How to get my senior dog with heart failure and bad teeth to eat?

I'm sorry that Princess is so sick! I would try to tempt her to eat by offering her small amounts of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) and white rice. You can also soak her dry food in gently warmed low sodium beef or chicken broth. Should she refuse to eat any of these choices, I would take Princess back into the vet who can give her a medication that may stimulate her appetite.

If Rosie will not eat her regular diet anymore you can try to offer her different types or canned dog food to see if any of these are appetizing to her. If she will not eat any prepared dog food you can still home cook for her but you will need to use a website like www.balanceit.com or consult with a veterinarian nutritionist to create a well balanced recipe. If Rosie is on just chicken, carrots, and broccoli she will eventually develop a nutritional deficiency so a balanced recipe is needed.

Hi. Is your pet on medications for heart failure? If so, and still coughing, your veterinarian may need to reassess xrays and possibly increase doses of medication. Prognosis for heart failure is guarded to poor. I'm sorry she isn't feeling well

Poor Dexter. Unfortunately this can be part of the disease. I would take him into the vet to see if you can get an appetite stimulant prescribed to see if that helps. If it does not, then it would likely be time to consider letting him go. I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry to hear that you are having this problem with Memi. Balancing heart and kidney failure can be a challenge, so it will certainly be important to find a way to keep Memi eating and taking his medication. My best suggestion is to look into a compounding pharmacy. I am unsure of which ones are available in Canada, but we commonly use a company in the US that can compound medications into liquid or treats instead of pills. That tends to work very well for cats or picky dogs. I would recommend talking to your vet about finding a compounding pharmacy to make Memi's medication into a form that is easier to get into him. In the meantime, the best trick I have found for getting pills into picky dogs is wrapping them in a little Braunschweiger or liver pate. It is stinky enough to hide the flavor of almost any pill. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

IT sounds like Freddy has been through a lot lately. Typically older dogs with chronic issue typically are not the best eaters. I would talk with your vet about possible food suggestions for Freddy. Their are multiple prescription foods that Freddy might be able to rotate through to help with his anorexia. Also, sometimes if the disease is getting worse like the heart failure or seizures that could cause Freddy not to eat. I would recommend taking Freddy to the vet to make sure his heart and lungs are sounding okay and discuss what foods would work well with his medications. I hope that helps

I am sorry to hear that Walter isn’t doing well. Decreased appetite can have a long list of possible causes, which may or may not be related to his cardiomyopathy. I would continue to work with your vet in possible treatments to get him more comfortable. You can also consider working with a veterinary acupuncturist or palliative care veterinarian to make sure we are treating the whole body rather than just one symptom at a time. There is also an appetite stimulant called Entyce that might help.