Should I feed my older dog soft food?

[poulou]

Hi everyone,
I wrote yesterday about the challenges we are having with our almost thirteen year old mix dog and our 9 month old mastiff.
since we are now feeding them completely seperate I decided to keep an eye on how much my older dog is eating. She has had the same bowl of food all day. I put it up after ten or so minutes after every meal. She has maybe eaten half to three quarters of a cup of food all day! Do you think I should try her on canned food. Maybe that would help her bowels too. She is a mix black lab and something else. She was abandoned so we don't know. She drinks her water well at least
tia
Rachel in VT(BRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!) 

[schelmischekitty]

are her teeth in good shape?  if she has bad teeth the dry food could be hurting her, but if she doesn't have a problem with her mouth *i* (not saying you should, you know her better than anyone) would leave the food the same so long as she's keeping good weight.  i've noticed with my mom's dogs (they're 11 and the other one i think is 7) i've noticed they have slowed down a lot in how much they eat, but they also don't do as much activity either.  just a thought.

[shangrila]

I would test to see if the hardness of the kibble is bothering her by making it mushy the way you would do for a puppy who was teething - let it soak in hot water for 10 minutes, or microwave it for 1 with room temperature water. If she eats better with that then you know it her teeth that are bothering her. If not, she might not be hungry or she might just not like the food. What brand do you feed?

[LibbyP]

For Hoover being that he is an 'older' man I wet his food down with warm water ~ just for a snack sometimes I add little healthy 'snacks' in it raw apple slices, carrots, cooked rice, pumpkin puree  , yogurt, cottage cheese is her weight good? If you are now keeping her seperate for the time you have the little ones there can you leave her food down? Is she nibbler? Best of luck ~ Kim

[kathryn]

All my pups are young at the moment but I feed them a mix of canned food and kibble.  I started the canned because I was having a hard time keeping weight on them.  I would opt to try some extras like cheese or gravy or something if you are just worried about weight and want to intice her to eat.  I wouldn't do a complete change on her diet unless she has some dental problem.