food for older mainly toothless yorkie. - YorkieTalk.com Forums

crazydoglade · 07-31-2014, 01:36 PM

I just took in a pair of older yorkies, 10 and 11years old. Both had lived most their life with an older lady who went into a nursing home 3 months ago. Since then they've been passed around to 3-4 different homes. The people tried didn't have the knowledge and weren't able to financially take care 2 older dogs. They are in pretty decent shape for their age. Lab work pretty normal, potein levels on low normal level and slightly anemic. Teeth are horrible. The male had to have only 1 tooth extracted. He now has 4 total. The little girl is my problem. She had to have all her teeth except 1 pulled. All were rotten and loose..
The problem is getting her to eat. She won't eat regular wet dog food. So far I can get her to eat only pureed baby chicken. I add vitamins but she still needs better nutrition. She's so skinney I don't want to just "wait it out" as so many are recommending.

yorkietalkjilly · 07-31-2014, 01:59 PM

God bless you for taking these sweet little creatures into your home and giving them care, love and stability in their lives. How sad that these little "oldsters" had to make a home change - but thankfully you've got them.

The little girl could be still traumatized from changing her latest home yet again and losing her former owner/caregiver and is missing her still and an upset dog is usually a dog who won't eat anything or eats only something easy to take in. Poor little babies - many homes and it sounds like perhaps little dental care but at least those awful teeth are out now and no longer causing them problems. Maybe if you tried mixing the baby food with some canned food you cooked for a few minutes in the microwave and got the odors stirred up within the kitchen, cooled it and then held it out for her to sniff and then withdraw it a couple of time to maybe get her nose and competitive nature stirred up and involved and interested, then, if she shows interest in the food, hand-feed tiny bits to her, it will get her started eating.

Yorkiemom1 · 07-31-2014, 02:22 PM

God bless you for taking on this task, and God bless the little seniors that deserve our love and attention until they have run their race here and are free to run at Rainbow Bridge. Have you tried Royal Canin Senior canned food? She may find that tasty....it took one of my seniors that lost all her teeth finally, several months before she would eat anything other than baby food....I just boiled carrots and peas and beans, mashed them up and then combined them with the baby food chicken....she ate that for weeks and was quite happy with it! I then got canned chicken, ground it up into a finely diced consistancy, not pureed, and added the mashed carrots, peas, and beans, and added 1/2 a can of the RC senior food for the nutritional content I wanted to be sure she was getting....moving her to a more textured consistancy, and finally she is now eating the senior canned food. The vet assured me her gums would toughen and harden up and she would be eating kibble soom....I am not sure this little lady is going to prove the vet is correct with that theory....

crazydoglade · 07-31-2014, 02:26 PM

I don't usually like science diet but have some ad left from a sick pup and I know that I can get her more but when I try mixing she stops eating and goes back to a bed. I know she has to be depressed and probably in pain. She's on abx and pain med but with her age and condition the vet and I worry about overdosing her. She's such a sweet snuggler when you hold her but I'm afraid we'll lose her. It's possible she'll need iv nutrition, not hydration, but that's definitely not a long term solution.

Yorkiemom1 · 07-31-2014, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazydoglade

I don't usually like science diet but have some ad left from a sick pup and I know that I can get her more but when I try mixing she stops eating and goes back to a bed. I know she has to be depressed and probably in pain. She's on abx and pain med but with her age and condition the vet and I worry about overdosing her. She's such a sweet snuggler when you hold her but I'm afraid we'll lose her. It's possible she'll need iv nutrition, not hydration, but that's definitely not a long term solution.

You said she is eating pureed baby food chicken...if that is all she will eat, feed her that! That will keep her alive just fine for long enough for her to get stronger....only if she goes off food completely do I see you have a problem

The more you snuggle with her, the calmer and more secure and less depressed she will feel....poor little darling....I would be giving her Dr.Millers Pet Nutra Drops....that will help with the stress and also has vitamins and glucose that she needs now...and it stimulates their appetite.

crazydoglade · 08-01-2014, 07:51 AM

She finally ate on her own! Last night I gave her some science ad by syringe before I fed her the baby food and she did ok with it.I also started her on the Dr Millers drops, I had them left over from some puppies. This morning I gave her the ad first and she ate like she was starved. I only gave her 1/2 a can but she's so skinny her tummy was poking out after. It makes you want to cry. I assume she found out that it didn't hurt to eat. Poor baby

yorkietalkjilly · 08-01-2014, 11:53 AM

I'm so happy for you. Most of us know what it's like to wait for a little one whose been refusing food for too long to finally eat and it's just agonizing! It's just the BEST feeling in the world when they finally eat on their own. Good job!

bjh · 08-01-2014, 01:15 PM

You might try grinding some dry food and leave that out for her. She should be able to just lick it up. I have had older yorkies in the past with few or no teeth and they would still eat kibble mixed with a little canned food. You just need to use a small kibble.

Yorkiemom1 · 08-01-2014, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazydoglade

She finally ate on her own! Last night I gave her some science ad by syringe before I fed her the baby food and she did ok with it.I also started her on the Dr Millers drops, I had them left over from some puppies. This morning I gave her the ad first and she ate like she was starved. I only gave her 1/2 a can but she's so skinny her tummy was poking out after. It makes you want to cry. I assume she found out that it didn't hurt to eat. Poor baby

Great!!!! Keep it up!! Appetite stimulant!

kjc · 08-02-2014, 06:29 AM

Slightly elevated food bowls might help too. Glad she's doing better. Bless you for taking them in.

Pinkypard · 08-02-2014, 10:52 AM

Hello Everyone,
This is my first post on this forum.
I have a small 16 year old Yorkie that has not been eating very well for some time. Found spot under right eye that bled when I tried to clean. Rushed to emergency room. She had a very serious infected tooth. Several teeth were probably infected. A heart mummer, and had lost 20% of her normal weight! They gave her antibiotic and pain injections.
Her normal vet ran the total routine of test and found several bad teeth and the mummer also. He was worried about putting her under while extracting the bad teeth as it was a major operation. Advised that she may not come out of the operation. Everything went well. She was very weak and still couldn't eat. Had to feed her special food from the vet with a syringe. Also water. About a week later she still wasn't going to the bath room. Continued the feeding few more days, finally she started drinking water and eating the food I had been mixing with water for the syringe. Now a few days more and she is eating everything in sight and drinking water. Everything appears normal! Still needs to gain some weight. Hopefully, with the proper food, it will come back soon.
Just be patient and try not to worry with your doggie and feed them with a syringe if necessary until they get able to eat on their own. Nature will take care of most things with the medicine from your vet. I had to stop the medicine before her system was moving correctly. Vet said that was what was necessary at this time.
Good luck with your pets. I came very close to loosing mine this time!

crazydoglade · 08-11-2014, 09:59 AM

My little Ruby is eating natures recipe loaf style, if it's mashed a bit more and is gaining eright beautifully but the best news is she found a new forever home! She's going to an older couple who have been checking with us for months looking for the "perfect dog". They are absolutely in love with her and she snuggles in their arms like she was meant to be. There is the right home for every dog. This is why we do rescue.

Pinkypard · 08-11-2014, 03:12 PM

Hello Crazydoglady.
You have a heart of gold! It is seldom anyone has the opportunity to care for older doggies. I have had my little Yorkie since birth. She is 16 now. Just went through a serious tooth infection. Hadn't eaten properly in months. After all the trauma of the medications, not eating etc. She must have just given up. All she did was lay limp in my arms. The vet was scared she wasn't going to make it as she has a heart mummer also.
I fed her the special vet approved food through a syringe. Mixed in water to a liquid that I could inject in her mouth. For days, she didn't respond, then she started responding to the water and food. Gradually, she got stronger. Doc said stop the medicine. Afterward she started acting normal. Now she eats and drinks normal. Coconut oil is recommended for all dogs. I have started her on a tiny amount. She appears to like it. Maybe it would help your animals. See my other post on this same page. Good luck

valeriejsmyth · 08-25-2014, 02:53 AM

There is a bit jac food that is softer chew for senior yorkies and its gluten free, preservative and grain free.

Pinkypard · 08-25-2014, 11:16 AM

Thanks for suggesting the new food. I haven't seen it at any of the pet stores or other places. May have missed it by not knowing about it.
Where do you find this food? I still have some of the iD vets food that I purchased from the pet doctors. she eats it fair but likes other things so I mix it at different times. Gave her a raw egg and she ate it like it was the last thing on earth! They yesterday, she wouldn't even smell of one! This morning, she didn't want to eat the regular food and not a raw egg. I cooked the egg in the microwave some and she ate it.
She appears to be doing as well as could be expected after all the trauma she went through. Her blindness and hearing is bothering her more than anything else I can detect at the present. She is almost totally deaf. She hears high pitch noises and it scares her. Sees objects barely enough to keep from bumping into very many. I think her left eye is worse than the right one. She appears to bump into more objects on the left side.

07-31-2014, 01:36 PM	#1
crazydoglade YT Addict Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: california Posts: 405	food for older mainly toothless yorkie. I just took in a pair of older yorkies, 10 and 11years old. Both had lived most their life with an older lady who went into a nursing home 3 months ago. Since then they've been passed around to 3-4 different homes. The people tried didn't have the knowledge and weren't able to financially take care 2 older dogs. They are in pretty decent shape for their age. Lab work pretty normal, potein levels on low normal level and slightly anemic. Teeth are horrible. The male had to have only 1 tooth extracted. He now has 4 total. The little girl is my problem. She had to have all her teeth except 1 pulled. All were rotten and loose.. The problem is getting her to eat. She won't eat regular wet dog food. So far I can get her to eat only pureed baby chicken. I add vitamins but she still needs better nutrition. She's so skinney I don't want to just "wait it out" as so many are recommending.

07-31-2014, 01:59 PM	#2
yorkietalkjilly ♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas Posts: 22,140	God bless you for taking these sweet little creatures into your home and giving them care, love and stability in their lives. How sad that these little "oldsters" had to make a home change - but thankfully you've got them. The little girl could be still traumatized from changing her latest home yet again and losing her former owner/caregiver and is missing her still and an upset dog is usually a dog who won't eat anything or eats only something easy to take in. Poor little babies - many homes and it sounds like perhaps little dental care but at least those awful teeth are out now and no longer causing them problems. Maybe if you tried mixing the baby food with some canned food you cooked for a few minutes in the microwave and got the odors stirred up within the kitchen, cooled it and then held it out for her to sniff and then withdraw it a couple of time to maybe get her nose and competitive nature stirred up and involved and interested, then, if she shows interest in the food, hand-feed tiny bits to her, it will get her started eating. __________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis

08-01-2014, 11:53 AM	#7
yorkietalkjilly ♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas Posts: 22,140	I'm so happy for you. Most of us know what it's like to wait for a little one whose been refusing food for too long to finally eat and it's just agonizing! It's just the BEST feeling in the world when they finally eat on their own. Good job! __________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis

08-01-2014, 01:15 PM	#8
bjh Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas Posts: 7,959	You might try grinding some dry food and leave that out for her. She should be able to just lick it up. I have had older yorkies in the past with few or no teeth and they would still eat kibble mixed with a little canned food. You just need to use a small kibble. __________________ "Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

08-02-2014, 06:29 AM	#10
kjc I♥PeekTinkySaph&Finny Donating Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 18,866	Slightly elevated food bowls might help too. Glad she's doing better. Bless you for taking them in. __________________ Kat Chloe Lizzy PeekABooTinkerbell SapphireInfinity

07-31-2014, 02:22 PM	#3
Yorkiemom1 Rosehill Yorkies Donating YT Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Houston Texas Posts: 9,462	God bless you for taking on this task, and God bless the little seniors that deserve our love and attention until they have run their race here and are free to run at Rainbow Bridge. Have you tried Royal Canin Senior canned food? She may find that tasty....it took one of my seniors that lost all her teeth finally, several months before she would eat anything other than baby food....I just boiled carrots and peas and beans, mashed them up and then combined them with the baby food chicken....she ate that for weeks and was quite happy with it! I then got canned chicken, ground it up into a finely diced consistancy, not pureed, and added the mashed carrots, peas, and beans, and added 1/2 a can of the RC senior food for the nutritional content I wanted to be sure she was getting....moving her to a more textured consistancy, and finally she is now eating the senior canned food. The vet assured me her gums would toughen and harden up and she would be eating kibble soom....I am not sure this little lady is going to prove the vet is correct with that theory....

07-31-2014, 02:26 PM	#4
crazydoglade YT Addict Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: california Posts: 405	I don't usually like science diet but have some ad left from a sick pup and I know that I can get her more but when I try mixing she stops eating and goes back to a bed. I know she has to be depressed and probably in pain. She's on abx and pain med but with her age and condition the vet and I worry about overdosing her. She's such a sweet snuggler when you hold her but I'm afraid we'll lose her. It's possible she'll need iv nutrition, not hydration, but that's definitely not a long term solution.

08-01-2014, 07:51 AM	#6
crazydoglade YT Addict Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: california Posts: 405	She finally ate on her own! Last night I gave her some science ad by syringe before I fed her the baby food and she did ok with it.I also started her on the Dr Millers drops, I had them left over from some puppies. This morning I gave her the ad first and she ate like she was starved. I only gave her 1/2 a can but she's so skinny her tummy was poking out after. It makes you want to cry. I assume she found out that it didn't hurt to eat. Poor baby

08-02-2014, 10:52 AM	#11
Pinkypard Yorkie Talker Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Posts: 11	Yorkie recovery Hello Everyone, This is my first post on this forum. I have a small 16 year old Yorkie that has not been eating very well for some time. Found spot under right eye that bled when I tried to clean. Rushed to emergency room. She had a very serious infected tooth. Several teeth were probably infected. A heart mummer, and had lost 20% of her normal weight! They gave her antibiotic and pain injections. Her normal vet ran the total routine of test and found several bad teeth and the mummer also. He was worried about putting her under while extracting the bad teeth as it was a major operation. Advised that she may not come out of the operation. Everything went well. She was very weak and still couldn't eat. Had to feed her special food from the vet with a syringe. Also water. About a week later she still wasn't going to the bath room. Continued the feeding few more days, finally she started drinking water and eating the food I had been mixing with water for the syringe. Now a few days more and she is eating everything in sight and drinking water. Everything appears normal! Still needs to gain some weight. Hopefully, with the proper food, it will come back soon. Just be patient and try not to worry with your doggie and feed them with a syringe if necessary until they get able to eat on their own. Nature will take care of most things with the medicine from your vet. I had to stop the medicine before her system was moving correctly. Vet said that was what was necessary at this time. Good luck with your pets. I came very close to loosing mine this time!

08-11-2014, 09:59 AM	#12
crazydoglade YT Addict Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: california Posts: 405	My little Ruby is eating natures recipe loaf style, if it's mashed a bit more and is gaining eright beautifully but the best news is she found a new forever home! She's going to an older couple who have been checking with us for months looking for the "perfect dog". They are absolutely in love with her and she snuggles in their arms like she was meant to be. There is the right home for every dog. This is why we do rescue.

08-11-2014, 03:12 PM	#13
Pinkypard Yorkie Talker Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Posts: 11	Yorkies not eating. Hello Crazydoglady. You have a heart of gold! It is seldom anyone has the opportunity to care for older doggies. I have had my little Yorkie since birth. She is 16 now. Just went through a serious tooth infection. Hadn't eaten properly in months. After all the trauma of the medications, not eating etc. She must have just given up. All she did was lay limp in my arms. The vet was scared she wasn't going to make it as she has a heart mummer also. I fed her the special vet approved food through a syringe. Mixed in water to a liquid that I could inject in her mouth. For days, she didn't respond, then she started responding to the water and food. Gradually, she got stronger. Doc said stop the medicine. Afterward she started acting normal. Now she eats and drinks normal. Coconut oil is recommended for all dogs. I have started her on a tiny amount. She appears to like it. Maybe it would help your animals. See my other post on this same page. Good luck

08-25-2014, 02:53 AM	#14
valeriejsmyth YT Addict Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: South FL Posts: 428 Blog Entries: 1	There is a bit jac food that is softer chew for senior yorkies and its gluten free, preservative and grain free.

08-25-2014, 11:16 AM	#15
Pinkypard Yorkie Talker Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Posts: 11	Bit Jac food Thanks for suggesting the new food. I haven't seen it at any of the pet stores or other places. May have missed it by not knowing about it. Where do you find this food? I still have some of the iD vets food that I purchased from the pet doctors. she eats it fair but likes other things so I mix it at different times. Gave her a raw egg and she ate it like it was the last thing on earth! They yesterday, she wouldn't even smell of one! This morning, she didn't want to eat the regular food and not a raw egg. I cooked the egg in the microwave some and she ate it. She appears to be doing as well as could be expected after all the trauma she went through. Her blindness and hearing is bothering her more than anything else I can detect at the present. She is almost totally deaf. She hears high pitch noises and it scares her. Sees objects barely enough to keep from bumping into very many. I think her left eye is worse than the right one. She appears to bump into more objects on the left side.