What can I feed my old girl?

[Cocolapew]

She's half cocker half lab so not eating has never been a problem!
She's struggling to eat now or has just got fussier. She always had sardines in the morning and dry food for dinner, but isn't eating any of the fish offered now
She started to struggle on the dry food I was using, Vets Kitchen, so a friend suggested swapping for a small dog one in case it was too crunchy for her, that worked well for a while
A few months ago she was ill with a growth on her belly and she hasn't really been the same. She is stiff with arthritis and she went onto Gabapentine last week but I've taken her off it, she wasn't enjoying anything, just lying around.
I've been making her chicken and rice with a handful of dry food but she really only wants to eat the meat.
I'm fine with giving her this but I'm worried its not nutritional or filling enough.
Yesterday she lay on the kitchen floor and let me and DD1 hand feed her .
I think she might only have a few months left in her
Can anyone recommend a good tinned food or is it ok to just keep on with chicken and sausages?
She had mini sausage rolls this morning

Applaws in the small tins , the chicken in broth is the only food my picky dog will consistently eat , it’s really not like normal dog food and very good quality .

I would have a look at the Applaws first before feeding it exclusively. I have cats and the Applaws wet food for cats isn't a complete food, it's complementary. I don't know if it's the same for the dog food.

Thanks I was going to put her on tinned but wasn't sure what was good, a few of them gives her terrible wind 😖

Aww bless her. I said fed is best so I’d give her whatever she fancies. In terms of tasty healthy dog food you could try naturediet or forthglade or naturesmenu. My lot love all of those.

I was referring to the wet pouches/ trays rather than the dry versions. I personally wouldn’t bother with dry food if she’s not really eating. It’s not tasty enough.

She's definitely gone off the dry food, I just worry she's not getting enough to eat

Have you considered raw food? We thought our old girl was at the end of her lifetime a few months ago until we took in a dog that was raw fed and we swopped our dog over to that too. She's like a new dog, she has energy, a shiny coat, has lost weight, no more stinky poo, just generally so much healthier all round.

No I hadn't considered raw, but I'm going to look into it now!

Try some plain yogurt. Mine would kill for yogurt.

What about boiled eggs? Might be something to tempt her with if she doesn't seem to fancy anything else as they are easy to eat

Are her teeth ok and she hasn’t got pain in her mouth? When my dog was paralysed with an infection she went off any food- to be honest just give them anything -peanut butter on a spoon-yoghurt-fish fingers-it doesn’t matter about nutritional content really-just anything would be good-I did bits of ham egg and chicken-peas etc and soft boiled carrots-once she picked up she would eat Lily’s Kitchen Cottage Pie!

Oh forgot scrambled egg was popular too

Yes her teeth are ok she was at the vet a couple of weeks ago.
I honestly don't think we have more than a few months left with her so I'm just going to feed her whatever she wants.

When my boy had early stomach cancer but wasn’t ready to go yet we made a big tub of
mixed rice, chicken stock, white fish chicken mince or turkey mince or chopped up egg with cooked peas and carrots and we fed that in small portions a few times a day.

It was the only thing that he would eat once he went off his food. We made it like a wet risotto type texture and he ate it for a couple of months.

Our very lovely vet was of the view that once he went off chicken it was probably time to say goodbye.

fish4dogs salmon or trout mousse sachets?

Definitely try raw but introduce it properly. I can't remember exactly how many days etc but you start with tripe then other proteins plus tripe then different proteins. The tripe stinks but they go mad for it!
When you've transitioned to raw you could add raw eggs and fish too. My dog loves eggs.
Proflax bone and joint (oil) is great or yumove (tablet).
If gabapentin didn't agree with her ask the vet for an alternative.

Turmeric tablets from Dorwest are meant to be good for arthritis too

Thanks for all the replies

I would introduce her to raw food slowly, nutriment is a great brand. Much yummier and so full of nutrients.

Scrambled eggs are good and you could try forthglade which my dog loves (he gets it camping as he's normally raw fed)

My old dog used to eat something for a couple of meals then go off it. It was very difficult.
I bought a variety of little trays of wet food for small dogs.

However, you're right to give her what she wants. I would feed her the chicken and sausages for as long as she'll eat them.

Forthglade, naturo - these trays actually smell like human food - and I’ve never had problems with the stomachs on these. Cheaper options are butchers tins, look grim but get good scores on allaboutdogfood. I wouldn’t be trying to switch an old dog to raw, I’d be finding a really nice tray wet food. Easy to eat and smells so ok you can cover th trays and store in fridge too.