicken always does the trick with my elderly picky boy, tuna works a treat, also cooked mince normally works as well. Good luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top