90 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Buyer beware and ABBEY is wrong, April 16, 2007
This review is from: Real Food for Cats: 50 Vet-Approved Recipes to Please the Feline Gastronome (Paperback)
UPDATE 5/14/07: Because there is a mystifying dispute between those readers who see onions (harmful to cats) in these recipes and those who don't, here's an easy way to see for yourself and make an informed decision. Use the excellent Amazon feature "Search Inside This Book." Either key in the word "onion" and click "Go" to see how many pages list onions in the recipes (I find 22) or choose the "Surprise me" option and click it repeatedly -- it took only 4-5 clicks for me to find "Kitty Tacos" with 1/2 cup onion listed as the second ingredient.
Original April 2007 review:
WARNING: Onions are toxic to cats, and these recipes are full of onions.
While a few recipes in this book may be safe, it's hard to trust that because many recipes specifically for cats contain onion -- and ABBEY, whose review 32 people found helpful, is dead wrong that this is only the "people recipes at the end of the book." (Sorry, ABBEY, but I did read and comprehend the information.)
Don't be swayed by my saying so -- please judge for yourself. With the pet food recall, we all need to watch out for each other and, more importantly, for our precious cats. Below, I have copied page 23 verbatim, and it is NOT one of the "people recipes" at the end of the book:
"Tuna Cakes
Cats will race even faster to the sound of a whirring can opener if they think you're about to prepare this tasty and nutritious dish.
2 eggs
1 6-ounce can tuna, drained, and flaked
1 small ONION, finely chopped
4 slices bread, cubed into kitty size bits
1/2 teaspoon iodized salt
1 teaspoon brewer's yeast
1 teaspoon bonemeal
2 tablespoons margarine
1. Beat the eggs lightly in a bowl. Add the tuna, ONION, bread cubes, salt, brewer's yeast, and bonemeal. Mix thoroughly until moistened.
2. Form into small patties. Melt the margarine in a skillet and fry the patties until golden brown. When cool, crumble each patty and serve.
Makes 3 to 5 servings."
On page 25, the Fish Chowder specifically for cats calls for 1 glove garlic, minced and 2 tablespoons finely chopped ONION. On page 27, the Boogaloo Shrimp, again, in a recipe supposedly specifically for cats, the first ingredient is 1/2 chopped ONION. Page 32, the recipe for Chicken with Greens, there is a warning about introducing cats gradually to greens because they can be sensitive to it, but no warning about the 1 clove garlic in the recipe or on page 33, the Chicken Salad that calls for 1 tablespoon finely chopped ONION. The "people" recipes ABBEY refers to, called "Tandem Cooking" by the author, do not begin until page 81.
I am extremely disappointed I bought this potentially dangerous book and applaud the reviewer Cordelia Wright who is researching the vet who wrote the preface.
This is not a time to stand on ceremony when pet health is at stake from commercial food -- we need reliable sources of information about safe food, and this book is not it for the reasons previous reviewers have stated. Buyer, please beware.
I have complained to Amazon about continuing to promote and sell this book in the face of the pet food scare (a sick irony that people avoiding tainted commercial food turn to a so-called "vet-approved" recipe book containing recipes that will harm their cats!), and I have written a complaint to the book's publisher. I'm also pursuing getting a journalist involved to warn the public and find out how this book's author can claim these recipes are "vet-approved" when no vet would say giving onions to cats is safe.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Outright Dangerous, February 19, 2007
This review is from: Real Food for Cats: 50 Vet-Approved Recipes to Please the Feline Gastronome (Paperback)
Before you even CONSIDER buying this book, take a few seconds to try this instructive little exercise: type "feed onions cats" (without the quotation marks) into your browser's search field, and see what comes up. ONIONS ARE TOXIC TO CATS. Cats are obligate carnivores, and many common plant compounds that humans ingest daily are actually poisonous to them. I wish that there were some way to get this book out of Amazon.com's database.
Many thanks to Cat Rescuer (see below) for being the first to spot this unbelievable incompetence and warn unsuspecting cat owners away from this "cookbook". This review is largely a repetition of what Cat Rescuer has already said; I just added this one on to knock a star off of the book's rating. Please feel free to do the same.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
