Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ann Martin's investigation into the commercial pet food industry has become a classic. This is the book I often recommend when people ask me what's wrong with (most) commercial dog and cat foods. However, I can't recommend this book without pointing out some of the errors in the second part of the book, the part that focuses on feeding a homemade diet. First of all, it needs to be said that while cooking the meat can indeed destroy bacteria and parasites (as well as destroying valuable enzymes and changing the meat's molecular structure), cooking does *not* destroy the antibiotics, pesticides, artificial growth hormones, etc., as Martin claims. The only way to avoid these harmful substances is to stop supporting factory farming and buy ethically raised, organic meats. Yes, such meat is more expensive, but personally I'd rather pay more and know that I'm not supporting the needless torture of animals and the destruction of the environment. At this point you may wonder why we feed our dogs meat at all. Well, the humans in our house are indeed longtime vegetarians, but dogs are carnivores and while they can survive on a properly supplemented vegetarian diet, such a species inappropriate diet is far from ideal. Our family's GWPs have been thriving on a diet based on raw meats and bones for thirty years now. While it's been my experience that raw diets are indeed preferable for most dogs, there are certainly cases where cooked diets are more appropriate. Some dogs -- usually due to certain medical conditions -- simply do not do well on a raw diet, and in such cases a homecooked diet is the best option. Unfortunately the recipes offered by Ms. Martin are not properly balanced. For instance, while she is clearly aware of the correct calcium to phosphorous ratio (as well as of the damage caused by calcium deficiencies), her recipes do not contain nearly enough calcium to balance out the high phosphorous levels of the meat and, to a lesser extent, the grains. She seems to be under the impression that one can use yogurt or cottage cheese as a calcium supplement; however, while dairy products are good sources of calcium, they also happen to contain plenty of phosphorous (some types of cottage cheese actually contain more phosphorous than calcium), so obviously dairy products cannot be used to balance the meat's high phosphorous levels. The best way to supplement calcium is to feed the meat with plenty of raw bone (nature's way of balancing calcium and phosphorous) or by adding ground eggshell powder to boneless meats. Feeding a properly balanced homeprepared diet really isn't as difficult as the pet food industry and their supporters would have us believe, but getting the Ca:P ratio right is important. My suggestion: Read Ms. Martin's book to find out why it's not a good idea to feed processed pet foods (if you don't already know), but then get yourself another book to learn how to prepare a balanced homemade diet for your animals.