# Diet & weight gain/loss



## Pauline Michels (Sep 1, 2006)

My Dobe is VERY active. Raw and grain free diets cause him to lose weight. If the food has too much fat he gets gassy and runny. I feed him twice a day and he's not one to chow down just because he has food in front of him.

Besides rice or oatmeal is there anything I can add to his diet to keep him a little more filled out? I'm thinking sweet potatoes would help. Anything else?

I like 'em lean & mean but he tends towards bony at times. Plus it's winter in Michigan.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Cooked fat makes him gassy, right? (The sprayed-on fat in kibble?)

Have you tried an extra meal of RMBs with the raw fat they have on them?


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## Julie Ann Alvarez (Aug 4, 2007)

I have the same problem with my AB Lasher. I have used boiled potatoes and oatmeal. But this year I just started feeding him more. He loves to eat, so that is not a problem. I have heard of satin balls. I will look for the recipe and post it if I can find it.


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## Julie Ann Alvarez (Aug 4, 2007)

HUSKY HOWLLOW'S SATIN BALLS

10 lbs Regular Ground Beef (cheapest you can find)
1 454 G package of Wheat Germ
2 lbs Oatmeal
10 whole eggs (hard boiled)
1-1/4 cups Canola oil
10 packages Gelatin
1-1/4 cup Molasses
pinch Salt
1 Tsp Minced Garlic

*note* The mixture will be very stiff and hard to manage if you try and 
do it all in one bunch. Even dividing in half can be tiresome so you may 
want to divide into smaller lots for ease of preparation.

Mix Wheat Germ, Garlic and Salt together
Add Gelatin and mix
Divide in half
Split Oatmeal into 2 1 lb lots and cook until done
Shell eggs, and chop in food processor (including shells)
Divide in half

Add one half of the Wheat Germ mix, one half of the eggs and one half of the molasses to a bowl or processor. Add one half of the oil and mix 
well. Set aside and do the same with the second half.

Gradually add one batch of the Wheat Germ mix to one batch of the oatmeal, mix well. Gradually add one half of the hamburger to the mix and combine well. Repeat with the second batch of ingredients.

Roll into balls, or mould into bars. Put a layer of wax paper on a cookie sheet.
Arrange balls or bars on sheet and put in the freezer until hard. Put in freezer bags and take out and thaw as needed. Makes about 14 bags of bars
(4 approx 1/4 lb to a bag)


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

by adding (raw) fat to the diet you can increase the caloric density - that is why the satin balls work - fatty hamburger!
You could also try a snack of chicken skins which are quite fatty and very palatable to the dog. Small frozen fishes like herrings or sardines (whole frozen) are very attractive to dogs. Splitting feedings and adding a couple of high calorie snacks or mini meals sometimes works better than an large increase in the main meal amount - you can sneak in a few snacks without an intestinal upset. 
I make snacks with fatty ground beef, ground liver and some additional fat.
Beaver is very good, fatty meat and very palatable to dogs but not always easy to get depending on where you live. Lamb and mutton is nice an fatty also. Deer fat is nice if you have hunter friends.
If you find one type of fat causes an upset try a different source (raw beef fat vice pork)

I use the small silicone muffin tins and just blob the mixture I make in them - saves time rolling meatballs and they pop out easy.

I have a couple of sleddogs that are very hard to keep weight on when they are running hard and we get over a certain amount of mileage - and it is kind of strange beacause they are dogs we fight to keep the weight off of in the off season. The naturally lean dogs seem to be able to moderate their weight better. My on a diet all summer dog is now in heaven as he is getting so much extra food and goodies now.


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## Pauline Michels (Sep 1, 2006)

Connie, actually the fat in raw foods, i.e., chicken skin/fat cause the problem. I've fed him raw since puppyhood, he's two now. He won't eat organs or tripe but loves the muscle meats, chicken backs and necks. I was giving him the chicken backs as an afternoon snack. He barfed up the skin and fat! 

Julie Ann, I forgot about satin balls. I've heard of them but never tried them.


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

I guess Jak was the exception to the rule when it comes to Satin Balls. I fed them to him for about 2 weeks, in addition to his kibble, and he didn't gain so much as an OUNCE. #-o What a waste of money and time _that_ was! :-x


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## Julie Ann Alvarez (Aug 4, 2007)

You might try ground pork. Costco sells it up here and it is pretty cheap. My husband likes to purchase it for the bulldogs as a treat.

Good Luck,


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Lily my Malinois female has a lot of trouble keeping on weight. I constantly get asked "you do feed her, right?" Her metabolism is very high. She's my lightest dog at 50 lbs, but she gets as much food as Fawkes the still growing puppy. Try ground pork (I can get this for like $1.50 a pound at the meat lab at my university) and 70ish% lean (which is not lean at all) ground hamburger. Lamb and goat is not very fatty if it is grass raised, so be mindful of that. Beef and pork short ribs are also fatty and the dogs LOVE them. So do I, but only on the grill. *mouth waters* I'm surprised he won't eat any organ meat. Will he eat canned tripe? There's a perirenal fat pad around the kidney (it's the same kind used to make suet for suet cakes to leave out for birds) especially in the bovine kidney and it's very calorie dense.


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## Pauline Michels (Sep 1, 2006)

He won't touch organ meat. He sniffs it and gets a look like "Yuk, you want me to eat THAT". I've tried kidney and canned tripe with no luck. My Jack Russell loves it all though. 

I'll try the pork. Thanks for that suggestion.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Pauline Michels said:


> He won't touch organ meat. He sniffs it and gets a look like "Yuk, you want me to eat THAT". I've tried kidney and canned tripe with no luck. My Jack Russell loves it all though.
> 
> I'll try the pork. Thanks for that suggestion.


I think that a small amount of organ meat (5 to 10%) is important enough that I have actually lightly fried the liver for a dog who left it his bowl for meal after meal...... (You see that I am sympathetic, even though I do not normally do short-order cooking for the dogs. :lol: ) That was not necessary for long, once he started to eat it.


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## Pauline Michels (Sep 1, 2006)

I do cook for my dogs, much to hubby's chagrin. They eat better than him or so he says. 

He (dog) will eat cooked liver. Tonight I fed some browned beef, liver and a baked potato. He ate it. I'll try the lightly cooked working it down to raw. I have had success with raw heart in the past. 

I just wonder if mixing potato or rice with raw will cause a problem due to the difference in digestion times and bacteria loads. Wouldn't it be better to mix cooked meat with carbs and feed raw alone? I add a glob of kefir a few times a week.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

As we've talked about here, the one crucial ratio in a dog's diet is the calcium-phosphorous ratio (or the bone-meat ratio).

A dog on a homecooked diet has to have calcium supplementation. A dog on a raw diet has to have the bones that "come with" his meat.

An all-meat no-bone diet is a nutritional disaster.

Not saying this directly to you, Pauline..... I just don't want a new owner to see that meal suggestion and assume that it's an appropriate dog diet.  

(Of course, they are scavengers; balance is achieved over days or weeks, and not necessarily each meal.)


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## Pauline Michels (Sep 1, 2006)

I definitely give him bones..mentioned the chicken backs in a previous post. He also gets turkey necks, whole chickens, and a meaty beef bone is defrosting as I write this. 

The beef, liver, baked potato is a "snack" as I'm trying to put/keep weight on him.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Pauline Michels said:


> I definitely give him bones..mentioned the chicken backs in a previous post. He also gets turkey necks, whole chickens, and a meaty beef bone is defrosting as I write this.
> 
> The beef, liver, baked potato is a "snack" as I'm trying to put/keep weight on him.


Ah, excellent. I should've gone back and reviewed the thread! :lol:

Nice snack, BTW!


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## Sharon Novak (Jan 31, 2008)

When she is doing lots of training, getting ready for trial, we add a handful of Eukanuba Small bites small bits (puppy food for small breeds) works great for my super hyper malinois who is tiny and can't eat all her caloric needs in one daily meal. 

Best wishes,
Sharon 
http://www.clubmondio.info


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