My Rowdy is a picky eater - and when he was littler (he's almost 8 months old now) I worried like crazy when he wouldn't eat. I found that I could not make him eat at a specified time (like others on here mentioned) so I had to leave his food out all day and he would nibble throughout the day. This was problematic because I have an old dog who LOVED the puppy food. Finally, I just let the old dog have puppy food. Now, I free feed both of them and I have no idea how much Rowdy eats, but he is a healthy weight (4 lbs), he runs, plays, poops, etc and I just don't worry any more because he LOOKS like he is getting enough to eat. I will say though, that he LOVES meat, which is actually good for him so I do give him backed chicken or steak from time to time.
I'm going to include a recipie for satin balls - it is a hamburger mixture that is supposed to be very good for dogs. Apparently people who show dogs feed it a lot. The information says that it is very nutritious and will put weight on a dog and that even picky dogs will eat it. I know that Rowdy LOVES them!
Satin Balls Half Recipe -- recommended amount to mix up
5 lbs cheap hamburger (for high fat %)
1/2 large box Total cereal (about 6 cups cereal)
1/2 large box uncooked oatmeal (about 7.5 cups oats)
5 raw eggs
1/2 of 15oz jar wheat germ (about 2 cups)
5 packages Knox unflavored gelatin
5/8 cup vegetable oil (this is pretty close to 2/3 cup)
5/8 cup unsulphered molasses
pinch of salt
Take all dry ingredients and place in a bowl. Crunch up the total cereal, and then pour all the other dry ingredients over it. In a another large bowl put the hamburger meat and the wet ingredients. Mix each bowl well, then mix together. Mix just like you would a meatloaf. Roll into small balls. The original recipie says that the meat balls are supposed to be fed raw – but I cook mine – about 5 minutes in a 350 oven. Then I put the balls in a freezer bag and store them flat in the freezer (meaning that I only put a few balls into each bag so that the balls lie flat and don’t stick together so that I can take one or two out at a time as I need them). I take out a bag or just some balls when I need them and heat a few seconds in the microwave.
If you google "satin balls" you will find more information on them. Apparently, they are supposed to be a complete food and if your dog ate only satin balls, it would be fine. I don't know about that, but I know that Rowdy loves them!
