Old dog - fussy eater (vet, teeth, symptoms, chew)

[NJDevil]

My 16 year old is always hungry, sniffs and licks the floor half the day. Stares at me. Never finishes her food. I give her the good stuff (Blue or similar - I've tried different brands), even mixed some rice in, she still doesn't finish. Up until a few months ago, we never had this problem. Is she just sick and tired of dog food? I'm not gonna cook for her.

[dee 42]

Dont cook for her. Here is what I would do, I would immediately take her off dog food and start raw feeding. Please check out the threads already posted on this subject.

[dogpaw]

When was the last time she was at the vet? At 16 I would be concerned that something else is going on besides just not likeing her food. Maybe she is at a point that she doesn't need to eat as much as she used to.

I would add some can food in and see if that helps.

[Dashdog]

At 14 Jazz is not the chow hound she use to be. She still loves dog snacks but food she eats about 1/2 of it so I have been feeding her half of her normal amount. I think their metabolism starts to slow down and she is not as active as she was when she was younger.Old dogs seem to be not as hungry or maybe their sense of smell and taste start diminishing like it does in elderly people? If you have not seen the vet recently you might want to have a blood panel done to make sure there are not any health issues.


I mix the merrick can food into the dry and in her younger days Jazz would be dancing up a storm as she waited for Grammy's Pot pie now she looks at it like " Oh well if that is what is being served guess I have to eat it" But since she eats enough to maintain her weight and her last blood tests were OK I am not too concerned and write it off to old age.( heck my dad at 86 eats a fraction of what he use to eat too!). I have noticed if she eats shortly after a walk she does tend to eat with more gusto so we go on a walk before dinner now.

[Honeycrisp]

I wonder if she might have a loose tooth or some other tooth problem

[dogmomof2]

I would take her to the vet just in case, but also try softening her food with water. My greyhound mix is down to just 6 teeth, and we add water to her food and she is able to wolf it down.

[FiveHorses]

I also thought teeth or gums.

If there's no physical reason found for this change, then I'd suggest you cut back on the amount you offer at any one time. Only offer her less than she'll actually finish as well as offering more frequently if possible (ie, same total amount, just portioned up into small meals she can deal with). She may just be finding it difficult to cope with quantity.

[NJDevil]

She has congestive heart failure, and one of the later symptoms is loss of appetite, but she's not at that stage yet. I can see she's hungry, she just doesn't want what's in her dish (she wants what's in the other dogs' dishes). I do put water in with it, I have been putting more canned and rice and less dry, but I can try stopping the dry altogether. I was wondering about her teeth too but she still wants a rawhide chew every night and she still eats them.

[atina33]

My 8 y.o. dog has always been a picky eater (she'd rather play than eat) but if I sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top of her kibble, she gobbles it right up. I'm talking nice parmesan...not that flaky Kraft stuff. She's a bit of a cheese snob.

[NJDevil]

LOL too funny. Ivy likes bread or the "dog gravy" and I've tried to mix it in her food but once she gets in her head that she doesn't want it, then forget it. I have to watch her salt intake and I think cheese is salty. I got a sample pack of Rachael Ray's Nutrish and she gobbled that up, so I have to see where that is sold.