Tempting elderly dog to eat

Brownmare

Brownmare

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My old lurcher isn't doing too well :( He has always been a fussy eater but it has now got ridiculous. I think his mind is going a bit as he occasionally looks lost and vacant and he has started trying to bury his food then taking another bite and so on. The other day he even tried to use my son to bury his food! (Son was sitting on a dog bed which is what he usually uses)
The vet thinks he has a tumour in his digestive tract but as he would be unlikely to survive the anaesthetic we have not investigated further. Realistically I know he is having his last summer but he isn't ready to go yet as he has a bouncy moment most days and is keen to come out on walks (even when the grumpy JRT wants to stay behind!)

I would really like some suggestions for food to get him eating better. The others are on raw but he won't eat that so he is on kibble - Canagan usually but we are changing about trying to find something he will eat so he is on Symply atm plus a variety of toppings depending on what we can think of!
 
Could you warm it up so it smells nicer? That is recommended for cats. Or mine love their sardines that they have once a week, maybe try that. Really strong smelling stuff - tripe perhaps? You can buy it in frozen free flow packs.
 
If he only has months then I'd not give the kibble if he's not bothered..try pasta,meat or fish and I bet he's interested.Id also buy in hill a/d tins ... This is a puree soft food that is made for old ,sick and convalescing dogs ..it is very high in calories ,yet in a tiny tin...the dog will get a lot of nourishment from a small amount.
 
With my lovely little old boy i resorted to cooking sausages and hand feeding them in little bits. I swear he was taking the mick a little but it worked and he put a little weight back on when things were looking a bit dire. Gravy and mashed potato also helped.
Poor old thing, hope you get him eating. Its really sad seeing them old and feeble. xx
 
I'm sorry -I went through this as well. Hot dogs, pilchards, chubb, gravy and he loved those Applaws pouches (the chicken, beef and seaweed in a broth), chappie tins once in a while. anything that smells quite bad! He was worse when he was uncomfortable so if he's not already, have a chat to vet about pain medication? Mine did well on tramadol for a while, on top of metacam.
 
Scrambled egg and rice, chicken and rice. Fish, minced beef, chicken or Turkey. Sardines. Even soup if he will eat it. If you want to keep him on kibble try soaking it in hot water with some gravy.
If he hasn't got long I would spoil him.
 
My old boy gets minced beef chicken or pork, mixed with rice and different veg. He loves it but then even that started to seem boring to him so he started stealing the other dogs food ...boring kibble! You can't win with these oldies sometimes ;)
 
Lots of good suggestions here, many of which I used towards the end. I bought Natures Menu chicken and tripe mince which my oldie liked cooked in a little water for 5minutes. I could make up a few meals at a time.
They do seem to like you to ring the changes. Good luck, it's a sad time.
 
Some really good ideas to try, thanks all :)

I think I need to let go of the kibble - as some have said he deserves to be spoilt at this stage and I have been adding "extras" to the kibble instead of thinking of a complete diet revamp! Tonight I added scrambled egg to his kibble and he ate about half of it then pushed the pup off her raw dinner (first time ever!) and ate some of that before coming to stare at me pointedly while I was chopping salami for our dinner.... so he got some of that too (posh salami from our local food festival too, lucky beggar)

I am dreading losing this guy, I have known him longer than my husband, over a third of my life in fact, he is like a part of me now
 
I was quite happy to stop feeding kibble if Chester didn't want it, and was making batches of mince (my hubby thought it was for him and was a bit envious it was for the dog lol

But he started eating kibble again of his own accord. I'm fairly certain he's just trained me to do his bidding.
 
Lily's kitchen wet food, especially the Venison and Wild Boar, apparently this is the top flavour ( for now) for my fussy lurcher.

It might also be worth looking into a gentle anti-inflammatory like Yumove, I know its for joints, but any tummy inflammation wont know that.
 
My vet suggested using cat food as it was a bit more tasty - certainly worked for my old girl when she was in her last 6 months. i used to give her half cat food, half dog food. worked out a bit more pricey but I ended up throwing less food away!
 
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