My 9-year-old Boston won't eat due to tooth pain. What food is safe?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Bailey. Not eating can be a sign of pain in a dog. I would start giving her the medication and see if her appetite improves. If not, then she will need to see a veterinarian to determine the cause of her decreased appetite. You can try adding warm water to her dry kibble or you can offer warmed canned food. I hope this information helps!

It sounds like Gus may have gotten used to being a picky eater and so is holding out on you. I would try only offering him his food (either wet or prepared as normal) and then picking it up and trying again a few hours later if he doesn't eat it after about 15 minutes. You will also want to avoid giving him any extras, treats, people food, etc outside of his meal. If he still doesn't eat after a day or so, then it is possible he could still be not feeling very well, and a recheck of his mouth and gums would be best to make sure there isn't an infection, poorly healing extraction, etc, causing discomfort.

If you have soft food to feed her, like canned or moist food that would be easier on her sore gums right now. You can moisten dry kibble with water or low-sodium chicken broth to make it softer and entice her to eat. You can even soak the food and mash it with a fork with some extra liquid so it's easy for her lap instead of trying to chew. It is very important that your cat eats because just a few days without eating can result in liver damage in cats.

My advice is to get this tooth extracted asap. It will be causing Beansy a lot of pain, and will make her quite sick. Not eating is a medical emergency, as if cats go 72 hours or longer without eating, they will develop a fatty liver. A fatty liver is fatal without treatment, so you want to avoid that. I think she needs to see a vet now.

It definitely seems like Benji likes his soft food, so it's going to take some time to get him transitioned to the dry food. The good thing is that dogs don't tend to not be finicky for too long before they give up and just eat what's available. It may take a few times of him missing a meal though. I think that is where most owners get concerned, because they feel like they are starving/torturing their dog. My opinion is that it's totally fine for them to miss a meal or two if you're giving them a food that's better for them. It is definitely not harmful for them, because it will take a long time (many days) before he would actually starve. I think the chicken broth idea is great! It may take a couple of weeks, but maybe you could continue wetting it with the broth and reduce the wetness gradually. Food allergies to grains is exceedingly rare, so you may double-check that this was diagnosed by a veterinarian. Usually, the owner gets some bad advice from the pet store employee, or reads some bad info on the internet and that's why they get the grain-free food. If that's the case, then this could open up some more options for feeding dry food. Dry food is better for dogs that tend to have bad teeth, because it does not build-up on the teeth as much. If you brush Benji's teeth regularly, then there is not as much need for the dry food; so you may consider that if all else fails. I hope that helps. Below is a link to a short article that has some more helpful information. https://www.petcoach.co/article/6-things-every-dog-owner-should-know-about-dental-care/

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your question! I am sorry to hear that Ruby lost so many teeth! Unfortunately, some dogs are predisposed to bad dental disease genetically. There really is not a great food for prevention of dental disease. A diet that was designed to help with prevention of tartar accumulation is a food called Hills T/D and requires a prescription from your veterinarian. There are other means of preventing tartar from occurring such as Oravet chews, Tartar shield, Plaque off or CET oral enzymatic toothpaste. The most beneficial thing you can do for Ruby is to have her teeth cleaned professionally under anesthesia once yearly. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Without seeing Bella it's hard to say. Were the teeth extracted by a vet or did they just fall out? If they just fell out she may have more diseased teeth inside her mouth that need to come out. Either way, I recommend having a vet look at Bella and do an oral exam. I would also recommend blood work to gauge internal organ function. This is a good place to start to determine weight loss. They may also want to take radiographs or put her under anesthesia to see what's going on with her teeth under the gum surface. Good luck and kisses to Bella!