Besides basic healthy diets, the book also covers diets for a variety of medical conditions or food allergies.

"Clear and easy-to-understand" is probably not how I would choose to describe this book, however. The author sometimes uses highly technical terminology without offering any simplified definition (e.g., what the heck is "coprophagy"? Once I found out, I wasn't sure I WANTED to know, but no definition is offered in the book.)

Some readers might take as a negative the fact that he promotes cooking all the meats because of potential health risks such as salmonella. Many now believe that raw meat is healthier for a true carnivore (which cats certainly are) than cooked. The issue of raw vs. cooked isn't given much attention here, so you will have to go to other sources for more information on that.

While this book can't be described as perfect, it certainly was very satisfactory. This is the book that I would give my cats' vet for Christmas.


not bad, but i don't agree with the diets   August 14, 2003
 22 out of 37 found this review helpful

this is a decent book if you are wanting to make home cooked meals for you pet. it gives scientific evidence, backs up what it claims, and sites sources, which a lot of books on this subject fail to do. my problem with the book is opinion based. my opinion is that although it is better to feed your dog a homecooked meal over kibble, it is much better to feed raw over homecooked. and after reading this book i still stand firm in my belief that raw is the better way to go. but, if your a person who feels that homecooked is the way to go, then this is a good book to have. it's very detailed, and explains a lot on how much calories per day a dog/puppy should have, etc. also outlines meals that you can prepare.


Excellent nutrition reference   July 25, 2003
 35 out of 36 found this review helpful

I've read most of the popular books out there on feeding dogs and cats, and I have to say this book impressed me the most of the lot. The details on how all the different nutrients are metabolized were fascinating, and the precisely calculated recipes put my mind at ease.

I'm not sure what the previous reviewer was talking about when he or she complained about a lack of information on cats. While I bought this book for ideas for my dog, I also own cats and found quite a lot of information for them (more than in most popular pet diet books). There are no fewer than 60 diets for cats (not 4!). The purpose of the ingredients is explained carefully, including the use of clams (a taurine-rich meat).

A wonderful reference for healthy and sick dogs and cats.


Much too techincal for the layman   July 24, 2003
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

I found this book to too technical. I felt as if I were reading a textbook for a nutrition course in veteriniary school. Contrary to the other reviewers, I found the recipes confusing and repetitive. Why do most feature sardines and have NO fruit or vegetable content?? The author says that "Owner -prepared diets should be formulated with a natural source of phytochemicals" and that "phytochemicals are found in fruits, vegetables, graqins, and legumes". Yet, his recipes have no fruits or vegetables in them. This is also an example of the overly technical nature of the book.
It does, however, contains the absolute best discussion I've ever read about why commercially prepared foods are bad for your dogs and cats.
On balance, I don't think it's worth the price ...