Dad's always been a huge eater - even at 98. Recently he seems to be trying to chew everything into a liquid, which doesn't really work with meat. One bite might take 15 minutes. He gets tired before he can finish. Should I start pureeing everything? I hate to do this since eating seems to be one of the few things he still enjoys. A few months ago we started with Thick It to nectar. Since then he hasn't choked. But he's never choked on solid foods. Has anyone else had experience with anything like this?
One thing I don't think I saw and don't know your situation, but does your Dad still have most or all of his teeth? Mama did (at age 90) and she went from enjoying full normal meals to, as you said, chewing and chewing and chewing and I had to hold the spoon and feed her each bite. Meal.time became a nightmare...as it turns out, she had a bad tooth and it finally abcessed and looking back that may have been part of that issue...now later on she had surgery and following the anesthesia, which she had never had a problem with before, this time she went from eat normal food to never wanting anything but mildshake type drinks again...
So like the others I had to get creative. I have blended her vanilla ensure with everything from Instant breakfast, yogurt, peanut butter, bananas, apples, applesauce, baby foods of all kinds, natural honey, all kinds of things in different combinations that bump up the calories and nutrition and Mama has been on that type of total liquid diet now for over a year and has not lost one ounce...and she seems satisfied and enjoys her "meals"...I feel for you...just thought of the tooth issue so thought I'd toss that out there...also we found one of her ear canals had a good bit of wax buildup that caused some soreness in the side of her face and all kinds of things that can cause issues that I would have never thought of before...
Now i find myself checking out things that used to, I would never have put them together....good luck...I understand the dilemma...
I would take jeannegibbs' suggestion. Don't give him a piece of steak to eat but nourish him with yummy, healthy, and thick milkshakes. My dad used to love orange juice but it became too acidic on his tummy so I plopped a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it and that did the trick.
Get creative.
before my dad died he had a hard time eating- he had always enjoyed restaurants and mama's cooking before. when he quit eating some doctors thought it wasn;t and issue and some thought it was all about appetite stimulation and blah blah blah. Until we had a test done and they realized he'd had a stroke (unknown to anybody) that had caused some paralysis of his throat. If only we had known what the real problem was... no one knew.
My husband loved milk shakes when it became harder for him to chew. A banana, ice cream, a big blob of peanut butter, and some chocolate syrup in a blender and he had an Elvis special! Sometimes we added an envelop of Carnation Instant Breakfast (they've changed the name -- I forget what it is now.) Peaches with vanilla ice cream was a favorite, too. And along with it a soft cookie.
My husband HATED pureed food. He didn't want "baby food" for dinner. But if a soup with chunks gave him trouble, creating "cream" soup in the blender was fine. Scrambled eggs don't take much chewing. Cottage cheese worked for him.
Experiment. Dad may not object to pureed food. He might like the occasional milk shake. He might prefer cream of chicken soup instead of struggling with eating a chicken leg.
I wouldn't be terribly worried about his nutrition at this point -- just his pleasure and his safety.