I am going to be changing food for my 9 year old senior who is overweight. He's been on Acana Wild Prairie which is too dense for him and I'm also having trouble obtaining now. Also had problems with mushy stools. I'm considering Precise Holistic Complete Senior which has 25% protein, 10% fat and 397 K/cal. Would the 10% fat be too low for the skin? The Precise Holistic Complete LB adult is 25% protein, 15% fat but the k/cal are higher. I had cut back on the Acana to 3 cups/day and added green beans but did not help. His thyroid has been tested and is normal. Thank you.
It is my understanding that seniors need more protein not less (because the digestive system, as it ages, is not all that it should be). I would never buy a "senior" dog food any more than I would buy a "weight loss" dog food. I did that once, discovered the first ingredient was peanut hulls, and my poor dog became depressed and lethargic on it. Far better to buy a decent food and feed a bit less. Watch those treats as well. It's the thought that counts, so they don't need a massive great Milkbone, just a little bit!!!
I have a couple of seniors - they eat 2 cups per day and also go on walks at least couple of times per day. I would suggest less food and a bit more exercise. If he isn't already, I would also put him on a joint support supplement. I start all my seniors on it - my 14 year old still butt tucks :-)
I haven't fed senior food (or LITE) in over 15 years. My senior gets Drs. Foster & Smith adult lamb (their food is 9 years on the WDJ best food list) and gets 2 cups a day. He's a "svelt" 95 lbs and looks awesome. He walks about 3 miles (total) a day. Their food is very reasonably priced and the 10th order is free (no matter how many bags you get per month you get that amount free)and no shipping over $49.00. I fed Precise for oodles of years - just too expensive.
Thank you all. I will try cutting back a little more on his food. He gets no treats or scraps, strictly his two meals with green beans and supplements. His total calories/day are around 1100/day. He has severe hip dysplasia in both hips so his activity is limited. He's been on Nature's Farmacy Phyto Flex, Osteo-biflex, salmon oil and digestive enzymes. I was thinking about the senior diet as I read about it on the great dane lady's site and that's what she recommended. I'm also considering Diamond Natural C&R as it seems alot of people like it and it does have less fat content and k-cal/cup than either Orijen or Acana which were his two previous foods.
I feed Orijen and my 11 1/2 year old male gets 3 cups daily total and he is a very active guy, so I would cut down the amount a bit and see if that helps. The enzymes will also help to firm up the stools, The Farmacy has a good probiotic/enzyme blend called Digestive Enhancer.
I didn't switch any of my senior dogs over to a "senior " food , I've kept them all on Orijen and they've done really well as it is an easily digestable protien so is actually easier to process so is LESS stressful on their kidneys.
The Dasuquin with MSM is great product (cheapest on AMAZON) , Phycox works very well too. The Adeqaun will help quite a bit and that's were I would start. My accupuncture vet told me about a product called Curcuvet that helps with inflammation (it's also used for cancer) it's made of Cumin and Turmeric(needs to be given together).
