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Need food advice for my 12 year old GSP

2K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  Gamekeeper 
#1 ·
My 12 year old has recently slowed down his eating because of wear on his back teeth, so I think its time to put him on a possible mixture of canned with a bit of the stuff I´m currently feeding him. Heś does real well on his current food from a digestive standpoint, it is 24% protein and 20% fat, but it think I need to possibly pull back on how much of that I give him and add some softer food.

I´m kinda new to having a dog at this advanced age, heś my first bird dog, so any help here would be appreciated. Other than this recent development he still gets around real well for his age considering the miles hes had put on him.
 
#2 ·
Seems like you are feeding a high protein ( if dog is not being worked). You can discuss that and fiber with your vet..

Soaking his food will soften it.
Raw food diets exist to...
Our bitches get boiled hamburg ,cooked rice ,cottage cheese when nursing.

Your vet . would be a good start for consultation.
Great to read that you are concerned about your hunting/ home partner.
 
#8 ·
Another option for you to consider is simply letting his current hard food soak in warm water for some time before serving it. It softens the food up.

I would give that a try before making the expensive switch to canned wet food.
 
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#10 · (Edited)
I agree with some comments above. I would also recommend soaking their food in water to soften it first. If they have a reduced appetite and still refuse to eat, to entice a non-eating dog, I also will buy canned CHICKEN BROTH to soak the food in and they will sometimes eat that when nothing else works, it is not very expensive. Treasure every day with your aging four-legged hunting partner ...
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the replying everyone. I soaked his food this morning before work and he mowed through that like he hadn´t eaten in a week. I still may grab some soft food to give him a few times a week and I will look into getting him a lower protein blend but I was happy with what I saw this morning so eating should be a bit more comfortable for him.
 
#14 ·
Good to hear. If I were you, I would avoid feeding the soft food... not for health reasons, but because dogs are smart and remember really well, and typically like soft food better, and your dog could soon decide he'd like to be served the expensive canned food every day and have you trained for that in no time. If he's eating his tried and true hard food soaked in water like you say, I would just stick to that. Soft food, IMO is sort of a last resort for picky eating. Even when needed, it's still best to mix into the hard food so as not to get the dog used to only soft food. But even once you start doing that, many dogs will give you the stink eye if you start serving dry food without the soft again.

I would also not overlook the advice that Birdhntr gave above, and give the dog a check over to see if there's something beyond just worn teeth.
 
#13 ·
Check his lips,gums,teeth and see if you can find something discomforting him.If he ate like you said he did I think there is something going on in there.Sometimes you can smell a tooth infection.I go as far as poking around with my fingers to find the sensitive area watching for the dog to react.You can do this on the outside and push on each tooth also.I once found something inbeded in my dogs gum line.Plucked it and he was fine the next day
 
#17 ·
His teeth and gums look normal/healthy, like I said though his back teeth are a bit worn and hes lost a few. I'm gonna look into a different food for him with less protein.

All in all he's been a healthy dog and he does get around well for his age. Last season he only hunted about an hour at a time and he was looking to get back to the truck, but that's fine, we take him out in the afternoons and usually are ready for a beer anyway by then.

I just want to make sure he's as comfortable as possible with the little time he has left, he definitely doesn't owe me anything, its all I can do for him.
 
#18 ·
My last lab started slowing down around that age and losing some weight and we started putting protein shake powder like the kind people use in their health shakes in his food. a couple of tablespoons a meal. He put the weight back on and lived to be 18 so it seemed to work for him. He was on hundenflocken his whole life.
 
#19 ·
My last GSP had metabolic problems in old age. We went to a low protein, high fibre diet, to slow his gut, and he made it 3 more years of good vitality.
Just remember, old dogs have plenty of aches and pains, as they are really worn out structurally by then.

My lab had bladder stones from excess protein (Actually Mg) Anyway, we put her on low Mg prescribed dog food, and she pee'd out 3 cups of "rice-like" bladder deposits over a weeks time. It helped with her spay-induced incontinence for a couple years, before she died.

Over all, I'd say that probably for the last third of a sporting dogs life, they seem to benefit from a lower protein diet.

All of which (having studied the Purina research) coincides with the lessening of volume intake, and keeping the food the same, or keeping the same volume, and changing the food make-up.
I think for the big 4 or 5 breeds, 15 years is a reasonable goal anymore (outside a lab environment).
 
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