older dog nutrition

Question
Hi, I'm having difficulty feeding my 15 yr old male shitzu mix, he means the world to me, and he's having a hard time chewing his food, so I've started to put his food into a blender. I'd like to start feeding him human quality food, because I don't like to feed him the cheap canned stuff.  He also likes to munch the grass sometimes so I figure he's trying to get some veggy into his diet, and I so I tried some pureed veggy and meat, but he doesn't go for it. So I'm looking for some good home cooking recipes if you've got any. All he can eat of the dry in the really small kibble, and that only seems to come in high fat puppy food, so I'm kinda at a loss here, Thanks!

Answer
Hi annette;
I know how you feel, I love my animals like they are my children, and I take very good care to help them live as long as possible.
Feeding so-called, "human food" is difficult.
You need to find a dog nutritionist, or talk with your vet to work out a diet for your dog.
Dogs, like humans need certain amounts of certain nutrients. This is where your animal nutritionist would come in. Just feeding them the same foods you eat does not work well. There are some vegetables you cannot give your dog, because they can even be poisonous.Onions for instance, and garlic should be used very sparingly. Better to just leave it out.
There is so much more then the fat in puppy formulas you have to watch. Older dogs need less protein, because too much can lead to liver damage or failure.
Do you know that Science Diet also comes in canned foods, and there are different formulas.
Also, when mine have touble eating the hard kibbles, I soften them a bit with hot water.
Just a little hot water added, and letting it soak for awhile, will soften the kibble enough so they can chew it. Don't soak it too long, or it will become mushy.
Have you tried putting the kibble he likes in a food procssor, and just grinding it up finer?
The dry kibble is better for them because it helps keep tartar off the teeth, but if they can't chew it, there is no point giving it to them.
Have you spoken with your veterinarin about this problem?
He/she should be able to advise you what he may be able to eat easily, or he can give you suggestions how to modify his food so it is easy for him to chew it.
When I cook vegetables for my dogs, I cook them in broth mix. It doesn't add protein, but it flavors the veggies. Mine love carrots and potatoes cooked in a bit of broth.
Talk with your vet about making stew for him, and giving him a suppliment vitamin.
When I cook for my dogs, it is cooked just like I cook for my family, and is perfectly suitable for humans to eat.
I skin a chicken, stew it in just enough water to cover it. Then I let it cool completely in the fridge,so the fat will harden, and I can skim all of it off. Then I cook the carrots, potatoes and a little celery in the broth, along with some rice. I put very little if any salt, and no pepper.Then I add the chopped up meat. For an older dog, put less meat.1 chicken should make a lot of meals for a little one like your's.You could package the left overs in meal sized packages so you don't have to do all the work for every meal.
You have the flavor of the meat throughout the vegetables, and by skimming off all the fat, you cut the calories.
I do the same with beef stew for them, or lamb.
Of course, feed no pork, and the organ meats like liver, are loaded with protein and iron, so you can easily damage them with these. I just use lean beef,lamb, and chicken, cook in  water, cool to get all the fat off, and I cut as many calories and protein out as I can.
Get a good vitamine suppliment from the vet for an older dog.
I have never put kibble in a food processor or blender to make it smaller, but I'll bet it would work. It may dull your food processor, but who cares about an appliance when we are worrying about our babies?
I know soaking it in water will soften it.I boil the water so it will soften the food by the time it is cool enough to eat.
Let me know if I can help more.
Charlotte