THanks Shelly .... that's one of the things we've been doing, it's also one of the things I do for the girls when they whelping pups...we go through lots of chickens LOL Thank God for Crockpots!My last boy got picky in his old age and was tough to keep weight on. I solved the problem by making my own chicken/beef stock (no salt). Just tossed a whole chicken and some beef stew meat into a stock pot, simmered all day until chicken was completely rendered and all meat off bone. Removed bones and then ladled over his dog food every day. Worked great. He ate well and put on a few pounds. I made the stock about once a week for the last 18 months or so of his life.
Good luck with your boy.
Oops I lied and its too late to edit, the food is Medi-cal, not Hill's but still a vet food.We just switched Jed( due to his ears) over to hill's h/p- hydrolyzed protien. It is from the vets it is a hypoallergenic diet. EVERY SINGLE DOG in the house LOVES IT including the 6wk old chihuahua puppy. Jed is an EXTREMELY picky eater and he is 13yrs old. He loves the food and is constantly wanting more. May be worth a try!
Hey Thea,if the food saves a $150 visit every couple of months for ear issues as well as pain and discomfort for my dog, Im game LOL. Could care less what the brand is and LOL- my vet didnt even know about h/p, it was suggested by the vet our fosters go to.
Hey Thea,
Is it the Hill's Ultra? the allergy diet that is completely hydrolyzed? I ask because Royal Canin also has a similar product which is (or actually was--they recently changed the name, not the formula) called HP and is a fully hydrolyzed product. It's also very palatable. I'm all too familar with the hydrolyzed hypoallergic products because I had the misfortune to adopt a cat who is allergic to everything (read that as all food). Purina and Royal Canin have HP type kibbles formulated for cats and this cat has been eating them happily (and cats are tough sells on prescription foods) for nearly 8 years now and is in wonderful condition.
And for you guys that want to die on the hill that Science Diet/Hills is something you'd never feed. While I might not feed the regular Science Diet products (although I think the most recent owners of the company are doing a better job of improving quality) the prescription products are still some of the best on the market.
The Hills Ultra is available in 15# bags (and larger) the Royal Canin HP/hydrolized is available in 7.7# bags (and larger--maybe 16#) for dogs and both companies fully guarantee the product and will refund the purchase price if it doesn't do what you expect it to or if the dog doesn't like it. All of the hydrolized diets are expensive but they work for true food allergies and they are all formulated to be very palatable.
Good luck--I've pretty much fed all my geriatric dogs a stew (crock pot chicken usually) on whatever kibble I was feeding but a couple of my oldest dogs did better if I added about 1/4 of the kibble in the form of puppy food (more calorically dense) so if the dog normal ate 2 cups of kibble per meal with 1/2 cup of chicken stew I would switch it to 1/2 cup puppy food, 1/2 cup chicken stew and 1-1/2 cups of the regular kibble. I never feed senior diets to older Dobes--not enough calories for them.