Advise on dealing with very elderly, greiving dog?

[DooinMeCleanin]

The Akita is not doing well He looks very thin and is not himself at all. I took him some pilchards, chicken and tripe last night. He picked the fish out, but that's it. That's all he has eaten since his mate became ill, bar dried liver teats and some nature diet stuff dd1 bought him.

He is not himself at all. He didn't even look at me when I visited him last night, let alone get up to greet me like he usually does.

Is there anyway we can cheer him up a bit? And any tips on tasty, high cal treats, he is too old to cope with loosing weight so quickly? (he has just been wormed, so it's just lack of appetite)

I've just ordered him Orijen Senior instead of the crap my parents were feeding him. Is there anything else I should be be/can do for him?

This is hard to do because you are grieving yourself but the best thing for the Akita (if he is not ill - I would get him checked out just to rule that out) is to be upbeat and confident.

Do not "mother" him or give him any special treatment I know this is really hard to do all you want to do is to throw your arms around his neck and have a big sob BUT that will only upset the dog more.

Keep him busy, keep him active and up the training but generally keep things up beat. Poor little chap

I am sorry to hear of your loss. When we lost our female collie in the summer, it really hit our male collie. We made sure we gave him lots of exercise and cuddles when he wanted them. We did as Minimu suggested and were upbeat and cheery in his presence. He was used to sleeping downstairs with our female collie. The first night after she died, he followed us upstairs and he has slept in our room since. It has been 6 months now and he is his normal bouncy self - well as bouncy as you can expect a 12.5 year old collie to be! I think the extra walks were key - exercise is a great healer.

He is 14 and his breed generally only lives 10-12 years, so I am really worried about him, but have passed on your advise to my parents and I'll be seeing him again tomorrow.

They've just told me he is still moping, but my Dad took the chicken and tripe mix up last night and put it in the fridge and he ate the rest this morning. He has also eaten some, but not all, of his dinner. and had some goats milk for brekkie, so he's doing a bit better on the eating side.

I'll get him to the vets asap, but it's likely to be monday now, as I work tomorrow, my mum is scared of him (he is nothing to be scared of, he is a gentle giant) and my dad is too ill to walk to the vets.

If I thoght he was seriously ill, obv I would take the day off for him. But if he is eating he is doing better.