[halley05]

Sammy is 13 1/2 years old and in very good shape for that age. But lately she has refused to eat her food when we add in her additives. Granted, I do have a few as we feed Prozyme, Honest Kitchen's Perfect Form (good digestive formula); Invirgor (nutritional supplement); FortiFlora, Cell Advance 880; Fastrack. We are feeding Merrick's canned Working Dog Formula along with Royal Canine Low Digestive/Low Fat dry food.

The Royal Canine is basically for Halley as our Halley has some pancreatic problems.

We were doing very good but now Sammy will only eat if we leave off the additives. If she was Halley's age, I would just wait until she decided to eat as it is good food. However, at 13 1/2, I will not be as tough. In other words, I will basically give her what she wants.

Currently I have an appointment with the vet on Tuesday as she won't even eat her food if I add the Metacam in her food. So now I am emplying the Cell Advance capsule & adding the Metacam and giving it with cream cheese.

Her additives are good for her and I really hate to see her refuse to eat them but believe me, she knows they are there.

If I leave everything off, she eats very good. Any ideas?

Pat Moreno
Sammy & Halley

 

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Same exact thing here with Kramer. He is now not on any supplements or meds that I think he would benefit from, like his glucosamine (I was using Synovi crystals), Tramadol for pain, Prozyme, anything! This morning I tried dissolving something and no go. I would have thought his taste buds would have gotten less sensitive with age, but right now, he could test food for kings (other kings).

I look for liquid versions of everything now and mix it in water in his food-or dissolve things-but even that doesn't always work. I ordered chewable Synovi, which he had liked in the past, then stopped liking. Hoping he is back to liking it.

So right now the only thing he is getting regularly is his Adequan shot.

That is not, in my mind, enough to keep him feeling great, but at this age, I also give in.

Oh-and he is a total [censored] to pill! Plus he now will cough, so how can I do that to him.

I wonder if there is an answer-that would be great!

 

[arycrest]

I allow the seriors to more or less dictate what they want. Mac, who's not a senior, always gobbles up his Dasuquin. But Ringer, Honey & Kelly pick and choose when they will eat theirs and when they won't. I stopped sweating it.

I also cater to their whims and will feed them what they seem to want. When I add meds to their food and they don't like it I try different things to get them to eat. I'm usually successful when I mix prescription a/d with their meds - they love the stuff.

 

[BowWowMeow]

Chama is pretty good except now she's getting granulated garlic because tick season is coming and she hates that stuff. So now she throws everything on the floor and picks out what she wants. Then Rafi comes along and vacuums up whatever's left so he gets double some of the supplements.

So...I have to disguise the garlic. Here's what works:

--Juice from raw meat or cooked meat
--The gravy stuff from the canned food
--Tuna or salmon juice (as in the water from the can)
--Rehydrated freeze dried salmon pieces

So far one of those has been working but if they stop then I'll just skip the garlic. She fine with the other five supplements I give her.

 

[halley05]

Well, I'm glad to know it is just not us. One thing we are going to do is I have an appointment next Tuesday with our vet to discuss changing the metacam. I do notice this problem with the eating more if her pain flares up more so it could possibly be that.

I want to go back to previcox (& that may be misspelled but that one was possibly the best). Also it is a pill and I can use cream cheese which Sammy likes.

Then we are going to see about acupunture. I'm not to sure about that one but we can give it a try as it can't possibly hurt anything.

 

[LJsMom]

The human formulation of Metacam is Meloxicam - available at pharmacies in pill form.

I guess I'm lucky - my two puppers will eat anything with either cream cheese or butter on it!

 

[halley05]

That's good to know about Meloxicam. The liquid just doesn't work well for us.

 

[LJsMom]

And the Meloxican is cheaper!

 

[BowWowMeow]

If I'm giving Chama herbs then I give them separate from her food because they taste nasty.

And I jinxed things--this morning she wouldn't eat. I put some crumbled sheep's cheese in and then she ate!

 

[halley05]

Well, I will get some as getting her to eat in the mornings is tough. The afternoon is fine but the morning is hard.

I now have to sign the Cowboy dinner song to her in the mornings. Yes, I know it is a little crazy around here but anything that works.

 

[LJsMom]

My two LOVE stinky food - canned tripe - and not so stinky - canned Beaver.

 

[halley05]

I have heard of canned tripe--in fact we had fed it in the past. Canned beaver is something I don't think we have in Florida.

 

[LJsMom]

The canned beaver is made by Canine Caviar.

 

[halley05]

Ok. I have heard of Canine Caviar as the store near us has that brand. Thanks I will check it out next week.

 

[BowWowMeow]

I tried the canned beaver. Chama prefers the canned Nature's Variety duck. It has a lot of gravy and smooshes up well. Sometimes I add warm water too to make it smellier. She actually gets 1/3 can of food a day now. It keeps her weight down and it's easier to get her to eat.

The crumbled sheep's cheese was amazing though--she practically dove into her bowl!

 

[3K9Mom]

Zamboni doesn't take her pills like she used to. I can put them all the way down her throat and somehow, she manages to bring them back up.

But I'm with Gayle. I'll have three bags of dog food around if I have to. If one dog really won't do a certain food (especially with supplements), then they get their own food. I don't give in to pickiness. But heck, in the big scheme of things, kibble and canned is pretty easy. If we have to open another bag and have two different bags sitting around the house, our seniors have earned it.

Also, are all of those supplements 100% necessary? I know that they may seem helpful, but are they ALL *necessary*? I know sometimes, I get a pile of pills on the kitchen counter to give to my dogs and I have to stop myself. Do they really need all this stuff, and do they need it all every single day or can I skip days on some of them, so that each day's "intake" is more reasonable?

If not, perhaps you can rotate those that you like, but aren't as necessary.

If she needs the enzymes for EPI or similar, you can't skip those. If she has SIBO tendencies, then you may have to feed the Fortiflora. But if you're adding those to "help" her digestion and you've never had serious digestion issues in the past, well, she might be pleased if you gave her a more palatable and highly digestible kibble and less synthetic powder on top.

Of course, I don't know a darn thing about your dog's health, that's why I'm saying, "if your dog needs this." Often, too, our vets suggest or prescribe things, and they forget that they suggested something similar last year. So we keep using last year's stuff and we start using this year's recommended powder as well. That's why I like to take inventory of what I give my dogs. I ask myself "what exactly does this do, and why am I giving it?" and more importantly, "what need does my dog have that requires it?"

If you can't clearly answer why your dog needs something, then maybe she doesn't, and maybe you can streamline what you're giving her, making her happier and even saving a few $$ in the process.

Maybe. Hopefully?

Just my two cents.

 

[halley05]

This morning she eat everything but I didn't put any supplements. Actually Sammy has good health for her age. The fortiflora is excellent and I've had good results with it in both dogs. However, it was precribed for Halley who has the EPI.

We are now trying another varity of the Merricks canned food. Fortunately they have several different types. We did add some dry Royal Canine and today that worked. The mornings are the worst as in the evenings she will not be so difficult to please.

But the idea to rotate the supplements is good. If she does well this week eating, then next week I will give that a try.

Thanks!