Dry food recs for older dog, now finicky, maybe pancreatitis

1040 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Dawnben, Jun 1, 2016

Otherchuck

Discussion Starter · May 31, 2016

Greetings all,

My female Australian shepherd, Britney, just turned 14, and after years of not being a problem eater at all, she suddenly became very finicky and has to really be cajoled to eat her whole meal. She used to eat California Natural weight management brown rice and lamb dry formula, with a spoonful of a wet Cal Nat food stirred in to increase palatability. No digestion probs, nice small stools, etc. When she suddenly lost interest in that meal, we tried other stuff that we thought would be more palatable, but haven't had much luck (though there is sometimes a novelty effect).

She had a blood test in Feb, and we took her in for a blood and urine test last week, and the results were pretty good (I think) considering her age. The urine taste indicated no kidney trouble, most blood panel items were okay, but a couple indicated possible pancreatitis. It would have to be a low grade version...she hasn't thrown up, been lethargic, or showed any signs of sickness. We don't give her any table scraps or many treats, but she follows my wife around the kitchen always looking for dropped food, and when she gets a treat (like a crunchy rawhide, or her chewable Cosequin DS) she loves it...so it is not like she is totally uninterested in eating...she just is totally uninterested in her food.

So...while I know I am probably opening a whole can of controversy...any recommended strategies for dealing with this? We could give her boiled chicken and rice for a while to let her stomach/intestines heal (if indeed that is the problem other than just geriatric finickiness) and then try to go back to her old food. Or we could switch to something like Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal Low Fat Dry food, or Prescription Diet I/D low fat, or something along those lines. Our vet has us giving her Pepcid for now, but didn't make any new food suggestions.

Thanks for reading, and I welcome any suggestions!

Chuck

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Rain

· #2 · May 31, 2016

Otherchuck said:
Greetings all,

My female Australian shepherd, Britney, just turned 14, and after years of not being a problem eater at all, she suddenly became very finicky and has to really be cajoled to eat her whole meal. She used to eat California Natural weight management brown rice and lamb dry formula, with a spoonful of a wet Cal Nat food stirred in to increase palatability. No digestion probs, nice small stools, etc. When she suddenly lost interest in that meal, we tried other stuff that we thought would be more palatable, but haven't had much luck (though there is sometimes a novelty effect).

She had a blood test in Feb, and we took her in for a blood and urine test last week, and the results were pretty good (I think) considering her age. The urine taste indicated no kidney trouble, most blood panel items were okay, but a couple indicated possible pancreatitis. It would have to be a low grade version...she hasn't thrown up, been lethargic, or showed any signs of sickness. We don't give her any table scraps or many treats, but she follows my wife around the kitchen always looking for dropped food, and when she gets a treat (like a crunchy rawhide, or her chewable Cosequin DS) she loves it...so it is not like she is totally uninterested in eating...she just is totally uninterested in her food.

So...while I know I am probably opening a whole can of controversy...any recommended strategies for dealing with this? We could give her boiled chicken and rice for a while to let her stomach/intestines heal (if indeed that is the problem other than just geriatric finickiness) and then try to go back to her old food. Or we could switch to something like Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal Low Fat Dry food, or Prescription Diet I/D low fat, or something along those lines. Our vet has us giving her Pepcid for now, but didn't make any new food suggestions.

Thanks for reading, and I welcome any suggestions!

Chuck

How's her teeth? If her mouth hurts that might be what's causing her to not want to eat.

When my elderly dog stopped eating I first started cooking him a home cooked topper, because he stopped wanting the kibble even with canned food mixed in. That worked for awhile but eventually he lost interest in it. We went to strictly home cooking with a vitamin / mineral supplement mixed in and that worked for a few weeks, but eventually he lost interest in everything I tried. Hopefully your dog will not be the same. I just want to warn you that it's never a good sign when a former chow hound (that's what my boy was) loses interest in food.

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