Satin balls??

[Southpaw]

Okay I had decided I wasn't going to stress about Juno's weight, but I can't do it anymore. I can't handle being able to see/feel vertebrae.

This is 2 days ago:

This is where she was a year ago, and this is what I want her back to!

Seeing those 2 photos together is almost disgusting to me. She looks like hell.

SO. I've heard about satin balls a billion times. Someone explain them to me and what to do with them. If they are even something I should try with her. I've seen tons of recipes online but don't know which one to use or WHAT to do after they are made lol.

 

[SpringerLover]

We ALL need things to stress about, right?

But... I feel like if she wasn't standing roach backed it wouldn't be obvious? Those pictures aren't really comparable...? Do you have one of her standing square like she is in the second picture, to compare to?

 

[Southpaw]

She's standing silly, but her spine is obvious regardless of stance =/ I don't have any recent ones of her standing square (it's not her natural pose lol), but as far as a "condition I like better" photo, this one is probably the closest I can get in order to compare silly stance to silly stance:

She's just always had a well concealed spine... it never used to announce its presence so loudly!

 

[momto8]

We do satin balls for when we lure course, since Courtney does not like to eat when we travel and being so thin framed as it is , can drop a couple of pounds and look awful!

i do

hamburger
oatmeal
pb
raw eggs( i don't do shells)
and a small amount of mollassas

 

[Shai]

How much is Juno eating/day now? What sort of food?

I usually reserve satin balls for dogs who are eating as much as they can or will and still can't seem to get enough calories to support a healthy body mass. Unless they are at that point, I'd personally rather just feed them more food vs. go to satin balls.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

Why not just do a caloric supplement for puppies? We used that for several skinny fosters and both of the mals when they were too thin. Also, you can try feeding a higher fat and lower protein food. How about adding cooked oatmeal and peanut butter to her meals? All things that helped our Malinois gain weight.

 

[Southpaw]

She's getting almost 4c/day of Sojos. The weight loss started a couple months ago when she was on kibble. She's always been a difficult dog to get to GAIN weight, and now that she's lost it it's been tough getting her to go back up. She's just maintaining this crappy look now. Blah.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

We did a pre cooked batches of oatmeal and kept them in the fridge, each meal got a scoop or two and some olive oil to boot. We also did PB and bread sandwiches for snacks. If that can keep weight on two intact nonstop Malinois puppies it should work for most any dogs.

FWIW my dogs couldn't keep weight on dehydrated alone.

 

[Beanie]

If it started when she was on kibble I would guess the food probably doesn't have anything to do with it... but I'm wondering if you tried both the Sojos and kibble together?

Somebody here recommended a scoop or two of coconut oil as a way to add calories - I tried it with Payton and he HATED the coconut oil and refused to eat his food at all. You can maybe try it with Juno? I happened to have a big jar of coconut oil anyway though, so I'm not sure if you want to go buy a whole jar unless you think you'll be able to use it if she doesn't like it...

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

Further can you back down her cardio and up her muscle building?

 

[Emily]

Oatmeal with her raw and lots of PB kongs helped Blossom gain weight. Plus you can make oatmeal in the microwave in like a minute!

Also, full fat (whole milk) plain yogurt. I can only find the Stoneyfield brand that's actually made from whole milk. For Blossom it really helped her digestion, which aided weight gain, and the tons of fat didn't hurt either. Of course, if Juno is one that can't handle dairy, this won't help.

I still give it to her daily to help maintain her condition.

 

[Saeleofu]

You said she started losing weight while still on kibble, before switching to sojos. Have you looked for a medical reason for the weight loss?

Logan just doesn't eat much. He likes to eat, but he gets full fast, and if he eats too much he just get diarrhea instead of gaining weight (I think Juno does that too?). I use an enzyme supplement with him (Enzyme Pro, because it's cheaper than Prozyme and seems to work better) and that's helped him gain a little and keep it on.

 

[Southpaw]

If it started when she was on kibble I would guess the food probably doesn't have anything to do with it... but I'm wondering if you tried both the Sojos and kibble together?

Somebody here recommended a scoop or two of coconut oil as a way to add calories - I tried it with Payton and he HATED the coconut oil and refused to eat his food at all. You can maybe try it with Juno? I happened to have a big jar of coconut oil anyway though, so I'm not sure if you want to go buy a whole jar unless you think you'll be able to use it if she doesn't like it...

I've thought about coconut oil since I do have a couple jars, but I had no idea if it would address her weight or not. She'll eat anything though so no worries about her not liking it lol. I haven't mixed kibble with the Sojos.

Further can you back down her cardio and up her muscle building?

Any suggestions? Sorry lol I just do "typical" dog things and don't know what I would do specifically for muscle building. We do leashed walks, off-leash romps in the park, fetch, tug, flirt pole if the yard is not snowy/muddy/poopy....
I don't feel that she's really lacking in muscle, though. At least not in comparison to how she's been in the past. Still feels muscley to me lol.

You said she started losing weight while still on kibble, before switching to sojos. Have you looked for a medical reason for the weight loss?

Logan just doesn't eat much. He likes to eat, but he gets full fast, and if he eats too much he just get diarrhea instead of gaining weight (I think Juno does that too?). I use an enzyme supplement with him (Enzyme Pro, because it's cheaper than Prozyme and seems to work better) and that's helped him gain a little and keep it on.

Maybe I'm being silly but I just don't think there's a medical reason for it. I think the only thing there'd really be to check is bloodwork. She's had a fecal ran recently. And with no other symptoms or changes... I don't know. It just all started happening when I changed kibble brands + decreased her food, so I think that's all it was.

I didn't even think of enzymes. Hmm.


I did go ahead and make a small batch of satin balls today since I had time to kill this morning, and we already had most of the ingredients. We're going to go slow with them but I don't want to drag this out any more than it already has been, either. I'm a little sick of my family telling me every day that I need to "do something" about her. >_<

 

[Kilter]

Looking at the sojo's, it's not that dense in calories, more like a 'diet' food. I would suggest topping up with a meat source of some type, like chicken backs if you want to do raw for example. Here you can get chicken backs ground and they are pretty greasy but don't tend to cause the runs, great for dogs in her condition.

I'd also do the oatmeal, it helps. Storee was on it as a younger dog to keep something on her. Coconut oil is great stuff, most dogs like it and if they don't, you can use it for cooking (popcorn!), mix it into hot water then use with shampoo for the dogs, it's yummy in baking as well as on your own oatmeal. Costco has it for cheap and I use it for a lot of things, so it won't get wasted. It even works for rashes and eye problems, the dogs picked up some sort of pink eye thing a while ago and I just put a dab of it in their eyes and it cleared it up. Good stuff!

 

[Southpaw]

Just wanna update this to say that, in just this 1 week's time, she is looking GREAT again. Even my mom yesterday told me "stop. Don't put any more weight on her" and she's the one always complaining I starve the dogs and she's too thin blah blah blah.

I went a little wild and crazy even though I said I wouldn't, and did a combination of things. The satin balls + a tablespoon each of peanut butter and coconut oil with each meal. Her poop never got loose so I figured heck, must not be hurting.

Depending on the weather tomorrow I might go run her in to get weighed to see where we're at in comparison. But she looks and feels so, so much better than she did a week ago. I've got her started on a digestive enzyme now too, so now fingers are just crossed that we maintain without all the extra fatty supplements.