My dog has just been diagnosed with small bowel disease. He's on steroids and an intestinal diet at the moment and he's slowly gaining weight (he's 33 kilo down from 35.5) Does anyone have any tips to get him interested in his food? He's eating but not as much or as often as he should be. Any ideas?

My Boxer, Harvey, gets stress induced colitis (inflamation of the intestines) when he is bad and stops eating its because he is in pain so I give him a co-codamol tablet to relieve the pain. I put Aloe Vera in his food and this seems to keep the bowel problems at bay so that may also be worth a go. Once the pain has gone then he starts eating heartily again. He had Aloe Vera in his food all the time I do not stop that.

I always had problems with my older dog eating till I was told to grate some cooked liver and sprinkle a little into his food. They love the smell and taste and eat the other food along with it, I did this for a while and he got used to eating and even begs for more now.
Hope this helps .

Hi Jane, I dont know with your dogs problem wether he would be allowed the following,but if ever any of mine go off their food ( especially the boys when the girls are in season) I add pilchards to their meals, never fails for me, and a touch of garlic.

I Agree with Pilchards but for some reason the type in tomatoes not oil. Or try chicken liquadised into a thick gravy, pour a little over the food. Hope you can get on top to his illness soon and you both settle down to managing it OK. Jackie H

Hi, sorry to hear your boy is poorly. I have used "Restore" from Stock Nutrition with great success on a puppy of mine who gave up eating - but there was nothing actually wrong with her, she just lost her appetite for no apparent reason. After about a week of using it her appetite started to return and after a month or so she was eating and growing normally again. Apart from the tempters already mentioned I also offer poor feeders, scrambled egg, grated cheddar cheese on top of the meal, tinned sardines, a tablespoon of evaporated milk, tinned rice pudding, plain live yoghurt, or a couple of ounces of cooked chicken, whizzed in the processor so they cant pick the bits out, but have to eat the whole meal to get it! Not all at once though!! I would check with your vet about these, just in case he shouldn't have any of them, but one or the other usually works for any picky dogs/puppies I have. They didn't though for the puppy I mentioned, but the Restore got the ball rolling for her.