I am looking for ideas about getting a 16 year old Lab to eat. She will eat some things...like chicken breast, but too much protein gives her GI tract the urge to purge. Kibbles, low residue prescription food, various can food...all fail to get her to eat enough. I am more than willing to cook for her if any of you have recipes that would be relatively balanced in both protein and veggies. She will eat some egg at times. Mornings seem to be the time when she is least interested, but her appetite is an iffy thing. She does love toast, but dog cannot live on toast alone..!S!. Her meds have not changed and she was eating fine a few months ago. thanks in advance; I would hate to say goodbye because I didn't do my job to find a food to appeal to her.

Like most breeders, we have all been where you are now. Getting our geriatric dogs to eat is frustrating.

Could it be that her sense of smell is not what it used to be? If they cannot smell their food, they will not eat it. Try using a bit of garlic. Also, you might try a claritin to help with any allergy issues.

Will she eat what YOU eat? Fruit? Some snacks such as chips? The best is bland food for her tummy - try boiling liver in garlic laden water and adding some potato or rice. Apples maybe.

I know this is hard, but we owe it to our seniors.

Wow 16 yrs old - that's wonderful! If she'll eat toast.....can you put other things with/on top of the toast for her to eat?? Hugs to both of you!

Her appetite is so spotty. She does like apples, and gets those, but even then, a few bites and the interest goes away. I used to make various stews and meatloafs for her half brother when he had cancer, so that is certainly a possibility. We have tried the garlic...no difference to her at all. She is drinking more water these days, so I am suspecting some kidney issues. Appointment at the vet to do a CBC and function test this week. Would hate to lose her because of this, but don't want her to masking discomfort either..the not eating could be a stoic reaction to pain. Thanks...Oh yes, she loves grilled salmon...~S~

She does eat toast..and waffles, but adding things on top...I tried mixing some scrambled egg and some kibble this morning. She will eat the egg for the most part, but mixing things in...not so much interest. No interest in rice or pasta.

I think a check-up is a great idea and hope all is well and she's just being picky! She's 16 yrs old so you must be doing a great job with her!!

You mentioned Salmon, how about canned mackerel/salmon etc

I can certainly try that..it is getting some veggies in there of some sort that seems to mess with her little mind..LOL. And too much protein..well, let's just say I am up with her a few times a night with very loose stools. That is why we tried the low residue prescription food, but it has lost its appeal to her, both kibble and canned. Perhaps some canned salmon used in a crock pot stew of some sort....will look into that as well. She used to eat raw carrots like candy, but not so much anymore. Have checked her mouth to see if there is a dental issue; she has a slab fracture that luckily didn't go all the way to the nerve, but wondering if that is bothering her. I hope not because my vets have told me that with her pulmonary hypertension (Viagra is the gold medal treatment!) there is no way she is a candidate for any kind of anesthesia. So, if we had to remove it, it would have to be a ton of local and even then she might not tolerate the procedure. We will see what the vet says.

If she doesn't have major kidney issues, allowing her to have milk, and since she eats waffles, what about whole wheat french toast made with whole Lactaid milk and eggs? If you make your own whole grain waffles, they are pretty nutritious. If she will eat dog biscuits, get a very good brand that is basically a meal in a cookie. Also see if Cheerios milk and cereal bars help, even though they are high in sugar. If she will eat pizza, give that, although it is high in sodium unless you make it. I have been known to buy McDonald's food, as there is something about the ride and the wrapper. Granted, it worked even better when the dog's favorite kid was enthusiastic and sharing fries! I pilled with a human multivitamin and mineral capsule, filled with powdered supplements, and that sometimes helped with appetite. The capsule with the powder in it breaks down much better than even a chewable tablet; I have used TwinLab supplements in these cases. Others swear by B-vitamin injections. I have been known to stoop to using doggy candy like Beggin Strips or the more nutritious Wellness Puppy soft moist treats. I started crushing the joint supplements for the oldies.

Even with kidney issues, consider something like a Pepcid once or twice a day, with vet approval, depending on her other meds. I have had vets prescribe Pepcid/famotodine for the yearlings recovering from handling class parvo and for the oldies in kidney failure. What a difference it made! That being said, we didn't make it to quite 16 years old with those girls.

Monitor her temp, and make sure she doesn't have an infection somewhere. Sometimes the vet just prescribes a short course of Amoxi, and life gets better for a month or two or three. Good luck with the sweetie.

I have an old girl (13) who was recovering from spinal surgery.....she refused to eat for several weeks.....the only thing I could get in her was a few dog biscuits. Our Vet at Cornell ordered a small dose of Valium to be given a half hour before meals.....it worked !! I am not sure that it is the right thing for your girl....but thought I would share this.

Last year Lily's appetite faded too and we thought that it was the end. We tried all kinds of stuff and by chance gave her a small taste of Orijen Six Fish. It may have had too much protein or been too rich for her but she loved it and ate it consistently for about six months. World's most expensive food but we didn't care! She was 16+ and could eat whatever she wanted! She looked great and gained a few pounds that filled her out a bit. Poops were excellent. She got picky again a few months ago and has gone back to her old Iams blue bag. Sometimes we mix in a small amount of the Orijen but as a rule she doesn't like things added to her food. She usually doesn't eat a whole meal at once now, so we pick up the bowl and put it down later and she will finish it then. She has many fatty lipomas and I wonder if the ones in her abdomen are taking up space and that's why she is doing better with four smaller meals.

I know the Orijen is a higher protein food but maybe a small amount mixed with your regular food might tempt her. It is pretty fragrant! Good luck with your girl. Lily is now 17 years and 2 months and hanging in there!

Does she like peanut butter? When my boys went off food due to bitches in heat, they would eat peanut butter toast. I figured a couple days of that wouldn't hurt them and they loved it.

Good luck! I would feed her whatever she wants. She's 16. Can you make her a plate of whatever you get for dinner? I know my mom's old dog loved that...

Heck, feed her from the table at dinner time if it makes her think she's getting away with something! . I'd probably be grilling her salmon every day though.

Wow!! 17!! Amazing. I have heard great things about Orijen, but didn't use it because of the protein. I will revisit the issue; the nearby food store is very very good about taking things back if they don't work out. I think there are various issues here, as usual, with an elderly Lab...her hypertension, arthritis and the issue of pain, etc. Would be alot easier if they could talk. Her eyes are still bright..when she isn't sleeping. I will definitely look into mixing..and seeing if we can't reach something she will eat and tolerate. Thanks...

All good suggestions and things to try. I am definitely NOT worried about a balanced meal at this point in time, only in not having loose stool emergencies all the time due to diet. Thanks so much for all of the information...

I pretty much agree..she can anything she wants so long as we don't have major rug cleaning bills and damage all the time. My little "Green Machine" by Bissel has been a godsend the past few months. Amazingly, she has no incontinence issues at her age...knock on wood. Love this forum..people have lots of experience and willing to share it.

She likes it but then getting off the roof of her mouth seems to be something she would rather do without. LOL.Thanks for reminding me about PB...

How wonderful. Yes, I would give her anything she wanted to eat. We put a little pedigree can on the dog food and we just made ball of it and handed it to her. She would eat those. 15 year old. But do feel your pain with the carpet. But they are so special. At that age, cookies, toast, cheese, anything, even though I had to stay away from dairy at the end. Big hugs to the old girl.

Try warming up her food. Warmer temp will enhance the smell of the food. It works for cancer patiences. I would definitely do a blood work to rule out decease. Valium works great too. Your vet can prescribe. The dose to make a dog eat is minimum, so no 2nd effects.

My old dog would eat these when nothing else would do. The following is the recipe I used.


"Satin Ball" recipe for dogs who won't eat
This recipe is for dogs who desperately need calories and need to put on weight, but who have no appetite. It sounds yucky, but when these are done they are really appealing, even to me.

In my experience, this is a kind of "last resort and hope" food that many sick dogs will eat.

Mix all ingredients (like meatballs). I shape them like thick hamburgers rather than balls because they store easier in the freezer and thaw faster. Freeze in serving portion size. Nothing is cooked -- all ingredients are uncooked RAW and "Satin Balls" are served raw.

This recipe for Little Dogs (1/10 of full recipe) would be a good test to see if your dog will eat them before you make the substantial investment in ingredients of the half or full size recipe. See Notes below about the Total cereal, oats, wheat germ and vegetable oil.

Satin Balls for Little Dogs -- or to try out recipe on your dog to see if he will eat it.

1 lb cheap hamburger (for high fat %)
1 and 1/3 cups Total cereal
1 and 1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 raw egg
6 Tablespoons wheat germ
1 package Knox unflavored gelatin
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons unsulphered molasses
Pinch of salt

Satin Balls Half Recipe -- recommended amount to mix up

5 lbs cheap hamburger (for high fat %)
1/2 large box Total cereal (about 6 cups cereal)
1/2 large box uncooked oatmeal (about 7.5 cups oats)
5 raw eggs
1/2 of 15oz jar wheat germ (about 2 cups)
5 packages Knox unflavored gelatin
5/8 cup vegetable oil (this is pretty close to 2/3 cup)
5/8 cup unsulphered molasses
pinch of salt

The half recipe, using hamburger that is 20% fat calories, has 12,400 calories. The last batch I made ended up making 22 patties, so each has about 560 calories. I have big dogs (Danes) so if your dog is smaller you might want to make your Satin Balls or patties smaller.

I find that making the half recipe is so much easier that it is worth doing even though you have half-boxes of things around for awhile and have to mix it up twice as often. The disadvantage of the full recipe is the need of a really BIG container and it is very hard work to mix it all up.

Satin Balls Full Recipe

10 lbs cheap hamburger (high fat %)
1 large box Total cereal (about 12 cups cereal)
1 large box uncooked oatmeal (about 15 cups oats)
10 raw eggs
1 15oz jar wheat germ
10 packages Knox unflavored gelatin
1 and 1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 and 1/4 cup unsulphered molasses
pinch of salt

Notes:
"Whole Wheat Total" cereal (blue box) comes in large 1 lb 2 oz size (about 12 cups settled) and a smaller 12 oz size (about 8 cups cereal), which would work in Little Dog or Half Recipe. But in the long run, the large size is more economical. Don't get Raisin Total or Lo Carb Total.

Uncooked Oatmeal like "Quaker Old Fashioned Oats" and less expensive supermarket house brand, come in large 2 lb 10oz size (15 cups oats) or smaller 18 oz size (about 7 cups oats).

15oz jar of wheat germ is about 4 cups. Some stores only carry a 12oz jar of wheat germ, which contains about 3 and 1/4 cups of it.

Vegetable oil -- use a good one. I use grapeseed oil, olive oil would be next best.

Tip: I don’t break the eggs directly into the pot of stuff. The first time I broke the eggs into a separate little bowl for some reason. One of the eggs was bad and it would have ruined the whole pot of stuff. I had never seen an egg like that and had no reason to expect it, but I never break eggs directly into anything anymore.

The Satin Ball patties were what Duke started eating when he wouldn’t eat anything at all after his torsion surgery. He still gets one a day.

It is important to stick to the proportions. I gave the recipe to someone whose dog wouldn’t eat, she told me she made them but he wouldn’t eat them. Then she told me what she did to the recipe, changing it so much that it ended up something entirely different (no wonder her dog wouldn't eat it). You need to follow the recipe carefully if you are going to go to the trouble and expense of making it.

If you have any questions about the Satin Ball recipe, please let me know.

Jan Hodges
Bell, Hans and Duke
New Mexico, USA

Lack of appetite or spotty appetite can be a sign of kidney issues. Not all that uncommon in a senior.

Have you done full bloodwork recently to check organ function? If not it could give you some answers.

Hoping you can get her to eat more. God love our sweet seniors.

I had my old girl with liver disease who wouldn't eat-I would make her whole grain bread french toast-soaked in milk with egg and I would add a few drops of pure maple syrup to it-I hand fed her and she ate it up-for lunch she got 2 wellness fish and potato bars (she loved them) and dinner would be either hamburger or chicken mixed with a baked potato with milk, butter and BBQ sauce-I rolled it into balls and hand fed-she lasted 15 mos on this diet when they gave her 3 weeks to live. Oh and every night she would get in the car and go for a McDonald's ice cream cone. When she would seem like she wasn't interested in eating I would take her to grandma's house or her little cousins and feed her there-her spirit seemed to increase her appetite.
Hope this helps

If you're trying to add vegetables that she'll like, you might want to try one of the Honest Kitchen dehydrated vegetable/meat mixes, or their Preference mix, which is an all vegetable mix that you add meat of your choice to. All human grade, and my dogs (including an extremely picky senior) love the taste. Another thought- B12 shots?

It is on the agenda for tomorrow. She is definitely drinking more, and I don't think it is the hot weather although that can contribute. I was thinking the same thing...hoping a diet change can help if that is the case...

I will look for them. I wish the old food by IVD was available..it was a powder that you mixed oatmeal; used mostly for allergy screening, but seems to be gone from the market. It was called Exclude, I believe. One of my labs was very sick..some viral intestinal thing after all the tests for other stuff came up empty. Was the only thing he could eat and keep down for about 6 weeks, but eventually he recovered and gained the weight back he lost. Scary.

As an experiment just gave her a small amount of raw hamburger. No problem Added some of the kibble I have...wouldn't eat it. Could make the satin balls an iffy thing is she won't eat other things added to it.

This could become a full time job...:*)

Get her checked out, especially the tooth if she doesn't want to eat hard things. Good luck with your girl!

Do you have a vet locally who does acupuncture? It can be very helpful for all sorts of ailments, including kidney and digetive system problems. It can be a new lease on life for an old timer.
Good luck to you and your dear senior!!

Our vet does do acupuncture, mostly for her arthritis pain. I am seeing her next week, so I will ask...

My grandmother lived to 98 eating nothing but tea and toast for her last 20 years. If nothing else works, give her toast! And God Bless her!

My old girl Jaysin was 15 1/2 and had some kidney issues the last few months of her life and I fed her th Orijen 6 Fish, she loved it and would eat it readily , though I did add some of the canned presciption kidney diets from the vet. She wouldn't eat just the kidney diet food so we compromised, she was happy and enjoyed what time she had left and ate what she wanted. Sometimes I would give her some Natural Balance roll food on her kibble as it was very aromatic(I use it for bait so there's always some in the freezer cubed up).
She also had some specific chinese herbs for kidney, and she was on Reneel for the kidney function, and Zeel for arthritis, those you can get online.She also enjoyed her accupuncture and chiropractic, hated the Meso therapy injections in her feet but felt sooo much better afterwards.She had a wonderful life and lived it to the fullest. I miss her.

You might want to try adding some Prozyme to her food to help digest it. It helped Jaysin keep her GI tract on track.

For snacks, try making chicken or beef bouillon ice cubes. They make a mess,(see if she'll stay on a towel to eat them) but they seem to go down well when dogs aren't feeling 100%. We had a 17 year old mix who loved to eat chicken ice cubes.

And try meat baby foods?

That cheese in a can works great for getting pills down. Hey, it's cheese and it's a little slippery so the pills go down well. Or spray whipped cream.

Good luck, spoil her, she deserves it as you know!!

All good information, Thanks. You are the second person to recommend the Orijen fish kibble. We did get a sample of Nurtisca Salmon from our friends at the dog supply store, and she ate over a cup of that last night, but so so this morning. Her appetite definitely is not great in the AM. She does enjoy cereal leavings, but I wonder about the lactose effects. So, could be try to try a lactose free milk, or goats milk, and microwaving some Grape Nuts or give her some Total flakes as part of trying to hit the moving target. She is interested in food, which gives me confidence that we are not keeping her just for us. And made some chicken stew last night in the crockpot, so we will try that later. I will see our TCM vet next week, but running a Senior Blood Panel on her today that should give us a pretty good idea of just where her system health is, and if there are any issues. I suspect some kidney, but we will wait and see. Thanks again.

We have some optigest here, but in a powder so I will have to find a delivery system; may have to go to a human probiotic or prebiotic just because it would be in a capsule.

We've fed the Orijen Fish or Acana Pacifica (made by the same company) and our dogs LOVE it and do really well on them. Hugs to you & your girl!

She does like the baby food we give her when she gets her acupuncture..frozen so we can keep her in place for the 30 minutes. I will have to remember that as well. Thanks for jogging my memory. Sometimes when you get into this kind of issue, you forget the basics...And the baby food might be a way to get some kibble in there as well...

I think I will get a small package and mix it in with stuff so it not so high of a protein diet for her, especially if she has kidney issues. I doubt she would eat the KD diet; she hasn't eaten any of the prescription stuff we have tried for her GI issues so far...

I've never had any success with any of the prescription types of dog food either and it must taste awful or a lab must be sick if it doesn't want to eat.

Have you tried canned baby food? Just warmed. Lots of kinds with vegetables mixed right in. Second stage foods and mix with a bit of rice cereal and raw egg? Add some good quality low fat hamburger in with. COuld be her tooth is bothering her if she balks at any kibble. Definitely get kidney function testing done. BUN and creatinine levels will tell and sodium levels. Best to you and your much loved senior!!

I also have a 16 year old who thankfully still has her raging appetite. Over the years I've had many seniors and one fail proof thing I've used is a good brand canned cat-food....just a teaspoon or so mixed in with the regular food and a little hot water water to make a nice smelly gravy. For more protein a crumbled up hard boiled egg in the food always seems to be appreciated. Good luck.