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My 8 1/2 year old schnoodle has been exhibiting signs of teeth sensitivity at meal times. Recently, he will flinch, skitter away from his bowl, and then will stare at it and whine. I'll move the food around and he'll come back for more.
We feed him Blue Buffalo dry food for small breeds. However, he seems to have no problem with eating his treats (Ideal Balance Soft Baked) or the occasional dentastix.
I'm looking for recommendations for a soft kibble of a similar quality. I'd like to avoid wet/canned food because he has the schnauzer beard that I'd like to keep relatively clean. Of course, if that is my only option, that's what we'll do.
I'm hoping there is something on the market that has a simiar texture/softness to Purina Moist and Meaty but is a better quality food.
In the meantime, you could add a little bit of warm water to his dry kibble and let it soak for 15 minutes and see if he will eat it. This will soften it up, but by adjusting the amount of water you add you can control how "wet" it is.
Try Fresh pet. It's a sausage meal. My dogs love it. Easy to digest, not messy at all. It's like a big hotdog and you can cut it in smaller pieces if you like. A little pricey but more affordable than its competitors, you can find it at your local Walmart pet section.
P.S. I adopt older dogs and often their teeth are worn down badly enough that they have trouble eating dry food. As noted in my post above, I feed Bil-Jac Frozen Dog Food -- but I also feed them canned cat food. Friskies Savory Shreds can pretty much be swallowed without any chewing.
One warning, though -- once a dog eats canned cat food, he'll rarely go back to dry food. One of my older dogs lived many years longer than my vet predicted and ate canned cat food every single day. I know it's not supposed to be healthy for a dog to do that but I have full CBCs done every six months on each dog and never had any problems.
Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll look into each one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks
Best thing to do is start with a dental exam and cleaning. Treating the root cause will help the pain and sensitivity most of all.
Thank you for this.
This coming February will be the two year anniversary of us adopting him. When we brought him in for his initial exam, our vet told us that he would need yearly teeth cleanings because his teeth do not align (and so they don't self clean as well as other dogs' when chewing) and he's had a few teeth pulled. We had his teeth cleaned February of this year.
He's scheduled for his annual check up and blood work in January and I'll ask them to take a peek. We're trying to hold off until February for the dental because our vet runs a special during National Pet Dental Health Month. I don't think it's urgent at this point because he's eating soft treats and chewing on his toys just fine. I've not seen any blood on his toys either. It's just that hard crunchy food. Of course, if it appears to worsen, we won't wait until February.
Have you tried soaking his kibble in broth (no salt)? That might be the best nutrition-wise bet?
I wouldn't go as far as to feed half his meal as meat (sometimes they will just pick out the meat, and you will no longer have a balance). But, adding some meat - in small pieces, with broth might help.
You might boil down a whole chicken, keep adding water, and skim off the fat to dispose of (when it cools). Take out the bones, and keep the rest to scoop over his food each meal. Freeze what you won't use in 3 days.
A little more complicated, but you could also put his food in a blender after soaking it for awhile.
Now that I think of it, canned food would be far less complicated than either of those ideas!
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