Suggestions for finicky eating senior

[Dakota]

Dakota is now 15 years old and has always been one to eat everything in her bowl as soon as it hits the floor. She is currently on Innova Senior Plus and has been for a few years.

Recently she has had two bouts with pancreatitis one back in August 2009 and one Jan 27 of this year. 'This second bout was very serious and they were not sure she was going to pull through it. She has bounced back amazingly but is now very finicky about what she eats. Also the same thing doesn't work for more than a few days in a row. You put her food down and she looks down at it and back up at you like "what else do you have?" I have tired canned i/d food which worked for about 2 days, then tried innova senior canned that worked for a few days, then ground turkey. I know I need to keep any additions to her food low fat due to the pancreatitis which is a challenge. Any suggestions? or should I just hold out and give dry kibble only (not sure if she is just working me or not as she is definately the boss of all of us in the house including hubby

[Barb Wright]

Since you have a definite diagnosis for Pancreatitis here is a real "nuts and bolts" article about the disease. It explains the disease well and gives you choices and suggestions for coping, including diet. Mary Straus, the author of the article (and the owner of the DogAware site as well) is a highly esteemed researcher....truly "integrative" thinking and cuts to chase so that the reading and grasping of the subject is understandable, and ultimately tremendously useful when you need options, ideas, suggestions, and above all when it is all said and done, knowledge to make good choices

http://www.dogaware.com/wdjpancreatitis.html

HTH, and hoping all goes well with your old gal....wow, 15 years old, that's getting up there all right. Let her know she has lots of good wishes coming her way

[janet909]

Thanks for the article Barb. I'm definitely going to print it off and read it. My Chena (14 y/o in April) has had two major bouts of pancreatitis since September. She used to be on prednisone and would eat (inhale) anything that you put in front of her. Since her last bout, the vet took her off the prednisone as she would start GI bleeding with the pancreatitis. He also put her on an extremely low-fat chow that Waltham puts out. (I think it might be a special blend for pancreatic issues but I don't recall....other than he ordered it special). The chow doesn't look very tasty and compared to Taste of the Wild, I'm sure it's pretty boring. She has also turned into a very finicky senior. The good news is that she appears slimmer which is certainly helping her arthritis. Soooo, we do mix a tiny amount of moist food or lean meat in with the chow so that she eats most of it. We try to buy quality canned food and mix it around good so that lots of the chow gets the canned food flavor on it. This seems to be helping.

[Barb Wright]

Since I have been re-reading a few of these articles one thing sort of jumped out at me....when dealing with most of these digestive oriented problems it seems like giving several small meals over the period of the day seems to put a lot less stress on everything that has to go to work to digest the meal. So, a dog usually fed twice a day, morning and evening, making that into four meals spread over the day would put less of a burden on the pancreas, as well as making it easier for the rest of the digestive system to do it's job. You would figure out the total amount of food needed for the day and just divide it up into the four or even six meals. This has a certain logic to it, plus if the dog is on a weight-losing diet it also serves to keep them from getting sooooo hungry. Worth a try with these sensitive digestive systems....maybe a win-win