[boobear27]

Looking to switch my senior dog’s food..I have an 11 year old Rat terrier and I use to feed her Wellness complete health small breed dry food, but it was causing her to gain weight even when I gave less her less she just wasn’t shedding the pounds..When we took her out to the yard to play and have some exercise she will play for a little then just lose interest and not being too active like our Toy poodle is..She is kind of a couch potato too:) We switched her to Wellness core reduced fat and she loved it! She loved the bigger sized kibble she’s a small dog but a large dog chewer:) She actually crunched and munched on this formula, with the Wellness small breed tiny sized kibble she would just inhale it..This was also why we had to buy a small feeding bowl..She shed all those unwanted pounds and started being more active again:)..The problem I’m having now is that she lost interest in this formula..She is a food obsessive kind of dog everytime I use to give her her meal she will dig right in and now everytime I give her her meal she looks at it and walks away for a while then will come back and she will eat some of it then walk away again for awhile and then come back eat some more and then walk away again..It’s like she’s just forcing herself to eat it because she’s hungry and she won’t eat the whole portion I give her..The only way she gets excited about the food is when I put water or chicken broth in it and then she will dig right in and eat her full portion, but I don’t wet her food all the time I switch it up by giving it to her dry or wet..She also has a gas problem she has really stinky farts and I noticed she gets these loose or soft stools..We have to express her anal glands like twice a month. I was looking to switch her food to a different grain free food something that’s also reasonably priced..I was looking at the brands taste of wild, Victor, and 4Health, but can’t decide which would be the best choice..I’ve read some mixed reviews and they had some recalls in the past..Has anybody had any luck on these brands? Which will be the better choice for my senior dog? I’m gonna make a vet appt to get her teeth checked, but I think I’m done with the Wellness brand..My toy poodle doesn’t seem to be interested in her Wellness small breed either.

[anonymously]

I would rule out medical causes for the change in appetite, at the age of 11 a senior workup (lab work etc) may be a good idea.
If you are not brushing their teeth daily, they may very well need professional cleanings and extractions.
After medical clearance, I would consider Nutrisca dry foods as a base, my senior dog and my dog with allergies do well on this product. I recently tried Orijen and I am impressed with it for my younger dog, it may be too rich for a senior. Check Chewy.com and compare prices.
Can you take them out for a leisurely 10 or 20 minute walk twice a day? It makes a difference (in my experience).
PS: Add a splash of water to the kibble, don’t free feed, and take out for frequent bathroom breaks, every 2 hours or at least every 4 hours.

[Kalle S]

Orijien makes a senior formula (the yellow bag) that to me looks really good. I would use that for my terriers any day of the week.

[InkedMarie]

Annamaet Lean is a good food to look at, too.

[Hannah Y]

I have a very persnickety 16 yr old Maltese Poodle mix male with various health issues. So far, he’s been on Orijen, Acana, Blue Buffalo, etc etc. Even if I add boiled chicken or other snacks as toppings he is able to smell the kibbles right out of it and won’t touch the bowl.

He does like Tiki Dog canned food, but due to his sensitive stomach, he always gets the runs and terrible gas, even after gradually introducing it to him.

So I decided to give Freshpet Nature’s Fresh rolls and so far, he’s been doing pretty well. I would recommend you pick a few products she likes and mix it up and add some toppers to it. I add crushed lamb lungs which seems to help.

[Kelly P]

Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I have a 13 yr old mini Schnauzer and had heard several bad things about the food I was feeding her. Always dry food, no table scraps, etc. I finally got that smack in the face that your dog is getting old when she started collapsing if she got wound up. Sure enough, she’s got an enlarged heart and nothing we can do other than a few meds to stave it off as long as possible. My first Schnauzer suffered from the same thing.

But, the news about the other brand, her prognosis and her age made me think it was time to switch. I went with Wellness Core small breed and she ate it at first as I was mixing it up with her old food so as to ease the transition. That was fine but once I got to 100% Wellness she would sniff it and walk away. I even pulled the Nick Nolte “Doen and Out in Beverly Hills” trick where I stuck my face in the bowl. It actually works, but I can’t do that every meal.

Eventually at some point during the day, she would eat it. I suppose she was just hungry! Kind of like when you’re on a road trip and you stop at a place you’d usually speed up to get past.

Anyway, I made my decisions based on the recommendations here, I just recently tried Orijen Senior Formula. It’s not a small breed food, so the kibble is bigger. I put the Wellness in 1/2 the bowl and Orijen on the other side. She was all over the Orijen and left an almost perfect line where the Wellness was. I also bought a little 4 lb bag of Merrick Grain Free Real Buffalo & Sweet Potato if the Orijen didn’t work.

Like you, I think she likes bigger chunks and that Wellness was pretty small. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other data or info to share. The Orijen is not cheap by a long shot, but the people on this forum aren’t here because we value savings over health and well being of our dogs.

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