Old dog won't eat

mad_spaniel

I have a 12 and a half year old cocker spaniel. He had his teeth seen to in February- clean and extraction of a couple of dodgy teeth. He has been eating fine till about 5/6 weeks ago but has got to the stage of being picky/ hardly eating at all . First he would only eat chicken flavoured dry dog food, then he refused that, so I changed to beef. He ate that for a while but then refused it. I tried him then on soft canned dog food. That was ok for a while but he's turned his nose up at that now. I went to the butchers and got some turkey mince raw. He wolfed it down on one day but refused it the next day so I cooked it. He still refused it. Next doors have a puppy they're feeding a different brand of food. Some of that has been proferred today. Initially he had a bit but so far hasn't eaten any more. I've googled for advice and main ideas seem to be old dogs simply can get very picky or something wrong with teeth. Since the teeth were done relatively recently I don't  think it's teeth. I'm going to phone the vets for advice tomorrow , unless he suddenly eats more today. He's now sleeping a lot more and has drastically reduced the distance he will walk in one go, so I'm taking him on short walks at least 3 times a day. He's recently been wormed so I don't think that's the cause. What are your suggestions other than vet tomorrow?

sheramber

Definitely needs  vet advice.   He may need blood tests to determine the cause.

oystercatcher

I think a vet visit is due. One of our dear departed elderly dogs slowed down a lot and became very picky about food, eventually we found out he had kidney problems and all sorts of things we'd put down to old age were actually symptoms and he was stoically plodding on trying to keep up. We will never know now if things could have been managed differently but I wish we'd had him investigated sooner.

onwards&upwards

Just wait and see what the vet says, there are so many possible causes nobody here will be able to guess. 

I hope he's ok, its hard watching them get old and slow down. 

[Deleted User]

 Vets as the others say but when my aunts dog was similar she was told boiled rice and shredded boiled chicken, he ate it every time 

mad_spaniel

shel- tried the boiled chicken and rice this am. He picked out the chicken and ignored the rice but at least ate something. Don't know if this is a one off yet. I'm still going to phone the vets tho. Thanks all

Vegastare

Just to mention my cocker who is 12 too has been out of sorts for a couple weeks....then last week was improved - he is solid black and we have noticed since he was about 6 years old and sat down and refused to move during a walk that he really struggles in hot weather.  He sleeps more and seem restless - so we put on a small fan and he settles down.

  We had a problem recently when he just wouldn't drink - we started to put water in a soup dish and add a small drop of tea out of the mug we were drinking from and he started to drink it - now the dish is his drinking bowl and drinking water is restored - do agree with seeing the vet - hope you get some good advice.

mad_spaniel

I spoke too soon. He just threw it up. Vets appointment at 6pm today

onwards&upwards

Good luck. X

mad_spaniel

Vets did a blood test- high urea- could indicate kidney or liver problems. Back tomorrow for the full day for an ultrasound and other tests. Vet said it wasn't looking too good. Here's hoping it's not as bad as she appeared to be warning. Vet gave dog an anti emetic. I boiled a sausage when we got home and he had that tonight with a bit of rice. I still don't know what to feed him tho - anything bland seems to be the advice. So far he's kept it down. Now he's just snoozing.

sheramber

feed him anything he will.  try tuna