Suggest diet options for a dog who's refusing food.

beveragelady

My 12yo collie had a bad stomach upset last week, he has been to the vet and it seems to be under control now. The problem is he has now decided that he won't eat any more. I think he has connected the food with the general misery of illness and won't have anything to do with it. He's drinking plenty, so that's one less thing to worry about.
Up until now he has eaten chicken breast and sweet potato with rice and sometimes a small handful of dry food. He loved it, couldn't get enough of it, but now he absolutely will not touch any of it.
He is currently surviving on tiny morsels of lamb (not ideal because it's quite fatty and he has a history of pancreatitis) and minced beef (also not ideal for the same reason) and when the mood takes him, some turkey breast. He hasn't had more that a handful of food a day since Thursday. He won't touch anything with rice at all, so he's getting mostly meat.
He has always been a bit of a princess about his dinners and I'm fairly sure the difficulty is in his head rather than something physical. His health in general isn't great anyway and I don't want him to get any weaker or more run-down.

So, I'm looking for suggestions for low-fat meals. Really I'm looking for a substitute for rice. Could I give him potatoes, for example? Pasta? Noodles? Bleedin' quinoa? I'll try anything!

aonb

Pasta/potatos are fine for dogs - as fillers. But if you think its in his head, and he associates illness with a tummyful of food, then maybe try him with something like scrambled eggs - very gentle on his tummy. You could try boiling up some chicken in water with a bit of potato - nice soupy mixture. What about a tin of mashed up sardines or mackeral? A marrow bone? You could get some human pate and mash it up a bit, just to get something into him. A bit of white fish, steamed, and mashed? Your vet could give you a few syringes of that appetite stimulator stuff - name has gone form my head - like a paste in a big plastic syringe... I would talk to your vet in any case, if hes older, and not great healthwise, there might be something going on still? Hope hes better very soon

Graces7

I know this may sound silly but will the dog drink? Not just water but liquids that have good nutrition in them? Savoury soups etc? Or pureed food? Easier after a stomach upset?

mymo

Try the eggs as suggested, mine like a bit of butter on them, try something like a few chorizo slices heated on the pan with some mashed sweet potato and chicken.
Try pretending you're eating it and put the plate down for him. (my fella will take anything if he thinks it's people food.
Butternut squash soup is another one my two go nuts for, or just chunks of squash roasted.
Have you tried raw mince?

Bells21

One of ours went through a phase of this, medication she was on had really irritated her stomach and she was not eating. Ours are raw fed but I did scrambled egg, mashed potato with chicken running through, green tripe etc and just offered tiny amounts at regular intervals. Also see if you can get/make bone broth, supposed to be excellent for dodgy tummies and very gentle on them.

DBB

I had a terribly fussy older dog too, and on her bad days would have had zero success with anything suggested so far with her... Sorry!
What tended to work was any one if the following...
Royal Canin tinned recovery food... Can't remember the exact name, but it is hugely appetising and easy to eat. You'll get it from your vet.
Picnic roll. Yes. That's right
Sliced ham.
Pedigree tinned food (yes... I know )
James Wellbeloved dry food.

Potatoes are great for settling a sick tummy, they're supposed to be great purifying food. If he'll eat them... As suggested, maybe creamed up with stock or soup?
Have you tried (I'm guessing you have) letting him lick food from your fingers? As Bells said above, chances are you'll only get little small bits into him at a time, til he's better.
I'm wondering if he feels liverish (akin to a hungover feeling... You know those hangovers that the thought of most food makes you feel worse?) Did the vet do bloods?

tk123

Lucy went on hunger strike last year after she’d been very sick. The only thing she’d eat after 2 days was Liga ..I think my thought process was that readybrek would be smoother than porridge...but liga would be less messy/dusty and I ended up in front of Liga in the supermarket lol . At that I only managed to get her to eat initially by throwing pieces of it in the park for her and Bailey like it was a game and there was some competition from her brother and then playing with her and offering pieces of it to reward her for dropping the toy. It was day 3 or 4 before she entertained eating anything from her bowl although she followed Bailey into the kitchen for every meal then walked away from it!

Fakediamond

When my dog was recovering from illness, he would only eat small amounts from my hand, wouldn’t go near his bowl, which he associated with feeling ill. Also, try feeding him from a dinner plate that you’ve eaten from already. As mymo said, dogs love to eat what you’re eating and while you don’t have to feed him your leftovers, he might like the idea that he’s eating from your plate.

I think it takes them time to get over the memory of thinking that their food made them sick. My fella is back to his usual food now, but it took a while.

beveragelady

OP here.
Lots of useful stuff here, thanks very much. I suppose I may take myself shopping for delicacies tomorrow and hope for the best. I already have a fridge full of meat he has turned his nose up at (I'm a vegetarian...) so I might as well go the whole hog. He used to like roast sheeps' hearts, I might give those another try.
I'll try him on eggs and spuds and see how it goes. I hadn't even thought of Liga, I'll definitely try that too.
There's a chance the medication he's on to sort out the stomach upset is making him a little queasy too, but there are a few days of it left and I'm inclined to finish the course.
The poor old sod is completely blind so there's no point trying to make a game of his dinner or pretend it's my dinner. He's happy enough to eat a few tiny morsels out of my hand a couple of times a day but won't dream of approaching his bowl. He won't even drink from his water bowl, he'll only drink from the rainwater-collection I have outside. (He decided a long time ago that he doesn't like bottled water or tap water, he wants fresh rainwater.)

I know that if I can get him back into a routine of eating I'll eventually be able to reintroduce his normal dinners of chicken, sweet potato and rice. I just need to find a food so irresistible that he'll fill his tummy with it.

Fakediamond

Is he on antibiotics? I think that’s what upset my dogs tummy last time. The vet suggested he stop taking them and he improved. Maybe phone your vet and ask for advice?

What about porridge? Also gentle on the tummy and low fat!

bb12

black pudding, cheese, tuna, frankfurters.

jimf

with my old lady if she was off her food tinned cat food seemed to get her attention

DBB

jimf wrote: »

with my old lady if she was off her food tinned cat food seemed to get her attention

Jim, what's the B vitamin that stimulates appetite? You've posted about it before!

ruthy_2504

I have a 13.5 year old boxer who has always gone through spells with a funny tummy etc where he wouldn't eat for me, for varying lengths. I always found pasta soaked in chicken cuppa soup went down well! Not very filling or nutritious, so not a long term solution, but if you can get a meal or two into him that goes well he may get over whatever is going on in his head.

At the minute I mixing the below in with his nuts to get him to eat. It smells incredible, and my other dog looses her mind when she gets the smell of it, so that might also be worth a shot.

I feel for you, incredibly stressful times when they won't eat, especially when they are on the senior side

https://www.petstop.ie/naturo-adult-chicken-lamb-rice-vegetables?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcWT7I_92QIVqrDtCh39CwBREAQYAiABEgLd4fD_BwE

kjbsrah1

Have you had the dog checked out with the vet? They can usually offer the best advice while checking that there are no underlying issues as to why the dog might be off his food.

jimf

DBB wrote: »

Jim, what's the B vitamin that stimulates appetite? You've posted about it before!

b12 dbb

I get it from my vet in a liquid syrup form jaysus youd nearly drink it yourself

it reminds me of a tonic we used to have shoved down our throats every sat night I think it was called fosfor or something like that

dosage I think 1/2 teaspoon daily for a month but I'm not sure thank god haven't needed it in a few years last time I got for molly our little mixed grill

just run it by your vet first mine swears by it and I agree

StillThinking

My wee old woman cairn terrier has been going downhill these last few months, she's on laods of tablets and well supervised by the vet but she takes notions on not eating every other week and the only think she will entertain is the cheapest cat food I can find. It was the vet that suggested it so if all else fails maybe give that a go.
Funny thing is my actual cat turns his nose up at it for being too cheap!

beveragelady

OP here.
Thanks everybody. This is why I keep coming back to boards. There are loads of suggestions here for me to try. It's good to know I have a way to go before I run out of options.

I'm going to ask the vet about B12 syrup tomorrow. He just ate some Royal Canin gastro-intestinal food mushed up with warm water, about a quarter of a tin. After he had eaten the first bit I tried to add a Farley's rusk to the mush but he lost interest.

I've been a teacher long enough to know that when a child acts up the parents are always the problem. I think a part of the difficulty here is that he and I have a very tight bond, and now that he's blind he really depends on me for his security. He's very quick to pick up on my mood and where the dogs are concerned I'm quite emotional. I find it hard to see him so defeated and no matter how calm and cheerful I am when I try to feed him he definitely is aware that I'm bothered by it all.

He's curled up in his bed now, not even asking to be brought for his walk. Despite his blindness, his spondylosis, his arthritis and a few other minor complaints he still bloody loves his walk, so he must be feeling very sorry for himself if he's not even pretending to want to go. I might have to bring him back in the the vet to rule out some other problem.

jimf

something to remember which we might as owners overlook also the seniors dont need as much food as they used to when younger

a vet once told me small and often as when they wer puppies is often best for the seniors


I may be wrong but I tend to feed them whatever they want/need as they reach older years the cold can also have an adverse effect on the oldies like me I'm even more awkward and contrary in the cold than I usually am or so swmbo says