persuading a poorly dog to eat

[Hopingforblueskies]

I have a 5 year old lab who has been through the wars with arthritis and is recovering from a sceptic elbow op. He is on 7 pills a day spread over the day for another 2 weeks and it is getting increasingly hard to get these down him, they are a mix of painkillers, antibiotic and antacids. Hiwver my main concern now is that in the last 3 days he has gone off his food completely and has been sick each day which ended with him going to the vet and being prescribed the antacids (ompeprazole)as his stomach is sore from the pills i'm guessing . He normally has a great appetite being a lab but i can hardly tempt him with anything and its breaking my heart - scrambled egg and fish being the only options he's going for currently. I think becasue i have hidden food in chicken, cheese, cream cheese and the liver paste that was working that psychologically he thinks i'm hiding stuff in his all his food. I've tried plain rice (doesn't like it) plain cooked pasta he ate it yesterday but not today. Anyone any ideas its really upsetting me to see him so lethargic and sad especially as finally his elbow is getting a bit better

If he'll eat fish and eggs I would just keep giving him that to be honest, it won't do him any harm for a short period of time.

I've found full fat goat milk useful for unwell dogs. It's gentle on their stomach and nutritious.
Small amounts and often help. Could you persuade him to eat what you eat? Obviously salt free, but mine love it when I put a bowl down for then of our family meals - meat, veg, mash and salt free gravy always goes down well.

Also a thought, based on human meals, I used to make up a casserole for my old dogs, with mince meat, potatoes, gravy and veg. I would portion up and freeze.

Thanks everyone, ive tried making sure i show him i'm not tampering with his food as well as hes very suspicious now about the pills poor thing
Hate seeing him this way as he's usually so full of beans

I'd try chicken, fish, (mackerel in tomato sauce is often tempting), eggs, ham, pasta. Cat food can be tempting.

It is often more tempting for them if you warm up the food slightly.

If they won't eat anything then the vets have a food called a/d which is good for recovery and really palatable.

He doesn't psychologically think anything lovely. He's a dog.

Will he eat rice or pasta mixed with fish? I'd try that and give goats milk too

I'd be careful giving him rich human foods - it could just make him feel even worse if he gets the runs.

Ideally you want a bland diet for a while. You can warm things up or add his normal food but I'd really try and avoid anything too rich.

Sorry this has really made me chuckle😂

My dog used to absolutely love tinned tuna, try mixing that with a bit of pasta/rice.

I'd do lots of fish (frozen white fish can be microwaved quickly and the Morrisons one is a good price), scrambled egg and full fat live yogurt. My dogs adore pilchards and even the fussy one will eat it anytime but with all the painkillers yours is on, the bland food might be best

@CMOTDibbler good idea re live yogurt will sooth his stomach from the deluge on anti inflammatories and anti biotics
@SirenSays hadnt thought of goats milk
@Newuser75 good to know tinned mackerel in tomato sauce would be good as would have been nervous about the tomato element

Currently trying to fatten up a skinny ddog with possible bone cancer.. Thanks to the poster who suggested goat's milk to me. Omg it's well received! Tinned sardines are helping the pills go down..

After we’d exhausted every form of disguise for our old lab, the only way we could get pills down her was inside fresh kidneys. Sounds a bit gross but worked a treat.

@Ibravedaflood can the tinned sardine be in tomato sauce ? are the bones not an issue? like the idea of trying this as a disguise option!

Tinned sardines you're meant to eat the bones - the fish is cooked in the tin, and the bones are soft. I'm not a fan myself and pick the skinless and boneless ones but as a kid we were given mashed up sardines on toast bones and all regularly!

I bought in oil. Ddog has gained a bit on 10 days. From 12.3 to 12.55.

Don't all pile on me but Chappie original often recommended in these circumstances, ddog went onto it when recovering from pancreatitis. I was in the I will never feed my dog Chappie brigade before.

Mine loved a slightly undercooked fish finger when his appetite went

Thanks everyone - tried baked white frozen fish, sardines, yogurt and porridge tonight
managed to get him to eat two small
sachets of cat food and a baked salmon fillet
he seems to have lost his enthusiasm for chewing, he’s listless and another 10 days of antibiotics to go
not sure what else to try/ offer
May tray chappy tomorrow !