11 year old dog won’t eat

[MrsPerfect12]

My gorgeous dog won’t eat. She’s now 11 and has been refusing her kibble for weeks.
She will hold out as long as she can. I was going to look at switching to wet for her final years but I don’t know where to start, it seems so expensive for the good stuff.

Over the years we have tried the odd wet pouch (supermarket) as a treat but she had upset with Lily’s kitchen. Butternut and other subscriptions are very expensive. Can anyone suggest something?

I’ve just added gravy to her kibble and she’s ignored that.

our 13 year old dog is the same, and we have actually just started buying Tesco pouches and adding one to a smaller portion of kibble. She now goes mad for her food and no stomach issues at all.

Also have you checked no problem with her teeth?

My 11 year old chihuahua did the same we noticed he was slowly losing weight and begging a lot and realised his lifetime love of his kibble had really waned. I now make a chicken broth out of the bones plus carrots and any other veg and soak a handful every day. I make batches carefully separate the bones and mush up all the skin chicken and veg then freeze in small pots He also has tinned sardines sweet potato rice and occasionally scrambled egg. We also hutky tins of butchers tripe but he will only eat that every now and again. I'm not sure if it's his teeth or jaw but it's not uncommon in older dogs

My 12 yo dog has been very unwell with pancreatitis (I had a thread on here last week). It started with loss of appetite, I'd get him checked by the vet if you haven't already.

I’d definitely get her checked in case of any issues and then try adding wet to a reduced portion of her dry food. We use legend trays which are £10 for 5 trays but each tray can last 2 days so it’s not too pricey and they’re good (dog food) quality.

I should’ve said that’s she has just had her annual check at the vet and they said everything was fine, I was worried it was teeth too. Just cloudy eyes ☹️ I’ll have a look in Pets at home for some wet to add to kibble and get her switched.

Good that you've had him checked out. I will say that my dog didn't have any abdominal pain early on, so I would keep an open mind in case there are more symptoms later.

Soaking the kibble can help make it more appetising. I soak in a mixture of water and bone broth and add some finely chopped chicken. Also making it into a game and hiding pieces in my hand, making him chase it etc.

I feel for you because it is SO stressful, it's like having a picky child 😂

I'd try a fish based food to keep the fat content low.
Serve it to her warm by adding hot water but I wouldn't give her gravy because of the salt content.
You could also add a bit of cooked white fish fillet - I buy basa and it's very reasonable. If you cook it in water, that will give you a nice sauce too.
Also if you find a wet food that suits her at PatH, try buying it online in the long term as it's often cheaper.

Just to add that in my experience more than the food itself, it is the gelling agent used in wet food that dogs react to. Mine has Nature's Harvest which she gets on with but many she doesn't. She had a bad reaction to Ruff's which is a PatH own brand - monster poos at 4am. And I'd steer clear of anything that contains carrageenan (another gelling agent) which can cause all sorts of problems.

If teeth and physical exam showed nothing, I’d personally be inclined towards blood testing just to make sure there wasn’t anything underlying.

Assuming she's had blood tests to check for liver and kidney issues, I would just give her whatever food she wants at that age.

Could you make the food yourself? I’ve started doing this, I just buy lean beef mince and cook this with veg (carrots, broccoli, peas). I
mix it in with ddogs usual kibble and he loves it. I bulk make it and freeze.

This works out much cheaper than butternut etc.

My old girl went though every brand of wet food when she started refusing food. She's now back on her kibble with chicken stew. It took time and quite honnestly, mind games at times!

One thing I did find is putting a small whole amount her bowl rather than the whole meal
Definitely vet investigation though

Quite. Feed your dog something tasty, not boring brown rocks. White fish, sardines, cottage cheese, scrambled egg, fruit and veg, quinoa, sweet potatoes. If they don't eat that, then you've got a very unwell dog indeed.