Soft, Meatball-Sized Food Options?

[greyhndz]

After IBD Galgo Dandi died in July, I thought I was finally able to get everyone back onto a simple kibble diet. Unfortunately, Galgo #2, Teo, has developed a swallow disorder, possibly due to a sluggish R-sided vocal cord as well as pooling of saliva in the back of his throat and inability to form a food bolus before swallowing. (TMI?). As a result, he's had several episodes of aspiration pneumonia and has a chronic cough/yak.

 

Bottom line is that our Internal Medicine vet recommends that I hand-feed him soft, meatballs because of his swallow disorder. My attempt at meatballs today (I had some previously-cooked burger in the freezer, and added in soft veggies, bread and eggs, then baked) was a big fail -- maybe because the meat was already cooked and crumbled apart.

 

Can anyone suggest a recipe for something that will fit the bill? He doesn't have a weight issue and loves his food, so I don't know that he needs fatty meatballs, but any ideas for meatball-sized, soft, nutritious meals would be appreciated.

 

How does everyone get nice little meatballs? Do you use an ice cream scoop?

 

[juliemac]

Yes, the problem was probably the use of cooked meat.

 

You can take the same mixture you mentioned (using uncooked meat) and roll spoonfuls into balls. Or use a cookie scoop. You could add (or substitute) some cooked rice, uncooked oats, or other starch in place of the bread (you may need to adjust the liquid a bit to have the right consistency). You can add some canned pumpkin to the mix, or some spaghetti sauce, or other liquid (I like to use a bit of canned soup, and try to time that when I'm using the rest of the can in a pot-pie or other cooking for myself).

 

I like to bake a tray of them on a cookie sheet, but you can pan fry them as well.

 

I personally just cook up a big batch of ground meat with some organs by putting it in a stock pot on the stove with some water. When it cools, I scrape the fat off the top. I may also put some rice or pasta in the mixture and cook it until the rice or pasta is fully cooked. I don't worry about the meatball shape of the food ... but I do weigh the food I give my pups.

 

good luck!

[RedHead]

Definitely start the mix with raw meat and it will stick together much easier. If you add some egg to the mix and then cook it, that should help it to bind. I know some people use gelatin as well.

[greyhndz]

Thanks, guys! The failed meatballs actually worsened his choking considerably, so I'll pick up regular raw burger tomorrow.

 

Being a long-time vegetarian, I had to think hard to recall how my mother used to make meatballs. I thought I recalled her using either bread or breadcrumbs and raw eggs for texture. I also don't remember her baking them - she must have sauteed them in marinara sauce. I thought I'd put everything into a crock pot and let them simmer in their own juice. I was thinking about getting beef for beef stew but it would be too tough for him to swallow.

 

I'll do some cooking tomorrow and hopefully this will work for him. Thanks so much!

[Neighsayer]

Can you add thick-it to canned dogfood to thicken it to the right consistency? Or soak the kibble and add a filler to get what you want?

[Batmom]

Does he have dietary restrictions, or are there canned foods he can have? That's the easy way -- most canned foods are moist enough to make fine little meatballs. If you're cooking your own, you have to 1. not cook off all the moisture and 2. possibly puree the stuff first before you can make a non-crumbly meatball out of it.

[GreyPoopon]

I'd probably add the extras to bits of pure canned meat (dog food). It's usually wet enough to make meatballs.

 

Just FYI, if you leave stewing beef in the slow cooker long enough (~8 hrs), you can shred it. It won't stick together to form meatballs though.

[Guest BiancasMom]

Usually when the vet says "meatballs", they don't actually mean meat. Canned food (not the gravy types) should work just fine. You can even rotate flavors to avoid boredom.

[greyhndz]

Can you add thick-it to canned dogfood to thicken it to the right consistency? Or soak the kibble and add a filler to get what you want?

 

I tried several things: I put him onto an all-canned-food diet, and didn't really see a difference in his symptoms, with the expection of having globs of canned food flying in every direction because he doesn't form boluses normally. It's helpful for me to stand over his bowl and use a spoon to relocate the food to the center so he can grab it, but when he has to turn his head to get to food on the sides of the bowl, food seems to drop right out of the side of his mouth.

 

My next venture was suggested by another hound friend: grind the kibble in a coffee grinder, then water it down into a slurry which he should be able to tolerate. That created a few problems: It was so dry that I had to continuously water it down for hm to be able to swallow it; he also had trouble getting to food on the sides of the bowl causing food to fly out of his mouth again. I think the texture just exacerbated his problem.

 

So, I went back to watered-down kibble, left to moisten well. This was a bit better but still was choking on kibble occasionally.

 

I tried to create little balls out of the canned food. The texture was a bit challenging for creating meatballs, and I was pretty sure I was going to hurl just from the sight of what I was doing, so that can't be an option.

 

Today's attempt was raw burger mixed with raw eggs, bread crumbs and veggies. They're in the crockpot, and I'll see how it goes.

 

I'd probably add the extras to bits of pure canned meat (dog food). It's usually wet enough to make meatballs.

 

Just FYI, if you leave stewing beef in the slow cooker long enough (~8 hrs), you can shred it. It won't stick together to form meatballs though.

 

Oh no! Now she tells me!!!! Off to check the crock pot!

 

Teo has no other dietary restrictions - this is all strictly to find a way to feed him and reduce risk for aspiration. He might need a barium swallow if nothing is successful. So it shouldn't be a total loss, I discovered out pill-hider of the week: cheese danish. My mother would have been proud....