Customer Reviews

Natural Food Recipes for Healthy Dogs

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I cannot recommend this book due to its many dangerous contradictions and its overly commercialized definition of the word "Natural". Dangerous Contradictions Abound: The author writes in the beginning of the book that "...while I cannot guarantee that (our dog's) diet alone yields the optimum nutrition,...I know that I am not filling his (our dog's) body with pesticides..." Since there is NO mention of using organically grown foods (vegetables, grains, meats and fruits), anyone using the standard supermarket ingredients listed in this book IS filling their dog with pesticides, from so-called "fresh" non-organic produce and from the canned non-organic foods recommended. Dangerous Levels of Salt, Fat and Sugar: Early in the book we have one very common sense page about limiting the amount of salt, including an excellent list of items to avoid using in food for your dog that includes parmesan cheese, prepared pasta sauces, chicken broth and bouillon cubes (very high in salt). In fact, most canine nutrition books I have read caution you to NEVER include salt, or if you do, to be sure it is no more than 1/100th the amount you normally use for human food. But then in the actual recipes we find: page 32 - Prepared Chicken Broth (no amount), 1 cube chicken bouillon page 35 - 1 cube beef bouillon page 40 - Salt, 1 cup chicken broth, parmesan cheese page 41 - 2 cups marinara sauce, parmesan cheese page 46 - 2 tsp. salt page 59 - 1 16oz. can of spaghetti sauce She also encourages us to reduce the amount of fat in our diet (p. 126) but then we have: page 40 - 2 tablespoons of butter page 58 - 1 tablespoon of butter page 121 - 3 tablespoons of butter And the same can be said for sugar: page 42 - 4!! tablespoons of white sugar. No dog in the wild would ever eat ANY of these things - why fill your pet with them? Just because it's easy to make your dinner and theirs at the same time??? For me the icing on the cake was her suggestion of serving your dog standard New York style cheesecake, topped with canned blueberry pie filling (p.102) Incredible. This is not my idea of "Natural" food - i.e. a food that is designed to meet a dog's unique nutrition needs. Is it yours?

I have been using Carol Boyle's excellent book on natural feeding for our dogs (and us) for over two years now. It is an excellent book. It shows how easy and intelligent it is to feed our best friends a far superior source of food than commercial (non natural) diets. The pet food industry has convinced us that feeding their products is the only safe way to feed our pets. Carol Boyle's book explains how 50 years ago almost everyone fed dogs the same natural foods that kept them strong and healthy. She shows in clear simple language why feeding a diet of highly processed commercial dog food is not healthy. She clearly explains how a person can give their dogs a natural home prepared food. Her recipes are wonderfully easy to prepare, and in my case improved my cooking and diet for myself and my family.

The recipes are wonderful and eliminate the use of processed prepared, high cost people food. Because we are no longer buying prepared foods, our food bill is less even when we use organic foods in the recipes. We have no vet bills and our dog is unbelievable healthy. Our only problem is the recipes are so good that we sometimes don't want to share with our dog.

I teach dog training classes and now include Carol Boyle's book in my discussion of how to feed your dog. Many of my students really like her easy method of feeding natural healthy food. We use a lot of dog training treats in my class. Veterinarians refer their clients to my classes and one of the veterinarians took my class and congratulated me on my use of natural food for treats instead of commercial dog treats.

Would you eat your dog's food for a week? If the answer is "no" then I would read Carol Boyle's book. It will help you find a wonderful alternative to non-natural commercial dog food.

Perhaps this quote will sum up whether this book is for you:

"I do not consider myself an expert on canine nutrition. All my evidence is anecdotal, from personal experience, over a period of time," (p. 7)

Yes, the author uses onions and garlic in some of her recipes. Onions can cause a Heinz body anemia in dogs. However, "The possibility of developing a Heinz body hemolytic anemia appears to be variable between pets, and it is not possible to predict which animals may or may not have such a reaction to onion or garlic" (source: PetDiets.com FAQ page). Apparently the author's dogs were not susceptible. If this is a concern, then leave the offending ingredients out.

The author's statements should clear up any confusion on who or what one is cooking for:

"Very simply I share my meal with our dog," (p. 3).
"Feeding your adult dog is like feeding another adult family member..." (p. 7).
"Think in terms of cooking these meals for your dog, then having the dog share its dinner with you," (p. 18).

Seems to me, that this is a recipe book for you and your dog to share. The author has a personal theory about nutrition for dogs and people - basically eat a little bit of everything and moderation in all things - and does includes recipes that should be viewed as treat or splurge items, not regular meals: hummus or cheesecake for example.

If you are committed to feeding BARF, raw foods, supplemented or no grain diets than this isn't the book for you. Cooked meat and grain form a goodly part of her feeding guidelines. Also, if you are looking for precise amounts to feed, then look elsewhere. The author advocates a bit of trial and error to find the right amount for your dog as well as frequent going-overs to assess body condition, much like Purina's ideal body condition charts.

For those wanting precision and supplementation in homemade dog food, I would recommend "Home Prepared Dog & Cat Diets, The Healthful Alternative" by Donald R. Strombeck, DVM, PhD. This book is of use for all lifestages and special needs diets (for example Chronic Renal Disease). Be forewarned, the book does require you to put effort out in figuring the amounts to feed based on calorie/weight charts.

Overall, I like "Natural Food Recipes for Healthy Dogs". The guidelines are simple, her philosophy is similar to mine and anyone that gets a Pyr to 14 years of age must be doing something right. No one book has all the answers and what works for one dog may not work for another. Keep reading and questioning and pay attention to how your dogs are doing no matter what you feed them.

My 4 year old Golden had terrible gas, smelly, itchy skin and foul breath. Six weeks of following the guidelines in this book and his coat shines, his breath is sweet, and the itchies and gas are gone. What a relief. The vet tested everything, and the only possibility left was his inability to handle commercial foods. Carol Boyle made it very easy to switch to a more natural diet. The whole family thanks you, especially Sandy (the dog).

I was very disappointed with this book. I am making my dog every meal using completely organic, non-chemical ingredients. According to my experience of making natural dog food for 3 years, what is recommended in this book is all opposite to what you should give to your dog. Needless to say, No Way!! to give any dog sugar, butter, oil, and salt. Dogs introduced in this book with photos do not look healthy at all. They look dull, fat, and tired. I do want to show my dog's picture; slender, relaxing, blight, and her fur is incredibly glossy. This is all due to brown rice, organic vegetables, and simply water-boiled chicken that never ate chemical feeds. I recommend not to follow these recipes in this book.

Of all the books on natural feeding for dogs, this is the most convincing. The fact that the author had a Great Pyrenees who lived nearly double the normal lifespan for the breed is enough to make a believer out of me. The recipes sound delicious, but I would be more likely to make them for myself than for the dogs. This book is useful because it gives you a running start in understanding the nutritional requirements of canines, not only in the text, but also with a simple nutritional chart. Also included are suggested calendars for making the switch to natural feeding gradually, and changes to make if your dog is overweight or ill. As a librarian, I could tell that the author did a lot of research before creating a diet plan for her dogs.

The Animal Posion Control Center has listed Onion and onion powder as a food to avoid giving your dog. This book uses onions in its recipes. In fact, one of them, Crock Pot Stew page 49, calls for a whole onion in the recipe!!! This could kill a small dog.

I should have seen the problem on page 7 when the author wrote:

"I do not consider myself an expert of canine nutrition. All of my evidence is anecdotal, from personal experience, over a period of time. And although I have no formal training in canine nutrition, I am a great reader, a great observer and I have an open mind."

How scary is this?

Carol's common sense approach to canine nutrition is a must read for the discerning dog owner. Carol's sound advise and easy to follow recipes provide a healthy supplement designed to compliment your pets existing diet. By reading Carol's book, you will learn the first steps to putting your pet on the road to a longer, happier, and healthier life. Carol's recipes will intice the pallet of any dog, from the young at heart puppy to the ever loving couch potato senior. Her book is more than just recipes, it's knowledge and experience from which dog owners everywhere will benefit. It also answers most of the questions that other books fail to address. Buy it!

I purchased this book over a year ago and after digesting what the author had to say, I put the book into my library where it sat until the recent crisis involving poisoned "wet", commercial dog food.

I thought to pull the book from the shelf for a timely "re-read" and was surprised to see that much of what the author has to say makes as much sense as it did the first time I read it sense. And when you consider that the book was first published over 20 years ago, before the pet craze became what it is today, I couldn't help but acknowledge/commend the author as a ground breaker for what she has to say!

Of course, every dog owner knows their own animal best - but the principles Ms. Boyle discusses in her approach to a healthy dog make as much sense to me now as they did a year ago - and they are as applicable now as they were 20+ years ago when first published!

A must have for any dog owner who wants to rest comfortably at night -- knowing exactly what their dog is eating is not going to kill them.

Hey, what's the problem? Sure, dogs are carnivores, not omnivores. But...they are opportunistic eaters, that is, they'll pretty much eat anything they can get their mouths around, good for them or not, kind of like humans. I can't believe how feeding dogs has become so controversial of late. There are those who love Bones & Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (BARF)as a diet and others who insist it will kill your pets. Some say kibble is the only way to go. Carol Boyle's book is great! The food is delicious, my dogs love it. I've got sense enough to figure out the proper proportions for my small dogs without having a chart spell it out for me. My vet told me onions will not harm dogs unless eaten in large amounts, and in any case, you can substitute with some garlic for onions or just omit them. For the cheesecake recipe, Ms. Boyle notes it should be fed in only very small amounts, as a treat. Best of all, every recipe I've tried in this book is good! I highly recommend it for humans. Ms. Boyle has not intended her book as a Bible for feeding dogs but does give useful information along with great recipes. I can think for myself, and I feed my dogs the BARF diet supplemented occasionally with a bit of food from Carol's recipes, to my dogs' great joy. In fact, the only way I can get my dogs to eat the small amount of veggies required by the BARF diet is to add a little of Ms. Boyle's Hoisin recipe sauce! I highly recommend this book, not as the sole and absolute reference on feeding dogs but as a terrific addition to other information on the subject.