Grey Who's Always Been A Picky Eater, Slowly Getting More Picky -

[Guest SmilingSara]

Gracie is 12yrs old. She's never been a super-food-motivated dog, and would often leave the last 10% of a meal, all her life.

 

We've always fed 2x/day, with very limited timeframe to eat. Her brothers were always done in seconds, but we baby-gated Gracie in the living room to give her the several minutes that she'd usually take, to empty or nearly-empty her bowl.

 

We feed Chicken Soup for the Soul. I've made sure that at least 75% of their diet is that & constant, but we also add some of our dinner leftovers to their meal the next day.

 

Over the past couple of years, she's left food more & more often. So for a while, we were adding extra goodies to her bowl, buying jars of gravy or tomato sauce or broth to make it a bit more interesting.

 

When that got less reliable, we finally said "if we have to add all this, to make her food taste borderline good, then why don't we pick a new food?" So we tried a couple of Blue Diamond flavors (transitioning gradually). Those were OK when they were new but soon lost their appeal too.

 

So for the past month, I've been cooking for her. Mostly chicken & rice + whatever veggie leftovers we had. Canned tuna sometimes instead of chicken. Again, this worked great for a while, but began to lose its appeal.

 

So we've been trying everything from raw ground beef, to cooked ground beef (working at the moment), to mac & cheese, to sweet potatoes, even real bacon bits, and still nothing is working consistently, other than her sweet potatoe cookies or vanilla wafers (neither of these are nutrient-rich).

 

I can see 6-9 ribs depending on her pose.

 

Went to the vet, so far he's found nothing conclusive wrong (even w/ bloodwork), but going to try to get a urine sample this week to give him more data on her kidneys. If her kidneys are failing, I know I have to watch I don't overdo the protein & stay away from phosphorus.

 

But does anyone have any super-appealing foods that we should try?

 

 

[JAJ2010]

goat milk! It's like doggy crack and really high in calories. I feed the raw goat milk, but I bet pasteurized would taste good to them too

[Remolacha]

I am going through the same thing with my 11 1/2 yr old Molly. So far I have been able to keep her more or less eating, but it is a day to day thing. Mornings are much worse than evenings. Vet checks haven't found anything, so I am thinking it is just her age. Goat milk worked for awhile. I am thinking about trying some nutritional yeast, I have seen it recommended on GT before. Other things that have worked for her in the past are sardines and canned green tripe. Actually, the green tripe is still working most days.

[claudiav]

canned green tripe http://www.petfooddirect.com/Product/1306/Tripett-Green-Beef-Tripe-Original-Formula-Canned-Dog-Food

 

tripe stick http://www.petfooddirect.com/Product/14638/Bingo-Buffalo-Green-Tripe-Stick-Dog-Chew-Treat and tripe pressed bones for treats... http://www.petfooddirect.com/Product/14642/Bingo-Buffalo-Tripe-Pressed-Bone-Dog-Chew-Treat

 

 

and cat food... they LOVE canned cat food... mixed in with whatever you feed....

 

re: goat's milk.... watch out for too much dairy... it will bring on the runs...

[Guest june]

Have you tried vanilla Ensure? Also pasta or rice often is hard for them to turn down. Good luck.

[Guest SmilingSara]

Wow, thanks already for the replies! Some good new ideas already!

Just for clarification/ease of reading, here's a list of what we have tried.

 

Tried w/ no/mixed luck:

3 different kibbles

Chicken (white meat + thighs)

Raw ground beef

Plain Rice

Cheesy Rice Packets

Plain Pasta

Cheesy Pasta

Real Bacon Bits - any other dog not eat this???

Cooked Shrimp

Cottage Cheese

Yogurt

Peanutbutter - any other dog not eat this???

Peas

Green Beans

Carrots

Broccoli

Tomatoes

 

Working so far:

Sweet potato dog cookies (crunchy)

Vanilla wafers (crunchy)

Cooked ground beef

Turkey bacon strips

Mozzarella cheese chunks

Tomato sauce

 

I need to make sure she's getting no more protein than typical dog food, due to the possibility of kidney issues, so I'd love to find a good fruit, veggie, and/or starch.

 

Thanks again for the ideas so far!

[Remolacha]

Most dogs like pumpkin, if you are trying to add a veggie (or is it a fruit?) neither one of my current girls cares much for peanut butter, weird! My vet suggested trying tahini instead, some dogs like it, some don't. Mine did't, but I do, so no loss

[RedHead]

I second the tripe if you can get it. They sell it canned in most petstores, although if you can get it fresh it's more ideal (the green stuff, only available through pet distributors). It isn't really high in phosphorus, most dogs love it (it stinks) and is pretty high in nutrients as well. I have also had a lot of success with liver powder sprinkle.

 

Dog food (despite what the bag says) doesn't really have much of a flavour, dog's often use their sense of smell more than taste to decide what they want to eat.

[Guest SmilingSara]

Thanks everyone! My husband also had the briliant idea of HEATING UP the food just slightly above room temp.

 

I had been making big batches of stuff, which were a little warm still upon first serving (usually successful), but subsequently served out of the fridge - with less luck.

 

Re-heating beef, mac, & tomato sauce worked last night + today.

 

Still with so many votes for tripe, I think we'll have to try it - especially if the kidney issues are confirmed.

 

Will keep the other ideas in our back pocket. THANKS SO MUCH!

[charbess]

Our 12 1/2 yr old Bess is causing us agita with her on again/off again interest in food. I took the advice of another forum member and bought canned tripe and all the talk of it being smelly is absolutely true, by the way. That was enticing for a day or two and I was only using it as a topping and mixed into her kibble. Now she is turning her nose up at it and we are now onto canned vienna sausages (ok, but no big deal) and canned sardines in tomato sauce (which I rinse off before serving, I couldn't find any plain during my panic shopping trip.)

 

She upchucked some yellow bile today and there went a bed because it soaked through to the stuffing. I picked up Pepcid and gave her a pill tonight but not sure if it will do any good as I did not pulverize it and it is supposed to be chewed before swallowing. I just coated it with peanut butter which she never turns down but this time she did and I had to push it down her throat. Tomorrow I will scramble up a couple of eggs and see how that works. She used to like hard boiled but that is old hat by now...

Edited October 23, 2013 by charbess

[claudiav]

Our 12 1/2 yr old Bess is causing us agita with her on again/off again interest in food. I took the advice of another forum member and bought canned tripe and all the talk of it being smelly is absolutely true, by the way. That was enticing for a day or two and I was only using it as a topping and mixed into her kibble. Now she is turning her nose up at it and we are now onto canned vienna sausages (ok, but no big deal) and canned sardines in tomato sauce (which I rinse off before serving, I couldn't find any plain during my panic shopping trip.)

 

She upchucked some yellow bile today and there went a bed because it soaked through to the stuffing. I picked up Pepcid and gave her a pill tonight but not sure if it will do any good as I did not pulverize it and it is supposed to be chewed before swallowing. I just coated it with peanut butter which she never turns down but this time she did and I had to push it down her throat. Tomorrow I will scramble up a couple of eggs and see how that works. She used to like hard boiled but that is old hat by now...

 

Oh no.... again? did you try giving her the can of tripe without kibble? Leyla inhaled a can this morning... don't forget canned cat food.... the stinkier the better.... Sarge has bee giving me some trouble too... he is tired of the kibble and canned food he's been eating for a month now... wouldn't go near it since the weekend.... picked up another gastro intestinal vet food and he's scarfing it down... good luck!

[Guest sireltonsmom]

When Sir Elton got to be 14-1/2 we ran into this with him. We cooked mac and cheese with hamburg in it which he ate well. We also gave him the vanilla ensure (or local brand) which he drank too. It's so worrying when they back down on eating. Old folks do the same too. It may just be the normal aging progression :-(. Good luck with Bess. Sweet girly!

 

[Guest k9soul]

I empathize as I am going through the same thing with my 14-year-old (mixed breed) too. I will land on something she seems to eat up easily and be relieved, only to have her suddenly turn her nose up at it and never want it again. It's so frustrating and worrisome.

[GeorgeofNE]

I'm curious why your vet didn't just draw some urine if he's concerned about her kidneys?

 

At her age, frankly I'd let her eat anything she wanted. Worrying about long term consequences in a teenage dog is probably not worth the angst.

[Guest greybookends]

Sometimes there is no real reason for the pickiness. I fought with Bill for 8 years and trust me I tried everything in the book. Heck I wrote a book! There are rules for every situation and Bill was the exception to all of them. I finally learned to suck it up and roll with the punches. I hope you do not have to do this and can get your girl straitened out, but I agree with GeorgeofNE at her age let her have whatever she will eat.

[TheFullHouse]

I've had this with every senior dog I've had. It just seems that when they reach a certain age, they are like senior humans, they don't want to eat much and pick and choose what they feel like eating. Bebe was my worst, she would eat almost any human food you gave her but when it came to kibble, not a chance on certain days. I wanted to keep her eating the kibble because of the calories so was always switching what I was putting in it. What was working before she passed away was Wellness Beef Stew added to her kibble. She loved it.

[Time4ANap]

How did the scrambled eggs go over? If I so much as get an egg out of the refrigerator, I have an audience.

 

I've also found green beans to be a big hit, although most of the other things you listed are pretty well liked in this house.

 

Also, crumbs from treats (ground up Burpdogs, ginger snaps etc) sprinkled on top of the kibble you actually want them to eat is worth a try. if it tastes like cookies, it must be good!

[brandimom]

My 11 y.o. gh started getting picky and I tried raw goat's milk and she loves it, no more picky. But of course that could change at any time.

Edited November 4, 2013 by brandimom

[FiveRoooooers]

Our 12 1/2 yr old Bess is causing us agita with her on again/off again interest in food. I took the advice of another forum member and bought canned tripe and all the talk of it being smelly is absolutely true, by the way. That was enticing for a day or two and I was only using it as a topping and mixed into her kibble. Now she is turning her nose up at it and we are now onto canned vienna sausages (ok, but no big deal) and canned sardines in tomato sauce (which I rinse off before serving, I couldn't find any plain during my panic shopping trip.)

 

She upchucked some yellow bile today and there went a bed because it soaked through to the stuffing. I picked up Pepcid and gave her a pill tonight but not sure if it will do any good as I did not pulverize it and it is supposed to be chewed before swallowing. I just coated it with peanut butter which she never turns down but this time she did and I had to push it down her throat. Tomorrow I will scramble up a couple of eggs and see how that works. She used to like hard boiled but that is old hat by now...

We have "Sardine Saturday" every week and feed sardines with tomato sauce, no need to rinse off the good stuff. If you can find them in oil, those are good too. You can start off feeding a small amount to see how Bess likes them and if they agree with her. We also give Pepcid whole, not crushed, in peanut butter, liverwurst or cheese.

 

Other add-ins that have worked here for my picky seniors include canned puppy food, and liverwurst. Seamie takes his pills with it, and when he gets picky about his meal I make a gravy with ~1 tablespoon liverwurst and water, spread that over whatever is left in his dish, and he cleans it up.

[charbess]

 

Oh no.... again? did you try giving her the can of tripe without kibble? Leyla inhaled a can this morning... don't forget canned cat food.... the stinkier the better.... Sarge has bee giving me some trouble too... he is tired of the kibble and canned food he's been eating for a month now... wouldn't go near it since the weekend.... picked up another gastro intestinal vet food and he's scarfing it down... good luck!

We are on borrowed time...the vet put her on Prednisone last Wednesday and I know that increases urination...yesterday we were out for 5 hours and came home to a flooded living room. Today she is pickier than ever...made Mac and Cheese and added mushed up hard boiled egg and sardines...NOTHING. A little rotisserie chicken worked for a few mouthfuls. I don't know stinky catfood from non-stinky and apparently bought the wrong kind because it didn't interest her. Next shopping trip I will pop a few cans and snort it in the store...

[claudiav]

We are on borrowed time...the vet put her on Prednisone last Wednesday and I know that increases urination...yesterday we were out for 5 hours and came home to a flooded living room. Today she is pickier than ever...made Mac and Cheese and added mushed up hard boiled egg and sardines...NOTHING. A little rotisserie chicken worked for a few mouthfuls. I don't know stinky catfood from non-stinky and apparently bought the wrong kind because it didn't interest her. Next shopping trip I will pop a few cans and snort it in the store...

 

I'm so sorry... try scrambled eggs, liverwurst, whipped cream, ice cream... anything she wants... I know the Pred side effects too... Sarge has been on it since Thrusday, and I have not had a quiet night since then, waking up at least 5 times to get him back upstairs to sleep in bed with me... he goes down the stairs on his own, and uses the doggie door to do his business, but he needs to be helped up the stairs... so I know the constant need to wake up and let her out to pee from the excessive drinking... thinking of you...

[Mystella]

Stella liked to eat the same food, (eagle pack holistic) with warm water, every day. Did not like changes.

 

Jeffy on the other hand has always been a one bag eater. He will happily eat one bag of any food, if I buy that same food next bag, nope he won't eat it. I rotate about 5 different kibbles one bag at a time. I also add to it a bit as we get toward the end of the bag, boiled hamburger, a bit of grated cheese, a scrambled egg etc.

 

He just likes variety and is a very skinny boy so I can't afford to have him missing meals, and he is stubborn.

 

The constant food change doesn't seem to have any affect on his digestive system, sometimes runny poop for a day or two of the new bag then back to normal.

[charbess]

I cooked up a batch of chicken thighs in the slow cooker last night and Bess ate the whole package today with some help from Cooper!!! Today was a good day! Tomorrow, who knows but I am going to the store for more thighs tomorrow. I cannot stand the smell of them cooking so I always add a couple of stalks of celery and some carrots to the water and it is manageable. She likes the broth, too. Also got Natural Balance venison and sweet potato (canned) and that was good for a while so I will try that again tomorrow.