OK, you elderly dog lovers

[dixeedeluxe]

I just realized that my dog probably has no back teeth and that's probably why he doesn't eat much anymore.

Is that a thing?

Should I give him different food?

Who wants to see the picture of the gross tooth again?

[TrudyCampbell]

I think dogs can eat kibble even with zero teeth.

[katie]

What about putting warm water in the kibble to soften it? We do that for our dog now. I forget why but there is a reason.

[blondiesbored]

My dog is elderly AND has a large non-cancerous mass in his lower jaw. We had it removed and biopsied, it grew back 3x bigger. I love him and don't want to see him suffer which he is not but it was a struggle for him to eat. We did not change foods b/c on of my other dogs is allergic to grains so he is on a special medicated diet. Rather than having different foods we kept them all (3) on the same. We do water it down let it sit for about 20 minutes until soften then give it to him.

[dixeedeluxe]

I don't want to switch them to soft food because it seems to REALLY mess with their guts. I've given it in the past after extractions (even though the vet said that wasn't needed). And I also keep some packets as backup when I run out of dogfood. Whew, I pay the price with those stank poops!

I'll try the softening for 20m trick to see if he ups his food intake. He's down 7lbs (half his original body weight) in a year.

[shmoo]

While a dog without teeth can eat hard food, if the dog has teeth that are bothering him, then the hard kibble can cause more pain.

You may need to try different brands or offer some chicken and rice to find something that won't upset the pup's stomach.

[monkeybabe]

We used to soften one of my childhood dog's food with a little water.