I have a 15 y/o bichon havanese mix and a 7 y/o Maltese. My 15 y/o has started to decline in the last year or so and as a result has become extremely picky and underweight. The vet told us to give her whatever she wants to eat because there’s no point in fussing over a specific diet at her old age. So if there’s something she likes, we give her more of that with the hope that her weight will go up. She is very inconsistent with her likes and dislikes, though. One week she might love one food and the next week she wont touch it. We have just learned to adapt to her pickiness and she has different kinds of food all the time. She will refuse to eat anything and lose more weight if we don’t adapt to her.
The problem has become my 7 y/o. He is a trouble maker to begin with.. he has always been the bossy one out of the two. They used to eat out of the same bowl before my older dog started having issues. But as my older dog started becoming senile, we sensed that the sharing of the food bowl was stressing her out and contributing to her eating less. So we started feeding her in a separate area away from my younger dog and in a different bowl. But my 7 year old haaaates that she gets different food than him. We feed him kibble. Before my older dog started having eating troubles, my 7 year old ate kibble with no problem. He has a big appetite and loves any flavour of kibble. As soon as we started feeding my 15 year old different (and more appetizing) food, he immediately wanted whatever she was having. But we can’t just give him what my 15 y/o is eating because it changes so frequently and it’s an unsustainable diet. Sometimes she wont even eat dog food so I just have to give her rice and chicken. Her diet does not have the proper nutrients that a 7 year old dog needs, so as much as it pains me to refuse her food to him because it feels like I’m being unfair, I just know it’s not good for him to have such an inconsistent diet like that. I try so hard to hide the food from him while I’m preparing it for my 15 year old, but he has gotten used to the sound of the dish and the utensils I use and immediately runs towards me. It doesn’t help that he can also smell it. He knows right away. As my 15 year old is eating, he just barks and cries because he wants what she’s having. I bring him over to his dish to show him his food and he walks away from it and pouts.
Eventually when he is hungry, he will eat some or all of his kibble at night, depending on how hungry he is. But compared to his eating habits before, it seems like he isn’t eating as much. He has lost a tiny bit of weight but nothing concerning. I always feed them in the morning and at dinner time, but he almost always refuses to eat in the morning now and only eats at night. I’m just frustrated because my older dogs eating habits have already become such a hassle and so costly. Now my other dog seems to be developing pickiness because my 15 year old is picky! How can I stop this?? I’ve tried buying different flavours of kibble to see if he just needed a change in taste but he behaves the same. I’ve also tried wetting it and he doesn’t care. If i let him, I know he would just devour whatever food I am giving my older dog.
The problem has become my 7 y/o. He is a trouble maker to begin with.. he has always been the bossy one out of the two. They used to eat out of the same bowl before my older dog started having issues. But as my older dog started becoming senile, we sensed that the sharing of the food bowl was stressing her out and contributing to her eating less. So we started feeding her in a separate area away from my younger dog and in a different bowl. But my 7 year old haaaates that she gets different food than him. We feed him kibble. Before my older dog started having eating troubles, my 7 year old ate kibble with no problem. He has a big appetite and loves any flavour of kibble. As soon as we started feeding my 15 year old different (and more appetizing) food, he immediately wanted whatever she was having. But we can’t just give him what my 15 y/o is eating because it changes so frequently and it’s an unsustainable diet. Sometimes she wont even eat dog food so I just have to give her rice and chicken. Her diet does not have the proper nutrients that a 7 year old dog needs, so as much as it pains me to refuse her food to him because it feels like I’m being unfair, I just know it’s not good for him to have such an inconsistent diet like that. I try so hard to hide the food from him while I’m preparing it for my 15 year old, but he has gotten used to the sound of the dish and the utensils I use and immediately runs towards me. It doesn’t help that he can also smell it. He knows right away. As my 15 year old is eating, he just barks and cries because he wants what she’s having. I bring him over to his dish to show him his food and he walks away from it and pouts.
Eventually when he is hungry, he will eat some or all of his kibble at night, depending on how hungry he is. But compared to his eating habits before, it seems like he isn’t eating as much. He has lost a tiny bit of weight but nothing concerning. I always feed them in the morning and at dinner time, but he almost always refuses to eat in the morning now and only eats at night. I’m just frustrated because my older dogs eating habits have already become such a hassle and so costly. Now my other dog seems to be developing pickiness because my 15 year old is picky! How can I stop this?? I’ve tried buying different flavours of kibble to see if he just needed a change in taste but he behaves the same. I’ve also tried wetting it and he doesn’t care. If i let him, I know he would just devour whatever food I am giving my older dog.