Hi everyone. I have been looking at the recipes for Satin Balls and I'm going to make some but have no idea what Total Cereal is? Thanks.

It's an american brand of breakfast type cereal

Total cereal. I don't know what variety they recommend for dogs! :D

Thank you both for replying. This may be an American cereal, but what do I buy in Britain?? Kellogs Bran Flakes? !!!

I make satin balls but I dont add the cereal.

Hi Carolyn, The links I  have been given to make Satin Balls differ a bit. One says add the eggs and one says eggs plus shells. The one I was going to follow says 1 1/4 cup of veg oil and same of molasses. Is that one and a quarter cup of each or one quarter cup of each? Just want to get it right! Thanks.

Heres how I do my satin Balls.

Into a large bowl add 1Ib of cheap mince (cheap because you want the fat content)
10 egg yolks
Jar of Peanut butter
beef suet (atora etc) a good size handful
Cream cheese (philidelphia)

Mix it all up and make into balls sizes then feed as needed,you can freeze them.
If you feed them every day you will start to see a difference in a week or so.

Is he just thin or not eating well?

Hi Carolyn, He is a 14mth old IW. He has always been on the lean side even though he eats. He sometimes leaves some food. He isnt a greedy dog. We have him on kibble and tripe chunks and strips. The reason we have decided to make the satin balls is because he was at a show last weekend and the judge said he just needed to fill out more. He isnt thin as where his spine and hip bones are showing just lean and with him having a long back it looks worse. I know he isnt at full maturity yet but he really could do with some more weight on him. He is a lively Wolfhound always on the go when he is awake. Thanks for your help.

I used oatmeal in place of the cereal.

>The one I was going to follow says 1 1/4 cup of veg oil and same of molasses

I think in this recipe it means 1 1/4 cups,as in 1 cup and a quarter.

Hi, I made the satin balls the other day. Froze it for 24 hrs then started my dog on it yesterday morning. He was fine on his second feed to. Then last night he started with wind and the smell wasnt too good either. He hasnt eaten all his dinner this morning and has done loose stools. Thought this wasnt supposed to upset stomachs? :rolleyes: He is ok in himself lively and playing. His stomach is gurgling to. He is an IW and I think I have maybe over done it on the amount he has had. He had about 1/2lb in his morning meal then about a lb in his evening meal the first day. With him being ok I gave him a lb each on both meals yesterday as well as his kibble but reduced the kibble. Is this what I'm doing wrong. To be honest he doesnt seem to be that bothered about the satin balls. Thanks.

Wouldn't there be rather a lot of salt with the cheese and the peanut butter ?? :)

Daisy

I didnt use salt or peanut butter. I followed one of the links some one sent me last year. It had oatmeal, wheatgerm, eggs, oil, gelatin, mince, wholewheat cereal and molasses. I made up 2 large bowls of it. There was about 9lb in total weight. Still got 2 bags in the freezer.

Tohme recipe for satin balls had a tablespoon of fish oil. Is this Omega 3 ? I have only seen it in capsules, do I have to puncture the capsule and squeeze out onto a spoon to measure a tblsp or has anyone seen it in liquid form.

Hi Gaby. I dont know. The recipe I used didnt mention fish oil. My dog doesnt like satin balls. Made up a batch and he turned his nose up. My sack of Timberwolf was delivered last week and yes you guessed, he didnt like that either.

Hi housetrained. Don't be in too much of a rush with him.:) He's only 14 months and every IW I've had, excepting the current one, has been a long lanky rickle of bones at that age. IMO that's good - thay aren't carrying any excess weight on thier bones and joints. Also from what I hve seen, big sighthounds that are slow to mature usually keep on looking good right up to old age. Whereas the ones that are 'finished' young often look like old dogs by the time they are five. He may well be three or even three and a half before he fills out - but good things come to those who wait! :)

Hi Jas. I took him to the vets yesterday morning to get him checked out because he hadn't eaten a full meal in 3 days. The vet said there was nothing wrong with him. He gave him some medicine to boost his appetite. Fergus was panting and getting all upset in the vets waiting room because he doesnt like it there (as most dogs dont) and by the time we went through into the vets room he was stressed out more. The vet asked me if he often gets like that. He now and again puffs and pants as if he's hot and all he's doing is sitting looking out the lounge window. The vet said it could be an anxiety thing and if his appetite is no better in a week he has to go back for a blood test and if that comes back clear then he might consider putting him on a mild tranquiliser which we're not sure about. When he weighed him he had put on 3kg's? He is now 64.7kg but he looks thinner. I had him looked over a few months ago by a Wolfie person and she said he is going to be a late developer. Like you said between 3-4 yrs old. The last show my husband went to the judge placed him 5th out of five and said he just needs to fill out more. He was the tallest in the ring but the others were more weighty. Anyway he has eaten 3 full meals. Fingers crossed. I know this sounds silly Jas, but for the past few evenings especially, he looks really sad. As if depressed? He is 17mths. He was born 4th Sept 05. I was 2mths out last time I spoke to you. Thanks sue.

Also Jas, I took a wolfhound book back to the library last week. Cant remember the author, but it said a wolfhound that develops late dies earlier

It is not scientific but just going on the wolfhounds and deerhounds I've known, slow developers do seem to live longer.

Hi Sue, don't be too surprised if Fergus chooses to go a few days without food occasionally, for no apparent reason. Deerhounds are dire for doing that and worry new owners no end but wolfhounds do it too. They will just decide not to eat for a few days and then just as suddenly will be back to eating with a will. If he has eaten 3 full meals now he will probably be fine - until the next time he decides to scare you. :) The Timberwolf sounds like a good food. I don't believe in keeping giant breed puppies on low protein diets in case it somehow 'forces' them. They NEED plenty of protein and fat and any protein that is not needed for growth will just be metabolised into energy. Don't give up too easily or he will train you to pander to his whims. But if you find that he really doesn't like it one you might try is Purina for athletic large breeds. I put my skinny old deerhound on it to see if I could get a few pounds on her. She loves it and she has put on weight, so when the present bags of food run out I'm putting all my lot on it. I wouldn't however bother with things like Satin Balls. If he is a slow developer he will fill out slowly and in his own good time.

Is Fergus an anxious sort of dog generally or is it just at the vets? If its just at the vets I'd take him to outside the surgery and without making a big thing of his worries and give him treats. Then to the waiting room, give him treats and take him home again. And finally after several times of doing that, make an appointment for the vet to do nothing but stroke him and give him treats. That's what I do with my puppies and all of the hounds go to the vets with wagging tails. That said, my vets and especially the vet nurses are very co-operative with that sort of thing. They say it makes their lives easier in the long run. But some practices may not be as helpful. Like you, I would be very dubious about giving him a tranquilliser. If it is just at the vets you can do your best to make going to the vets pleasant. If he is generally an anxious boy you can't keep him on tranquilizers permanently and there are other ways to deal with it.

I hope he gets over his 'sad' phase soon.:) Sorry for having wittered on so much!

Hi Jas. Thanks for the reply. I agree with you, we dont want him on tranquilisers. I didnt think of him as being a dog with anxiety till the vet said yesterday. It never entered my mind. But when he has sat panting in the room at home sometimes, its not been hot and he hasnt being doing anything to make him pant. I have nearly a full sack of Timberwolf sitting there! I think its because its so small. even soaked I didnt find it swelled that much. He was dropping it all over the floor and wasnt even bothering to pick it up, then left it in the bowl to. Do you think this terrier biscuit, mince (what we eat), and tripe strips and chunks is sufficient for him or do you think I should change the biscuit to a complete meal. But saying that he is clearing his bowl. He has stopped eating raw chicken wings to. I bought a bag and he has had about 3. Last one I offered him he sniffed and sniffed, took it, then dropped it and didnt bother with it. What a dog My two Danes used to be scared at the vets to. As soon as one of them heard the vets voice (and there is 4 or 5 of them) she would try to do a runner. I always use the same vet and she knew his voice. He was brought up as a puppy on JWB which the breeder was using. But he stopped eating that ages ago. Then he went on Wainrights, that lasted about 2 mths and he wouldnt touch it. Then I read on here about the silver bag of "pets at home " food. After about a month he wouldnt eat that. Thats when I ordered the Timberwolf because it had so many good reviews on here. He had one meal of that and even then he didnt finish the bowl and wont touch it. Its probably my fault for changing him. It sounds like a lot of changes pretty quickly but it isnt. My danes would go off their food for a couple of meals but then go back on it again. Not him. He isnt a very enthusiastic eater. I'm sorry for the wittering on to   Sue.

Hi Sue, if he was only anxious at the vets then I certainly wouldn't allow him to be put on tranquillizers but I would try to get him used to going to the vets in the way I described. You never know when a dog will have to go to the vet and sometimes unpleasant things have to happen to them there. So if you can get Fergus more relaxed about the whole thing by accustoming him to the smells (which are probably pretty worrying for a dog) it would be a good thing.

It sounds as if Fergus has you very well trained when it comes to food. :) Personally I don't think terrier mix and mince and tripe is going to give a properly balanced diet, though you could feed it sometimes. Tripe isn't particularly high in protein. Sighthounds can be very fussy feeders and in my experience they never eat as much as the owner thinks they should. I knew one IW that had trained his (very experienced) owner that she would only eat cat food, and on cat food she lived!

If I were you I'd harden my heart and decide what he is going to be fed on. Put out his portion and leave it for 15 minutes. If he doesn't eat it, make no fuss and lift it again. Repeat and you will soon find he has eaten what he is given! Have you got Betty Murphy's book? If so look up the bit there about fussy feeders.

BTW does Timberwolf have citric acid in it? If it does you shouldn't soak it. The Purdue Study found an increase in bloat when foods preserved with citric acid were soaked. My lot prefer their food dry anyway. If you do try the Purina for athletic large dogs that  I mentioned in the last post, the kibble is large and my thin old deerhound lady certainly enjoys crunching it up.

>even soaked I didnt find it swelled that much<

Thats a good thing :) Generally you can judge a good kibble by how much is expands,or not,when it's soaked.Grain and cereal/filler based muck usually expand alot,where as meat based kibbles stay the same size or expand very little.

Hi. I will finish off the sack of Terrier mix and try him on the one you suggested Jas. It worries me though when he wont eat food then it goes on for days because he cant afford to lose any more weight or he will look like a greyhound. What I meant by it not swelling much is that it says with Timberwolf for big dogs it's best to soak it. But with it looking the same I dont know why it said to soak. :rolleyes: I never leave his food down for more than 10 mins if he isnt interested. My wheelie bin is better fed than him at the moment coz all the unwanted food goes in there On sunday afternoon we took him to the beach and we walked for ages with him. But there was no dogs about so he didnt run much. So my husband did a lot of running so he would chase him so as to get him running! We fed him a couple of hours later after our dinner. I put lamb, swede, sprouts, carrots, mash, broccoli and lamby gravy through it and he didnt want it. He used to love that. I offered him it later thinking he would have worked up an appetite but he still refused it. Oh well Thanks again.

How much are you feeding him Sue, and how many times a day? My very big 5 yo wolfhound boy only gets two sheltie sized dishes of kibble per day. He matured and filled out quite early but my other IWs have been 3 - 4 before they put on any bulk. Can you get any competion for him? Borrow another dog or even a cat? One other thing that I've found to work is tipping the unfinished food out of the bowl onto he floor. For some reason food seems to be more appetising that way.

Hi Jas. He gets fed twice a day. When OH gets up for work at 7am, then I feed him at 5pm. I think I might be feeding him too much from what you say. We have two 11" bowls that sit on a metal stand. One for water and we either half full or just slightly under half full the food one. With him being a big dog I thought he would have the appetite to go with it :rolleyes: What diameter is a Sheltie dish? I put 4 mugs of kibble per meal with tripe extra. We will have another IW but not yet. Bought a house that needs a lot of work doing to it. We thought about getting one and maybe he wouldnt be so clingy to me and have some competition. But now isnt the right time. I do have Elizabeth Murphy's book. Have read up on why they maybe not be eating. Even said they could go off a stainless steel bowl? He didnt eat this morning but ate nearly all of his evening feed. Put sardines in tomato sauce in it. He keeps coming over to me now and sniffing my face and his breath stinks! If he drops any food on the floor when he's eating he wont pick it up, so I think it would be pointless putting it on the floor. I'll be the one to pick it up. I'm still trying to coax him with the Timberwolf. I put a couple of handfuls in his meal tonight. Hoping he wouldnt notice. Take me ages getting through the bag doing that! You have been really helpfull with all your suggestions. Thankyou very much. Sue.

Hi, my first rescue GSD was just the same. She never showed much interest in food & could go for days without eating. I worried all the time about her. The only time she wolfed down a meal was when we were on holiday. We stayed in a dog friendly hotel who knew GSD's well. He bought out a dish of green tripe & I honestly never saw food disapear so quick! I used to give it her from time to time, but I didn't like the smell. It doesn't bother me now, have you tried it (not you, your dog!)? Apologies if I have missed it in your previous messages, I haven't read them word for word because I in a bit of a rush & have to go out now to agilty class. Good Luck.

Hi Beardy. Yes he has had green tripe. Ate the first meal then wouldnt entertain it anymore. :rolleyes: