Senior dog dry food

sillysmiles

What's people's thoughts on seniour dry dog food? How do you decide what age to switch them to senior dog food? Lab approximately 10 to 11 years old has been on Markus Mueller from zooplus for the last 6 years. At the last couple of days he seems to be going off his food but just his dry food will still eat anything else so it's not an appetite issue. But this did get me thinking if I should be looking to change to senior dog food for him anyway?
Any recommendations of senior dry dog food either on zooplus or in actual shops?

So in short:
Do they need senior food?
What or criteria fo you switch them to dry food?
Any recommendations for dry?

jimf

a trip to the vet to have a dental check might reveal the reason

could be a bad tooth / sore gums thats putting him off chewing

Meathcat

I haven't put any of mine on senior food. They are currently on Gain Buddy (it's €13.99 for 15kg in Mr Price) and no problems. Mine are 2 female lab x at age 14, one female lab x at 14 1/2 and a small terrier at 15 1/2. I soak their food from the night before so it's soft for them by the next morning.

They get bored of the same flavours from time to time so I would sometimes add gravy. I also add in any water that I have used from cooking, like boiling veg, rice or pasta plus I add in any leftovers of food they are allowed to eat. I also give 3 of them Turmeric in their feed which helps with mobility. One of the labs gets a glucosamine also as she has arthritis. Other than that, they are all fine and healthy. The 3 without arthritis still go for walks, play in the garden and chase a ball.

DBB

There is an argument for adjusting the diet of the senior dog, on a number of different fronts. No harm to reduce protein a bit to take pressure off the kidneys, but also there is good evidence that shows that increasing essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and various vitamins can not only halt, but reverse the onset of cognitive dementia, something that doesn't work so well with humans.
Glucosamine and chondroitin are usually added to help with joint issues, although there's not much evidence to support the use of glucosamine for this purpose.
Senior foods generally take account of these factors and add in these extra things into their foods. As a raw feeder, I supplement older dog diets accordingly.
So yep, there is certainly good reason to adjust the diet for senior dogs... generally from the age of 8ish onwards.