Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: the Healthful Alternative

With an eye on the long-term health of pets, Strombeck outlines diets that the caregiver can prepare at home or in the clinic. He offers nutritional and dietary guidance for animals with particular problems, from obesity, allergies, and gastrointestinal complaints to diseases of the kidney, pancreas, heart, and joints. Each recipe includes nutrient content for proteins, fats, and calories and all rely on unprocessed foods that are widely available and marketed for human consumption.

Full of useful information about the nutritional and dietary needs of cats and dogs, this book is an indispensable guide for all those who are particular about what they feed their pets or their feline and canine patients.

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.


Easy recipes with explanations for ingredients - CATS & DOGS   April 24, 2004
pet lover
23 out of 24 found this review helpful

I wish I would have had this book 3 years ago when I started going natural with my pets. Strombeck is referenced in The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats by Shawn Messonnier, DVM which I use as a favorite reference. As I have a group of FIP positive cats with the disease localized in different areas, I have had a difficult time trying to find a pet food without preservatives which would further assault their immune systems and Brewers yeast that makes their allergies unbearable. (I will have to substitute my own vitamin mixes for the Brewer's in the recipes where Strombeck does use Brewer's.)
Strombeck gives easy recipes for different health problems as well as why he uses the ingredients he does. My cats love the sardines for B12 and the taurine rich clams with which I have been experimenting added to their food mixes.
I have been using a Strombeck only diet for one of my boys with urinary crystals and Brewers yeast allergies (gives waxy smelly ear discharge). The probiotics I was using to counter his ear problems from the ingredients in commercial urinary food these last years had stopped working. As he is finally happy and doing well, I plan to use Strombecks renal failure diets next and eventually get to the dogs. Useful book!


The best pet food book out there!   August 29, 2005
Jessie Hallan (Norman, OK)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I heartily recommend this book to anyone wanting to prepare their dog or cat's diet at home, avoiding the not so pleasant ingredients of kibble.

The recipes are cooked, which is what I prefer. Raw does not agree with my dogs, no matter how "natural" of an idea it is. You have to listen to your dog's body. Diarrhea is NOT "detox" it's a symptom of intolerance.

A previous review complained that there is no addition of fruits or vegetables, citing a quote about how beneficial these foods are. If he were to read before the recipes begin, Strombeck recommends adding up to one half cup cooked veggies and fruit to each recipe. I do this myself.

I just started my 3 dogs on these recipes and they're doing great. A great book!