My old dog was a complete nightmare, what ever you do don't give in unless he begins losing weight, i did and she became the fussiest eater imaginable but i learnt some tricks to get her to at least finish a bag of food.

1/ 20 minute rule. Put the food down, take the food up after twenty minutes and no food until the next meal (took my last dog about 3 days to start eating again with that).

2/ mix something appetizing in, dog meat, pilchards, tuna - something smelly! (as he's older i'd probably try this)

I'm grateful my current dog will eat anything i put in front of her as my last dog must have tried almost all brands of food and went off all of them.
Sometimes dogs don't like a certain flavour too, my last dog hated fish, my current dog isn't keen on lamb (more hesitant to eat).

Excellent advice esp 20 minute rule

I haven't heard of Simply Nourish, but you should check out Nutrisource. They are a great food and have never had a recall. I was having issues with my dog not eating his food then I bought a topper. I used GoodFish's Romega 3 to add flavor to his food.

Check out my last post about Nutrisource & GoodFish.

I will look into those, thank you, but im not sure if i want to switch his food again just yet

My dogs eat dry dog food as well as vegetables and other table food. All except Rita. She's 16 now and was dumped over my front fence a bit over a year ago old, sick, deaf, blind and near death from pneumonia. She has bad teeth, bad allergies, bad heart condition and can't have anesthesia due to her age and her heart condition. I got her cured of the pneumonia and she is on meds for the rest of her life for her heart and her allergies. Feeding her was a huge problem as she can only chew soft food, most days her sense of smell is sadly lacking, she doesn't like even the best canned food and she is very picky. So we cook for her. Whatever meat we have a piece is cooked for Rita. It has to be cut into very tiny pieces and by sprinkling garlic powder on top of everything she'll almost always eat every bit. She also refuses raw food, sauces and gravy.

Is the point of senior food that it is not as calorific, therefore reducing the risk of obesity as the dog is slowing down? (I may be wrong, please don't 'get' me for it )
I have never put any of mine onto senior food. As they slow down, I just feed them less - just like our old folks do themselves


Em x

I have never bought senior dog food. I have found that in most cases as an oldie becomes less active they will automatically eat less. Of course there are exceptions. Rheana is 13 and very inactive. She stays in her spot on the couch only getting down once a day to eat and relieve herself. She is in perfect form and perfect health but due to being so inactive she eats very little. Vanessa, on the other hand, is a very active 14. She eats more, but does not gain weight. I guess I'm trying to say that it depends on each individual dog. I do one thing, with my vets blessing, that is different from what a lot of dog owners do. My dogs get regular dog treats only once a week. The rest of the time they get low sodium vegetables. Canned green beans are a favorite along with cooked broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, potatoes and carrots. Nothing fattening in those and they all love it.

Thanks!! And thanks to everyone else too who gave advice.
I had put him back on his old food. He was eating, but very little. Took him to the vet for a follow up on the blood in his urine, turns out he lost three pounds and still blood in his urine. Hes on a steroid called deramaxx now. Its been quite humorous watching him chew it like a treat after struggling with him to eat the last medicine he was on. But now hes back to eating everything i gave him. Im wondering if the antibiotics he was on messed with his stomach, because about a week or so after he was done with them, he went back to eating normally.

Now, he has a funky, crusty growth on his upper lip near his nose. Doc mentioned the possibility of cancer being in his prostate, so my main concer is that this is cancer.
But can cancer spread to his lip like this? It doesnt seem to be bothering him, its probablt bothering me more than him. If it was a hotspot or allergies, wouldnt it irritating to him? It seems like its gotten uglier within the past couple of days

Ive never dealt with any of the things above until now, im not sure how they all come about or what his symptoms would be