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Satin Balls

Jedi eats 4 cups of Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy a day, yet he gets extremely thin and is constantly hungry when going through a growth spurt. A friend of mine recommended feeding him satin balls during those times. Of course my first question was "WHAT?" I did a search online and discovered that satin balls are homemade nutrient-laden, high calorie supplements used by both the rescue community and dog show community to safely put weight on a dog. An added bonus is that the satin balls make the dog's coat shiny. Here's the recipe that I used.

 
SATIN BALLS
  • 5 pounds ground beef, 80% lean
  • 6 cups Whole Grain Total cereal, crushed
  • 7 1/2 cups uncooked, quick-cooking oats
  • 6 hard boiled eggs, chopped with shells
  • 2 cups wheat germ
  • 5 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin
  • 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
Mix all ingredients by hand (meat loaf style) in a huge mixing bowl. Roll into 1" balls. Place 2-3 days worth of satin balls into Ziploc freezer bags and freeze. I got approximately 230 satin balls from this recipe.


Reasoning behind these ingredients:
  • Beef adds calories and improves coat.
  • Cereal provides vitamins A, C, D, E, B6 and B12, calcium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc.
  • Oats provide fiber.
  • Eggs provide calories and biotin. Eggs are cooked because of salmonella concerns.
  • Wheat germ provides vitamin E, folic acid, phosphorus, thiamine, zinc and magnesium.
  • Gelatin holds ingredients together and also adds collagen and nitrogen.
  • Oil helps coat.
  • Molasses provides manganese, copper, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium and vitamin B6.

My problems:
  1. This is A LOT to mix. My giant (32 cup) Tupperware That's-A-Bowl could barely hold everything. I made a mess. (Roxy helped clean it up. What a sweetheart!)
  2. I spent hours rolling balls -- and now my back hurts.
  3. I don't know how much 2-3 day's worth of balls would be. I arbitrarily chose eight, and still used 30 Ziploc bags.
So here are my questions to you: Have you heard of satin balls? Do you use satin balls? Why/why not? What recipe do you use? Can you email it to me? How many do you feed your dog and how often? Thanks for all your help. -- K



P.S. Jedi gives the satin balls two ears up!