"Better Food for Dogs"

Better Food for Dogs

by David Bastin, Jennifer Ashton and Dr. Grant Nixon, D.V.M.

Copyright 2002

Doggie Chef Rating:

2 out of 5 bones

This book aims to provide nutritionally balanced recipes and food guides for dogs. The recipes are for healthy, adult dogs weighing from five pounds to 150 pounds.

While the book's intent is good, the meal recipes, charts, substitutions and variations  are complicated to follow. I'm also a little wary of the recipes' salt content.

The authors include iodized salt and/or potassium chloride in just about every meal recipe, along with a bone meal and vitamin-mineral supplement. The amounts of iodized salt and potassium chloride recommended for most of the meals seem alarmingly high to me. I try not to add too much salt to Gracie's meals. I do sprinkle iodized table salt on meats I cook for her. I think she gets enough additional salt from the other foods I include in her diet such as breads, canned fish and cheeses. Plus she gets additional salt from any snacks we might share with her.

One of the book's authors (Nixon) is a veterinarian. The other two (Bastin and Ashton) own Licks and Wags, Ltd., a dog cookie company. At the end of the book the authors share some of their Licks and Wags cookie recipes. However the majority of recipes provided are for daily meals.

The recipes in this book suggest using potatoes and/or pasta as often as cooked whole grains or whole grains breads, to fulfill dietary carbohydrate requirements. The authors just say, "potatoes," so I assume they mean white potatoes. I don't think white potatoes should be a regular carbohydrate source for dogs when nutritionally better ones exist.

Every meal recipe in this book includes either a fruit-vegetable mix or a few different fruits or vegetables. Yet the amount of fruits and vegetables called for in each meal seems too high. For a 60 pound dog one recipe calls for a little more than 3/4 of a cup of a pureed fruit-vegetable mix for one meal. And I question some of the suggested fruit and vegetable offerings. Maybe some dogs like and benefit from tomatoes but I wouldn't feed them to Gracie and she wouldn't eat them. I also don't feed her cooked corn. The kernels simply pass, undigested, through her body. Of course, every dog is different.

Although I don't recommend "Better Food for Dogs" as the cookbook it's intended to be, I think the first three chapters make a good case for feeding dogs whole foods and provide some valuable background information on canine nutrition.

Egg Whites Breakfast 7-7-09

Egg whites cooked in corn oil

Brown rice

Whole wheat bread

Black beans

Fresh spinach

Bonemeal powder

Brushing Tools

A good Doggie Chef knows it takes more than homemade food to keep a dog's skin and coat healthy. Regular grooming is important too!

I use the tools shown above to keep Gracie's coat looking nice. The toothbrush and comb are used to clean accumulated hair out of the brush.  I recommend this type of brush, with an attached strap you can slip onto your hand. The one I use has natural bristles. I keep two so I can wash and dry one each bath day and still have a clean, dry one ready to use.

When I first adopted Gracie she shed a lot. Back then I tried using a certain kind of grooming brush on Gracie --- the kind with thin metal bristles on a rectangular head. Gracie did not like it one bit! She flinched whenever I started brushing her and wriggled away. Then I tried the brush on my own hair and understood why. It prickled and hurt so much! I couldn't believe a brush like that was even sold for use on pets. I guess it's only for pets with very thick coats.

I try to brush Gracie daily but sometimes I'll miss a day. Brushing is a good time to check out your dog's body for any injuries, growths or problems that might otherwise go unnoticed. It's easy to rush through brushing but it can be a great time to give your beloved dog some well deserved TLC. Gracie loves to get brushed and will stretch out and sigh while I'm doing it. I try to make it last a while when there's time. A careful, thorough brushing benefits a dog's skin and helps distribute oils through a dog's coat to make it soft and shiny.

Ground Beef Dinner 6-23-09

Ground beef cooked in corn oil

Hard boiled egg white

Whole wheat bread

Oatmeal cooked in milk

Sweet potato

Cooked, ground carrot

Corn oil

Eggshell powder

Chicken Organ Meats Breakfast 6-16-09

Chicken organ meats (hearts, liver and gizzard)

Whole wheat bread

Brown rice

Green peas

Yogurt

Corn oil

Bone meal powder

Chicken-Calf Liver Dinner 6-9-09

Chicken

Calf liver cooked in olive oil

Homemade wheat bread

Oatmeal cooked in milk

Peas

Yogurt

I believe in the health benefits of yogurt so I include some in Gracie's diet. She eats it happily.

I used to feed Gracie full-fat yogurt. As she's grown older I've switched to nonfat and fat free yogurt most of the time.

My favorite is Greek style yogurt and I usually buy the Stonyfield brand. It's unbelievably thick and creamy for a fat-free yogurt.  A serving for Gracie equals about 2 tablespoons, or 1/8 cup.

One Gracie-sized serving of Stonyfield Greek style yogurt contains:

Protein: Close to 3 grams

Calcium:  3.75 percent of a human's recommended daily value for calcium (based on a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet).

Sodium: Close to 12 milligrams, or .5 percent of a human's recommended daily value for sodium (based on a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet).

Sugar:  1.125 grams (which is quite a bit of sugar).

According to the Stonyfield website, it's Greek style Oikos yogurt contains, "five live and active cultures including L. acidophilus, bifidus, and L. casei."

I also feed Gracie Dannon All Natural Nonfat Plain Yogurt. It's not as thick as Greek style yogurt. I sometimes strain it in a yogurt strainer to make it thicker.

One Gracie-sized serving of Dannon All Natural Nonfat Plain Yogurt contains:

Protein: About 1.5 grams of protein

Calcium: 5 percent of a human's recommended daily value for calcium (based on a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet)

Sodium: 20 milligrams, or just less than 1 percent of a human's recommended daily value for sodium (based on a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet)

Sugar: 2 grams (even more sugar, per ounce, than the Greek style yogurt).

According to the Dannon website, the yogurt contains, "active yogurt cultures including L. acidophilus."

Since the sugar content concerns me, I don't feed Gracie yogurt every day. I add it to her meals a few times each week, whenever we have yogurt in the house. It provides extra calcium and protein and I think the active yogurt cultures are good for her digestive health.

****POST UPDATE****: I discovered a new dairy food to add to Gracie's meals. It provides more protein and calcium than both yogurts mentioned above, and less sugar than one of the yogurts mentioned above. Find out what it is in my November 16, 2010 post.