Hello everyone,

I am new to this whole forum thing but I have definitely been hanging out and reading up on some topics but I can't seem to find any help to my problem.

A little bit of a background, I have a 10 year old Siberian Husky, she is a tripod. Since about September last year I have been having a hard time getting her to eat. She did get her amputation surgery in June of 2018, so ever since then she has been super picky with eating. She has about 2 meals a day, one in the morning and one at night that I give to her. She kinda eats at her own leisure. She gets 1 cup of kibble with some wet food mixed in. She needs to be on Hills Diet c/d Urinary Track Health dry food, because she does have crystals in her urine. The wet food that I get for her is from this little mom and pop shop. The brand is called Dave's pet food. I get several different flavors. I've only started using this brand of wet food the past couple of months.

I am not sure if the wet food is upsetting her tummy, she does have a very sensitive tummy. And from reading the different topics I had no clue this was a Husky thing. So because of her upset tummy sometimes she will only eat 1 meal or not at all for the day. I do give her about 2 pills of the Pepto Bismal that I give to her in the Greenies Pill Pockets to help. The vet did OK me giving it to her, and I believe it helps her but she still doesn't eat. Sometimes she will go almost a day and a half of not eating before she finally eats out of hunger.

I am not sure if it is the wet food that I am using, maybe I need to try a different brand. But because she is a tripod and getting up there in years, I want to make sure that I am giving her all of the nutrients she needs. Does anyone recommend any different kinds of wet food or techniques I can try to stimulate her?

Thank you all for your help in advance!!

Some older dogs don't want to eat as much as we'd expect them to.  I'm reading that you're feeding her 1 cup of <some?> kibble with Dave's Dog Food as a topper.

Dave's gets a good review from DogFoodAdvisor but they also note that there are several different formulas.

I have one rescue, Sasha, who's 9ish and because she's also had crystals in her urine gets fed Fromm's Gold. You don't mention what the dry food she's eating is so I can't make any comment there.

She looks happy and even as a tripod she seems to be getting around well -- from your avatar picture. I might think that she's not getting the exercise she was getting before the amputation and just doesn't need as much to eat.

I give her the Hills Diet c/d Urinary Track Health dry food, that was the dry kibble the vet recommended I put her on to help control and breakdown the crystals. I mix it with wet food because it spices things up for her and makes it even more tasty.

I do take her out in the front yard every day to hop around and get some exercise, but because of the three legs, she can't stay as active for very long. She tires out very quickly. She does get into her playful spurts and goes into the playful bow and I chase her around a bit. So her attitude and personality haven't changed, shes still a butthead

I just didn't know if maybe I was doing something wrong or if there was something I could do better. Her water intake has definitely gone up. I fill her water bucket practically everyday, and by bucket I mean a recycled ice cream bucket. So she gets plenty of water.

I dont believe in wet food and mine get it as a treat when its 2 free cans with a 22lb bag of food.

My mom had a springer spaniel that started having food issues around his 8th birthday. Target sells " dog gravy" that is a food topper.it worked for awhile then he got tired of it. So what my mom did was cook chicken liver and mix it with water and throw it in the blender. It worked for a few years but we had to put the spaniel to sleep because he got doggy alzheimers and started biting anyone that came near him or looked at him. Its a spaniel issues but the food issue is not a spaniel issue. Sidenote chicken livers are also cheaper then canned dog food

Be very sparing with liver if you try it. It's pretty rich and if your dog has a sensitive stomach too much liver could cause a blow out. lol. How long has she been on the Hills vs. how long she's had stomach issues and UTI issues? Hills is such a junk food with a lot of stuff in it that many huskies have trouble with. It may serve its purpose with UTIs but might be causing other issues. So if she's been on it long and always had a sensitive stomach, some of the sensitivity issues could be the hills. Huskies do self regulate their food intake (many anyway), so going from more exercise to less, but more labored, exercise could be some of the eating issues. As long as weight hasn't severely dropped then I wouldn't worry about it. Stable weight means she's doing what she needs to for her body to be where it needs to be with the activity being offered. You can always offer without the wet food and see if that changes anything. If she doesn't eat it without the wet food then it's likely not the wet food that she dislikes, more that she's just not that hungry, or all of the food she doesn't like or makes her stomach upset so she holds out in an attempt to be stomach upset free for a bit.

Your dog looks happy - what a very furry girl!

If I'm going to "top" my dog's kibble, I don't bother with the canned petfood...I go straight for the good stuff! Chopped up bits of egg, chicken, beef, fish/salmon. It doesn't take me long to just saute or broil an extra chicken tender or beef chunks or fish fillet (especially because you don't have to do anything to it, not even add salt) when I'm cooking for rest of family. Then I put a few spoonfuls in his kibble and mix it in. A sandwich baggie of chopped up food in the fridge lasts for a few days, and I add to it when I can. It also comes in handy for training treats sometimes.

( He will eat it dry, but being a bit "foodie" myself, I have sympathy for having to eat the same thing twice a day for years, so I try to vary the flavor of his food a bit with the toppers...)

Did you try stopping the pepto bismol and see what that does? I'm not sure it's that good for canine systems but, I guess your vet would know best. In general I tend to think that the less interference with natural body function, the better. But, you know your dog best!

Yeah with all that was going on with my spaniel liver being too rich was the least of his problems. He had the genetic problem that hits spaniels around the age of 8 where they just go violently crazy and that was why he ended up being put down but he also had hip dysplasia. And the liver gravy guaranteed he got all his meds

Hi,

I can relate to this subject. My husky was sick for the first year of her life, had crystals in her urine, had bloody stools, etc. It all came down to diet. I love my vet, but she is not a dog food expert. The prescription food she suggested only exacerbated my girl's problems. Once I looked at the food ratings online, I switched to the top rated food: Acana Appalachian Ranch. She was healthy within 24 hrs. Three years later, she is still very healthy and it is the only food I will ever give her.

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking of their dogs' needs in human terms, which is what I think you are (lovingly) doing with the addition of wet food to "spice up" her diet. She does not need variety. She needs healthy food - that is all. A good dry food like Acana provides all the nutrition without the added ingredients that make her sick. I would immediately stop feeding her the wet food and switch to a better dry food. Stop giving the pill pockets, too. If you need to hide a pill in something, use a single-ingredient food like a bit of boiled meat. Once she is doing well, you can introduce one single-ingredient treat at a time, the way you would with a human baby to test for reactions. Try a bit of pure pumpkin, a boiled egg, or homemade jerky (no spices!!!).

As far as keeping her life interesting goes, don't do it with food. You can play ball with her by doing the exercise yourself: you roll the ball, she catches it, you go take it and roll it to her again. You can take her for a drive to a place with good smells like a park. You can bring a gentle dog friend over to visit. It's your attention she needs, not snacks.

Finally, as a side note, the crystals in the urine can be from a high protein diet - often grain-free. Test again after changing food.

Good luck! She's lucky to have a mama who loves her so much!

Try puppy milk replacer to give her a boost when she’s having tummy troubles and eating too little.

Sadly most prescription foods are garbage. They don't even try to avoid ingredients that cause problems like crystals. They simply add ingredients that attempt to counter the problem on top of a cheap, low quality kibble. Vets do not know much about nutrition unless they have researched the subject on their own and formed their own opinions. Nutrition is not covered much in schooling and overall it's taught that protein is protein, carbs are carbs, fats are fats and even plant sources are created equal to animal sources. This is not true. The chemical formulas are even different and not always digestible by dogs. Your average garbage disposal dog with a hard stomach will tolerate such a mindset just fine. Anything more sensitive or those breeds that have been fed on raw and fresh foods for a longer history generally will not. Spitz breeds tend to fall under that category.

I'm not sure which of the quality kibbles are better for urinary crystals. It's a bit harder to get good info on that and I've had no need to research it for my own. My animals have simply not suffered any of those problems on good food. When my sister had a cat with bladder problems I told her the prescription stuff is junk and she found that giving him better food without even looking for ones specifically meant to avoid the problem cleared it up. That may not be true for all and some may need more research and care but I have yet to see that prescription diets solve anything. For picky dogs they also tend not to be deemed edible.

I know this thread was from nearly a year ago, but it reminded me that Yuki was very changeable about her food choices at one time. She ate with relish what we gave her one day, but turned her nose up at it the next. By that time she was eating a mix of canned food and kibble. Then something gave me the notion - I forget what - that she might prefer to eat wet and dry foods separately, so I gave her them in separate bowls and she ate the contents of both, no problem. I also discovered a canned food brand and type that she likes, so I just get that for her each time I'm shopping.

Gillian