Satin Balls

One of the first people I got to know when I started going to VGSR outings was a woman named Sheila Grimes. She and her family were involved in the rescue and had started about the same time as me, although I had the impression that they were already old hands at this. Sheila smoked, and I was still enjoying some second hand smoke at that point, so we often found ourselves outside together. (Sheila later took a female rottie and litter of newborn pups from me and raised them, making rottie lovers out of her family and many other people in the process.)

I'm not exactly sure how this came up, but it's not unusual to have a shepherd who is painfully thin and needs to gain weight. I probably had such a dog and Sheila told me about Satin Balls. I went home, did a search on the internet and readily turned up the recipe. According to the website I first found, the name "Satin Balls" refers to a dog named Satin who inspired the creation of the recipe.

These are the basic ingredients:

10 pounds hamburger, (high fat content is both cheaper and better)
1 large box Total cereal
1 dozen raw eggs
1 jar wheat germ
1 jar unsulfered molasses
1 box oatmeal
4 packets, unflavored gelatin
Vegetable oil, flaxseed oil, whatever

I put the eggs, shells and all, in a blender with the gelatin and some vegetable oil. Blend that mixture then dump all the ingredients together and mix by hand. Add as much oil as needed to make it workable. The gelatin will cause it all to set up pretty firmly once it's all mixed. Refrigerate or freeze, depending on how much you are going to use before the raw hamburger would go bad. I added some canned pumpkin this time because I had it, it's full of fiber and helps make a well formed stool. (I spend way too much time focused on dog poop.)

It's a great recipe for putting weight on a dog. Rather than making it into balls, I usually press it down on the bottom of a food bowl and cover it with dry dog food and press the dog food into the hamburger mixture. The dog has to eat his way down to the meat so he ends up consuming the dog food as well. It's particularly good for dogs who aren't avid consumers of whatever dry food you are trying to get them to eat.

I mixed up a batch Friday evening primarily for King, although he is slowly putting on weight and is looking better.

In other news, Buddy came back, Bubba is coming back, and I took in a boxer and Pyrenees mix on Friday.