Please help - doing it all wrong!!

[LucyA]

Hey Guys,
Sorry I have been dreadful AGAIN, I just never seem to find much time to just sit on the computer now we have our boy, any spare time I find, me and the OH are happy to spend together just chatting as we seem to zoom past each other backwards at the minute!!
I honestly never realised how much work was involved in owning a dog, our boy I think is so low maintenance but still food prep and walking takes up the few hours in the day after and before work we used to have to do nothing in.
I adore it though, he is my angel and so I wouldn't grumble!!

Another reason it's been a while is that I am embarrassed that I don't seem to be coping very well with Blitz's feeding regime, I think I am setting him up to be poorly later in life and I am at wits end now, I am so frightened that I am doing everything wrong and I thought I could manage but I think I need your help and advice guys!!
I have been worrying myself sick about Blitz's weight recently, since we swapped him onto his raw diet he seems to be getting thinner and thinner and it is getting to the point where my family and friends have noticed too and have had a word which is not only incredibly embarrassing but scary!
At first I was giving him about 500g of raw meat split over two meals. He became really possessive over his food and really impatient for it, he seemed distressed, I have doubled this now so he is onto 1kg per day in 2 meals, he has calmed down and doesn't seem hungry or as food possessive now. The meat is normally either chicken, lamb or a mix of heart and lung from landywoods, unless I found something special reduced at the supermarket for him. One meal a week he is getting a couple of chicken wings (which take him minutes to eat) or a turkey wing (which takes him hours to eat)!! He gets a couple of tins of sardines a week in tomato sauce. The odd meal I mix in a raw egg with the shell, about half of his meals have a tablespoon of olive oil in there.

Today I have been shopping and made up some satin balls for him. I found the recipe on the internet - I am sure many of you have heard of them, for those who don't know about them or those that do and wonder which variation I have made up, here is what I used...

5 packs of cheap pork and beef mince (5lb)
A small bag of porridge oats
Half a small box of cornflakes
5 raw eggs with shells
5 sachets of gelatin
half a cup of vegetable oil
half a cup of unrefined molasses
Wheat flour with Rye and Lin seed (should have wheatgerm in according to recipe - couldn't find it so used a small amount of this instead)

I mixed it all up in the washing up bowl - nothing else would hold it all and separated it into 8 portions, I have frozen half, the others are in the fridge.

I have read that these satin balls are great for bulking up a thin dog, he will continue with his normal diet but try these for one of his meals a day for the next week to try and help him put a bit of weight on.

I am hanging my head in shame for how wrong I am doing here and I am sorry I didn't mention it sooner, I thought he would be OK by now, sorry for the long post and please help!!!

Talk soon,
Lucy

[Jude]

Why is he only having two meals a day? A pup of his age should be having at least three meals plus treats. The amount of food that a growing pup needs is at least double that of an adult but they only have a small stomach so need feeding little and often. Does he have any kibble at all? I would be a little wary of your recipe as it has a large amount of sugar (molasses) in it and might well make him hyper - dogs do not need sugar although some kibbles do contain sugar beet pulp. I have had dogs for over forty years and have never heard of satin balls! A growing pup should be on the lean side but it sounds as if your boy is not getting enough food or is getting too much at one meal for him to be able to benefit from it.

[LucyA]

Jude,
Thanks for your reply.

Why is he only having two meals a day?
I'm afraid my only answer to this is I didn't know any better, when he was on biscuits he was a nibbler so he just ate a few mouthfuls as and when he fancied it, when I weaned him onto raw I weaned him onto two meals, if I add another meal does that mean giving a third of his current daily amount in each meal or adding another portion of food in?

Does he have any kibble at all?
No, I included everything I feed him on the first post, he does have treats too of course, chewsticks, raw hide chews and chewy bitesize treats.

Lucy

Sweetie dont despair
He needs three meals a day til at least 6 months.
Buy some green tripe and minced/chunked beef and plenty of Lamb (breast chunks and ribs are great)
I dont think he's getting all he needs on what youve posted
would you like me to send you a list of what I feed?
Not sure I would feed the satin balls tbh

Linda x

[wildmoor]

not sure how old he is but I feed x4 upto between 14-16 week then 3x untill around 8 month then 2x for life - a pup needs more food than an adult when i fed raw they would have approx 2kg per day as pups and youngsters plus dog cakes and treats

[Bonniesmummy]

Lucy dont be so hard on yourself and please please come on when/if you are unsure about anything.... theres always someone here to help ya

I dont know about raw but I would say at his age I would feed 3x per day too plus the all important treats lol

[Caryll]

Tripe.

No, I'm not being rude! Firstly, put him on 3 meals a day & introduce some green tripe. You can get it from some butchers (not the bleached white tripe for human consumption, but the dirty tripe - greeny black & smelly!). It's good for them, most of them love it, and as short term booster it'll put weight back on very quickly!

As long as he's fit & healthy, he'll only lose weight if you're not feeding him enough! So don't worry about increasing the amounts. Just increase them a bit at a time until you find the right amount for him. Once he reaches his proper weight (the weight you are comfortable with) just slightly reduce his portions to make sure he maintains it.

And seriously, don't beat yourself up, it's something that a lot of people do, but it's easily remedied!

[jackie]

Originally Posted by LUTGARD

Sweetie dont despair
He needs three meals a day til at least 6 months.
Buy some green tripe and minced/chunked beef and plenty of Lamb (breast chunks and ribs are great)
I dont think he's getting all he needs on what youve posted
would you like me to send you a list of what I feed?
Not sure I would feed the satin balls tbh

Linda x

Hi Linda
Sorry to hijack the thread but I would love you to pm me your list as I to seem to be confused over raw feeding.
Thanks Hun xx

[Caryll]

Originally Posted by LUTGARD

Not sure I would feed the satin balls tbh

Linda x

No, too much cereal.

Give him half a large raw chicken in 2 meals plus some green tripe + offal for his third meal. That should get the weight on him.

Lucy, don't ever feel you're alone with anything.. We're here for you