Diet for old dog with heart trouble?

[Smithson]

Our dog is 10, he has heart problems and is doing poorly, can't walk. On Sunday the vet drained fluid from his stomach and lungs, today he's starting to eat well, but struggles to walk. Can anyone recommend food for him? Canned food is available online, it's expensive. I think we could do just as well or better with fresh food from the local market. Can anyone make recommendations?

 

Thanks

[poanoi]

i would ask around vets for nembutal, buts its nigh impossible

to get someone willing to sell and administer.

 

a cat i liked a lot got very sick, so sick he could barely take a step,

one day, he just left the building to die somewhere in the heat of the day

without anything to drink, all the while the vet didnt feel like selling nembutal

[Smithson]

So you're suggesting I kill our dog? Not the response I was hoping for.

[wildewillie89]

Vet should be able to write up a sufficient homemade diet for you. A diet that is, one, yummy, and two, digestible. As obviously, losing weight or putting on too much weight are both a bit of a death sentence. I would watch the salt. Omega 3 I have heard is good for the heart. 

Either that or the vet should be able to recommend a commercial diet. Probably a lot of information online as it would be a relatively common issue.

 

[robertson468]

We currently have four dogs and previously had another three who sadly passed on due to age.  We heard about BARF - Bone and Raw Food, which includes vegetables.  My Lab is now 10 and (fingers crossed) is in really good form, but remember if you change feed styles, please do it gradually as the dog's digestive system has to adapt.  We did the change over over two weeks and the change in their well being was quite surprising - and they really, really enjoy it.  On Sundays they get a big bone only at lunch-time (normally pork) and that does wonders for their teeth and gums, then my Wife scrapes out the marrow from the bone and feeds it to them.....they love it!   Have a look on the internet and read up on the advantages of BARF.  There is actually a BARF Club in Thailand.  I do not trust the food made up by suppliers either in biscuit or tinned meat form.  The contents are dubious to say the least and very second rate.  The Vets of course will say how wonderful it is...........they after all sell the stuff!  Good luck and I hope your Buddy picks up soon.

[ronaldo0]

Most decent vets sell royal canin food that relates to the dogs problems. I have had two different kinds of tinned meat and two different types of feed that were specific to the dogs problem. One was a Pom with low blood count and other very large Thai dog with digestion and liver issues. Now both perfectly fine and the large dog is 9 years old .

[AaronC76]

When our dogs get sick they get a mix of chicken and rice, I think it just needs to be something easy to digest and you can always add liquid vitamin supplements from the vet if you wish to.

In the UK and in Thailand I have never given our dogs canned food.

Normally in the morning they get the left over sticky rice mixed with "inside chicken" as my wife calls it that she buys from the nearest restaurant or tinned mackerel, boiled eggs and any left over meaty soup from the day before.

In the evening they get fed a dry food mixed with milk, Smartheart is their preferred brand!

Only just been able to convince my wife that chicken bones should NOT be fed to dogs!!!

 

(Ohh and they do get the occasional chicken from one of the neighbours! Sshhh!!!)

 

[peterb17]

What concerns me - is your comment that maybe some tinned food is expensive.

My view is that if you take on a dog- you must realise that to that animal you are his/ her total life.

In return you get the absolute  love from your dog - and this enriches your life.

 

My last dog was run over back home- it cost about 100000 baht/ £2000 to have his back leg rebuilt- a bionic dog 

 

Therefore you do everything possible - and not consider the  cost to take care of your dog.

 

If you think at any point your dog is suffering and is in pain and you have done everything absolutely possible - everything - then yes sadly you kill your dog. 

Its one of the most difficult  decisions you can make - and not the Thai way. 

 

 

[Antonymous]

I have been a dog breeder in the past and reared many healthy dogs. Our current dogs are age 16 and 11, healthy, and they are a breed with a 7-10 year life expectancy! That's due almost entirely to a lifelong healthy diet.

 

Our dogs have always been fed raw meat (chicken mainly, beef occasionally and liver - never raw pork). Meat is the base and added to that pureed brown cooked rice (cook and puree in a blender to help digestion) and pureed boiled veggies (carrots, kale - essential to puree veggies as they cannot be digested otherwise) and fresh fruit in season for all day snacks (bananas, mangoes, lychee, lamyai). Bones to chew on are great when teeth are strong, but not recommended for an old dog. If you can grind the bones into a bone meal and add that is great however. The only supplement we ever give is a once daily fish oil capsule in the morning meal.

 

Feed twice a day morning and evening, but give your aging dog snacks (fruit is great) regularly if demanded.

 

Old dogs sometimes stop drinking water and if that's the case with yours, be sure to add plenty of water to the bowl with each meal - basically a soup. Your dog should lap all o that up and get nutrition and hydration in one.

 

All above should be introduced gradually over a few weeks if it is very different from what the dog is used to. start by adding 10% to the usual diet and add 5% more each day as tolerated.

 

Avoid kibble (dry biscuits) and canned commercial dog food. Also avoid cows milk, which is unsuitable for dogs!!!

 

 

 

 

[nobodysfriend]

Did the Vet check your dog's blood for heartworms ? The Symptoms are the same ... and very common in Thailand .

[csabo]

22 hours ago, Smithson said:

So you're suggesting I kill our dog? Not the response I was hoping for.

If I was the dog I would want you to kill me. 

[dick dasterdly]

On 6/6/2018 at 4:49 PM, Antonymous said:

I have been a dog breeder in the past and reared many healthy dogs. Our current dogs are age 16 and 11, healthy, and they are a breed with a 7-10 year life expectancy! That's due almost entirely to a lifelong healthy diet.

 

Our dogs have always been fed raw meat (chicken mainly, beef occasionally and liver - never raw pork). Meat is the base and added to that pureed brown cooked rice (cook and puree in a blender to help digestion) and pureed boiled veggies (carrots, kale - essential to puree veggies as they cannot be digested otherwise) and fresh fruit in season for all day snacks (bananas, mangoes, lychee, lamyai). Bones to chew on are great when teeth are strong, but not recommended for an old dog. If you can grind the bones into a bone meal and add that is great however. The only supplement we ever give is a once daily fish oil capsule in the morning meal.

 

Feed twice a day morning and evening, but give your aging dog snacks (fruit is great) regularly if demanded.

 

Old dogs sometimes stop drinking water and if that's the case with yours, be sure to add plenty of water to the bowl with each meal - basically a soup. Your dog should lap all o that up and get nutrition and hydration in one.

 

All above should be introduced gradually over a few weeks if it is very different from what the dog is used to. start by adding 10% to the usual diet and add 5% more each day as tolerated.

 

Avoid kibble (dry biscuits) and canned commercial dog food. Also avoid cows milk, which is unsuitable for dogs!!!

 

 

 

 

Great post!

 

I too feed my dogs (nowadays...) a largely, raw meat, 'chunk' of meat as their diet.  Smartheart as the 'top up'.

 

 Expensive, but worth it if it's genuinely better for them.  Expensive, because I don't trust Thai meat for my dogs.

 

Presumably they need vegetables/fruit introduced into their diet whilst young - as my dogs have no interest in either.  The only way to get them to eat veg/fruit is mixed up in minced meat, and I assume that 'lumps' of meat are better - to clean their teeth.

[dick dasterdly]

On 6/6/2018 at 8:56 PM, car720 said:

I thought this was a thread about me.   

But anyway for what it is worth....................................liver.

Yes, I aplogise that we have all diverted from the original topic.

 

The only comment that might possibly be relevant, is that heart and breathing problems can sometimes be alleviated by aircon.

 

Thinking about their diet when they already have these problems is already too late?

 

This sounds judgmental, and I certainly don't mean it that way!

[wildewillie89]

On 6/9/2018 at 12:05 PM, dick dasterdly said:

I assume that 'lumps' of meat are better - to clean their teeth.

Also to slow down their eating. 

[Smithson]

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't brave enough to check this thread after the weird post suggesting I kill the dog.

 

He is doing a lot better now. At the vets suggestion he's on Hills dog food, which is imoported. When I asked the vet about liver, stomach etc. she said too much fat. I tend to the the canned food wouldn't be super quality. Would we be better of just buying lean meat from the market?

[Antonymous]

1 hour ago, Smithson said:

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't brave enough to check this thread after the weird post suggesting I kill the dog.

 

He is doing a lot better now. At the vets suggestion he's on Hills dog food, which is imoported. When I asked the vet about liver, stomach etc. she said too much fat. I tend to the the canned food wouldn't be super quality. Would we be better of just buying lean meat from the market?

Definitely, yes.

 

Of course the vet recommended Hill's - you will have bought it from the vet, right?