please can any one help with suggestions for my senior ESS.  He is now nearly 11 years old and until recently has always enjoyed his food.  he has been fed on dry complete food since a puppy and has been fed on Autarky.

as he has got older i have noticed him leaving his food.  he will sit by the dish until you are in the room and will now only eat when he has company.  this is not the problem, we have noticed he then almost takes the food and sort of shovels it up and swollows it hole without chewing.  he will do this for a few peices and leave the rest and then go back to it repeating this process.  we are now therefore considering whether he would be better in his old age with a softer food.  there are a few moist foods on the market and there are the tins, which i have never used either of.  we obviously want to do the best for him but having always been fed on dry food tinned food would be quite a change for his system.

any help and suggestions greatfully received.

Have his teeth been checked by the vet? It may be he has an underlying problem and is unable to eat. If all is OK do you soak the food or is it fed dry?

There are some good moist complete foods such as Naturediet, Natures Harvest and Natures Menu (the tins of NM are better than the pouches IMO). Any of these would be a good alternative to a dry complete, but get his mouth checked first.

I would definitley get his mouth checked for maybe sharp teeth or ulcer's.

As for his food....nature diet,nature harvest as already said by Pedlee is best.
Maybe he is just fed up with Autarky.