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With the Menu Foods pet food recall and the resulting deaths of so many companion pets, Buddha and Stella have asked me to please speak out for their fine furred friends.

So here it is, folks.  Plain and simple.

I know that the idea of cooking for your dog or your cat seems rather absurd in this day and age of drive-thru burger palaces and microwave macaroni and cheese.  If we’re feeding our own children food that was prepared by small children in a factory in China and then flown 10,000 miles and nuked before it was dumped in a bag and shoved through a window and into the back seat of our cars, why on earth would we consider shopping at a grocery store for our dogs and then coming home and actually cooking them a meal?

Well, here’s why.

Because you love little Scruffy just as much as you love Muffy and Junior and if that really is the case, Scruffy deserves to eat just as well as everyone else in the family.

Now, Buddha and Stella eat an all organic diet.  Except for those Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell ground scores they find at the dog park (they’re just like teenagers, I tell you!), their diet, since they have come to live at Chez Naked, has been one that includes 100% organic lamb, seafood, chicken, grains and vegetables and yogurt.  As well as herbs.

When this entire Menu Foods pet food recall started happening recently, I was able to rest easily.  Not only do Buddha and Stella not eat any mass produced foods.  They also do not eat wheat.  Ever.

They don’t eat wheat because it is a major allergen for a lot of dogs and has also been a large contributor to arthritis in dogs.  Clyde had some pretty bad arthritis in his later years and I’d like to think that if nothing else Buddha and Stella could be the beneficiaries of the lessons I learned from Clyde.

So no wheat.  No corn, either.  The only grains that Buddha and Stella get are oats, barley and millet.

Now here’s the thing.  I’ll go back to it.  I’m really careful about what my dogs eat, but they’re members of my family.  I want them to live long and healthy lives.  I just don’t feel comfortable feeding them foods that wouldn’t be fit for MY consumption.

Most dog food produced in this country has a very low standard as to what is considered consumable. Despite the appealing blandishments of pet food advertisements with their claims of providing "complete and balanced nutrition," if you're not exceedingly circumspect, you may end up feeding your pet chicken heads, road kills, spoiled or moldy grains, cancerous material cut from slaughterhouse animals, tissue high in hormone or pesticide residues, and even shredded Styrofoam packaging, metal ID tags and minced flea collars.  This is because there are rendering plants that take euthanized cats and dogs and turn them into a dry protein that is then sold to the pet food manufacturers.  The pentobarbital that has been used to euthanize some of these dead pets actually survives the rendering process and has been found in the resulting pet foods.

There is also the real potential for many deadly fungal toxins from the various grains used in pet foods.  Corn and wheat are the most common grains used, but in most pet foods this is the leftovers created after the grains have been processed for human consumption.  It has little nutritional value, has often been swept up off the factory floor and includes rodent droppings, pesticides and mold!

This isn’t something you’d want to consume.  Is it something you want your pet to eat every single day?

Again, I know that the idea of cooking for your dogs or cats seems just ludicrous and time consuming.  But what about at least purchasing human grade dog or cat food?  Yes, it is going to be more expensive.  But not that much more expensive than what you’re currently feeding your pets.  And you’ll save money in vet bills.

The following are some human-grade pet foods that are made by small manufacturers who are mindful of their ingredients and our companion animals’ well-being:

The Honest Kitchen

Timberwolf Organics

Eagle Pack Holistic Select

Halo

Flint River Ranch

There are lots of others.  But these are some of the ones I know that Buddha and Stella would enjoy.

Now, if you’re willing to take the plunge and cook for your dog or cat, I can’t recommend Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats enough.  Really, if you have no other book in your personal library for your animal companions, you should have this one.  In it you will find an abundance of recipes that are easy to make.  There are even recipes for special needs animals and bulk recipes that you can make in advance and freeze and then reconstitute each day.

I can attest that cooking on one day for 30 days worth of meals is really well worth the effort.  It makes the entire month of meal time that much easier!

Here is his recipe for Doggie Oats.  It’s a versatile maintenance recipe for adult dogs.  You can substitute tofu for the turkey and that will lower the protein and fat content considerably.

Doggie Oats

8 cups raw rolled oats (or 16 cups cooked oatmeal)
2 pounds (4 cups) raw ground or chopped turkey
1⁄2 cup Healthy Powder (below)
1⁄4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cooked vegetables (or less if raw and grated) (may be omitted occasionally)
3 tablespoons bonemeal (or 5,400-6,000 milligrams calcium or 1 tablespoon eggshell powder)
10,000 IU Vitamin A (optional if using carrots)
400 IU Vitamin E
1 teaspoon tamari soy sauce or 1⁄4 teaspoon iodized salt (optional)
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced (optional)

Bring 1 gallon (16 cups) of water to a boil.  Add the oats, cover and turn off the heat, letting the oats cook for 10-15 minutes, or until soft.  Don’t stir while cooking or the oats will become mushy.  Then combine with the remaining ingredients and serve.

Yield: About 22 cups, with 205 kilocalories per cup

Daily ration (in cups): toy—2/3 to 2 2/3; small—2 2/3 to 5 1/3; medium—5 1/3 to 7;
large—7 to 9 3⁄4; giant—9 3⁄4 to 14 2/3+

Healthy Powder

2 cups nutritional (torula) yeast
1 cup lecithin granules
1⁄4 cup kelp powder
1⁄4 cup bonemeal (or 9,000 milligrams calcium or 5 teaspoons eggshell powder)
1,000 milligrams Vitamin C (ground) or 1⁄4 teaspoon sodium ascorbate (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a 1-quart container and refrigerate.  Add to each recipe as instructed. You may also add this mixture to commercial food as follows: a to 2 teaspoons per day for cats or small dogs; 2 to 3 teaspoons per day for medium-sized dogs; 1 to 2 tablespoons per day for large dogs.

I have made these doggie oats up and frozen in single serving containers.  And then just defrosted and served to my dogs.  SIMPLE!

I’m just going to say it.  It all comes down to exactly how much you really care about your pets.  Will they survive on Alpo?  Sure.  Of course they’ll survive.  But will they thrive?  Probably not.  Ever since we started feeding our animals processed pet foods instead of our raw meat bones and scraps from our own tables, they honestly have exhibited more health problems and have started to live shorter lives.

The same, actually, can be said of us.

We are what we eat.  So are our companion animals.  The crucial difference is that they are truly counting on us to make the best choice for them because they can’t just go shopping for themselves.

Feed them to thrive!

Comments

[Violet]

Our dogs, Daisy (lab-cross) and Zooey (beagle) are fed the BARF diet. It's the only diet they've known since they've lived with us (both were adopted).. Raw chicken (or pork, beef, lamb, etc), some veggies and fruits, a bit of cheese or yogurt, plenty of fish oils.. And since the time we brought them home, they've never been healthier. No bad breath, great teeth, shiny coats, no gigantic poops (no filler in their diet) and heaps of energy.

I want our dogs to live as long as possible and to be as healthy as possible. That's worth every second it takes to feed them healthy foods, quite frankly. They're my bestest friends!

The Menu Foods thing is just terribly sad - but I can't help but think it's also a good eye opener for pet owners who are lucky enough to evade the horrible situation right now.

Fresh, organic, healthy.. Like you said, it's not just for humans!

GO JEN!

[Harl Delos]

Jen, the Animal Poison Control Center advises against giving onion or garlic to pets. So does my German Shepherd, Marie. We found that if the onions are in large enough chunks, she eats around them, while she scarfs down the rest of the meal.

Dogs love corn. When I was living on a farm, the dog would go to the crib every week or two and steal an ear, then chew on it as if it were a bone, eating the hard kernels. And while I never saw a dog scarfing down raw wheat, that would be hard to detect. They love egg noodles, though, and pasta.

They don't show the slightest interest in soy beans, though. I used to work in research for Central Soya. They and their competitors crush soybeans, then extract the oil with xylene, a suspected carcinogen, then separate the oil with centrifuges and filter it. They heat the oil to very high temperatures and sparge it with steam. That steam distillate carries off the pesticides used to raise the soybeans, such as aldrin and dieldrin; the distillate also is the source for virtually all vitamin E and all soy lecithin sold in North America.

I recommend you use eggs instead. At 90c/dozen, that's only 60c a pound. They're rich in raw egg lecithin as well as providing protein and fat. And for an antioxidant, use something other than commercial vitamin E capsules. That goes for you, too, Jen, not just for your dogs.

Yeast is a very common allergen. What's more, the APCC advises against giving dough to dogs because the yeast can cause bloating. Moreover, if you're going to use yeast, why would you use tortula yeast, which is subpar for selenium?

We need five a day of fruits and vegetables, but your ration gives a large dog one half cup of vegetables a day. Supplementing a bad diet with processed chemicals doesn't make it a good diet. And eating bonemeal isn't near as good for her teeth as eating the bones when you cook ribs or beef shank.

And I can't imagine why people think fiber is great for humans and terrible for animals. Small stools may be convenient for owners, but if you're after convenience, get yourself a stuffed animal, which never has to be picked up after. A high-fiber diet is better for man and beast.

Marie gets lots of cooked and some vegetables - potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, lettuce, corn, peas - as well as noodles, pasta, rice, barley. She gets beef, pork, chicken, fish, and shrimp. I don't add salt to the food; instead, I provide block salt. She seldom wants a lick.

No garlic. No capsicum. No dried kelp powder. No zinc oxide. No manganous oxide. No soy. Nothing funny, just food.

And the nice thing about giving your dog food instead of feed that you would never eat, is that you don't have to cook two meals - you can eat the same thing as the dog.

[nakedjen]

Paul has provided some really good food for thought for everyone regarding how to easily feed your dog!

I want to note that the recipes I provided were from Dr. Pitcairn and not from me, but I appreciate Paul's points regarding the yeast (as Buddha does have reactions in his ears to yeast and doesn't get anything with added yeast in it) as well as his other notations.

As with humans, there isn't one perfect way to feed your companion animals. There are lots of good choices. Your dog (or cat) is going to let you know what choices are going to work best for him.

Buddha and Stella happen to be allergic to corn and wheat! So no corn or wheat for them. That means pasta too. And they love garlic! They eat it every day. They also happen to be thriving on kelp.

But they also have LOTS of vegetables. I'm a vegetarian. They don't get to skip the vegetables. Not a chance.

Just good wholesome food is a wonderful place to start. The closer we all can eat to the "ground" the better off we're all going to be.

[Th' Rev]

That's really cool...as a kid I remember my mom cooking for our Irish Setter Murphy.
I'll try these out and see how Theo (Black and tan coon hound) and Irene (loveable mutt) enjoy them.
Come check us out at depthmarker...
Cheers!

[csarakas]

I just ordered my first bag of cat food from Timberwolf a few days ago. I felt so lucky that we didn't end up with a dying pet with the tainted food and decided that we were switching to human-grade food asap. I remembered that you mentioned Timberwolf before so that's what I went with.

We're going to see if they'll eat it and if so, we'll start switching them over to that brand.

I think this subject is one reason I get a bit judgemental when people I know get another pet when they've made it clear that they can't afford quality food for the animal, not to mention the whole vet bills, shots, etc. I know I shouldn't judge people but it still gets me all riled up. It's one of my buttons. ;-)