Dr Becker's Real Food For Healthy Dogs and Cats: Simple Homemade Food

I applaud Dr. Becker's efforts but I have several issues with this book. There are numerous typos. This is SERIOUS when talking balanced pet nutrition. They preach throughout the book how you have to follow everything to a tee or else your pets diet will be skewed. In a boneless recipe on page 60 they talk about grinding necks. In each of the vitamin mix recipe for cats and dogs it calls for the same amount of vitamin E capsules, however one lists 120iu and the other lists 1200iu. Upon encountering these mistakes, it made me question everything else that I've read in the book. For almost $21, I expected more. Those errors along with plugs for certain brands put a bad taste in my mouth. Also, figuring out the charts and how much fatty acids you should give your pets is anything but simple as the title implies. If your pet eats anything but the prescribed amounts listed in the charts your back to figuring things out all your own. It gives recipes for making amounts of food before it tells you the amount of food you should be feeding your pet, which I felt was intuitively out of order. I so wanted to like this book because I need to simplify the raw feeding of my pets.

I am just finishing my second reading of every word in this book and I am no less confused than I was with my first reading. Why the bouncing about with the recipes? Meat mix, vegetable mix, supplement mix, bone replacement, fatty acids are all in separate sections forcing me to crease pages and thumb through the entire book to figure out how to put together a recipe. Even then, how on earth does one give a portion of a capsule of oil when you've no idea how much is actually in the opaque capsule to begin with and the instructions as to amount to give are vague, at best.Then, how to deal with the fact that she has heart listed as organ meat when it is muscle meat? That throws off the entirety of each recipe that lists heart as an ingredient.It would be nice to see one section with the recipes all pulled together. For instance, according to the sample rotation.When a recipe calls for egg or sardine, how are the supplements, oil, etc. adjusted? Or, are they?I specifically chose this book because, unlike most of the others who list their author credentials as having a “lifelong love of dogs,” it was actually written by a professional. It turns out that her book is as frustrating as her speed-talking videos.Finally, why does a full-grown, professional woman use the word (if it IS one) "veggies?" Isn't that something a child says? Over and over and over -- not once did she call a vegetable a vegetable. It drove me NUTS.If anyone has found any other source for balanced recipes for homemade dog food, written by a nutritionist or veterinarian. . .please let me know. I'm desperate to get this right.

Thank you Dr. B for helping us know how to feed our beloved fur friends. I have ONE CAVEAT: DO NOT EVER feed raw from the grocery store! Because Dr. B and my holistic vet both recommended a raw diet, I began feeding my best boy EVER raw from the grocery. He got an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that cost his LIFE!!! We spared no expense to save him, but every time he came off antibiotics, the infection got worse until he had lost 25 pounds (in two months) was wretching stomach acid all the time and could barely move. My new vet said he NEVER recommends feeding raw because of these bacteria. I just want to save others the agony of watching their perfectly healthy fur-toddler suffer!!!!!! My heart will break for the rest of my life for causing my baby so much agony!!!!!

This book is very confusing. If u cook or use recipies regularly, dont expect the same format here. the information is scattered.Although the book has good content & nutritional information, I have NO IDEA how to make 1 meal for my dog. it would be awesome if the author could include 2 examples of recipes so I know how to use the book. or have an online video.. Also Provide examples of the "additions" so at least I know what I'm looking for and then i can do research on the best bone/vitmains/etc for my pets.

I bought this on the recommendation of my holistic vet. There is an overwhelming amount of information on optimal diets for dogs (and cats). It is a real eye opener when it comes to the pet food industry, be prepared to be shocked and disgusted. You'll want to jump right in to healthy home made food. But also be forewarned, you must read this book from beginning to end (just about) first. There is so much information, and it's so hard to follow! There's no index!The difficulty I'm having is primarily with the supplements, and they are critical.What would make this book easier for ME to follow would be 1) an index 2) small batch recipes that include everything (meat, veggies, supplements needed for that recipe) and 3) someone to come up with pre-made combinations of supplements to go with the various recipes. She already recommends Dr. Mercola products, they might as well come up with something for this book.At this point my mind has just glazed over, the information is spinning around in there and I'm just winging it. I don't have the math brain for this. I do keep a recipe and daily meal journal to review my dogs' diet and make sure I'm not leaving anything out. Maybe I should publish that lol!

One of the best books on the market. It's a short read, unlike some of the other authors, and it is dense with very good content. Having actual recipes along with proper ingredient portions is great. If you are like me, you probably own few books on raw feeding, and I judge that a lot of them are great at explaining the concept and health benefits of raw, but most are weak at providing actual recipes with ingredients and portion sizes.Additionally, I appreciate the proposed diverse protein schedule. It's so easy to just feed the same recipe over and over and forget about how important it is to change up your protein base.For seasons raw feeders; you will not find anything revolutionary in here, however, it's a great reference for checking if you are feeding proper portion sizes for each of the ingredients.

The book provides good information on what meats, vegetables and fruits to use, plus how to prepare, mix and serve them, along with explanations for the various supplements needed to make a healthy, balanced diet. For that, it should get 5 stars.Where this book fails is lack of consistency. There are many tables covering the different ingredients for the meals. Some tables are shown as weekly requirements, some as portion requirements (it’s not clear if this portion is per day or per meal), some are calculated as daily, and some as “this recipe rotation only” (which I think means per week). For the bone meal replacement, some tables refer to bone meal (calcium and phosphorus combined) and some tables to calcium only. This made it very confusing to calculate the actual quantities for my dogs. I ended up creating a spreadsheet of the tables in an attempt to make sense of what was needed but even then was still left confused. For that, it loses 2 stars since, without clarity, it's not clear how to plan a balanced diet and your animal’s health will suffer seriously.There’s a section on vegetable and fruit mixes and 3 example veg & fruit mix recipes are provided, plus a lot of text on what veg and fruit can be used. What is lacking is guidance on what quantities to use for the fruit and veg not shown in the example recipes. As for the example recipes, when I calculated the calorie totals they differed wildly (ranging from 406 – 735 kcals). This doesn’t make sense since the same quantity of each recipe mix is added to the meal, meaning that depending on which veg & fruit mix you use, the meal fed to your animal differs in calorie count quite siginificantly. So, another 1 star subtracted for lack of clarity and consistency in this section.The author also recommends adding the supplements only at meal times rather than at time of batch preparation and freezing but doesn’t explain why. I couldn’t find any information on the internet as to why this should be the case. As a full-time worker, it’s essential I make this process as efficient as possible, reducing the need to weigh/measure several elements at each meal time for different dogs. So, for lack of explanation, it loses another 1 star, bringing the grand total to 1 star.There are also a couple errors in tables where incorrect figures are given. I was able to work out the correct figures by looking at all quantities and the pattern of change across quantities. Someone less vigilant would be using erroneous quantities, affecting the balance of the meals.Overall, if the tables were made consistent and clear, explanations provided for some of the recommendations, and the errors corrected, this book would be an excellent guide to healthy, balanced, home-made dog food. As it currently stands, I’m left thoroughly confused about how to proceed, rendering the book useless to me.

You are not going to find out the information you need on how to feed your dog off Internet articles! Believe me, most of them don't even mention offal in the recipes. Similarly most pet shops are selling junk in a bag or a can.Get this book, it will give you the info to feed your dog on either a raw or home cooked diet in the right proportions of muscle meat, organ meat, bone or bone substitute if doing home cooked, what extra vitamins and minerals you are going to need to give and additions like eggs and sardines. The book also covers what not to feed.I don't have cats but Dr Becker covers how to feed your cats too.Wonderful book. Thank you Dr Becker.

Of all the books I have on making my own dog food this is by far the best. It’s very detailed, full of very useful information, great recipes for meals, veg and supplements. One of my dogs despite trying all sorts cannot deal with raw food and has stomach problems, this is the only recipe food he will not only eat and lick the bowl clean, but will look for more. It’s been a life changer for us and him. Yes it is a bit of a faff to prepare until you get used to it but I now prep in bulk and it’s a breeze.

*Has been an educational book in most aspects, although written for people living in USA or 1st world countries where most stuff mentioned is reasonably priced/easy to obtain. Supplements etc and various other information is totally US based. For example - I am unable to get sardines/salmon and turkey isn't common either and even if I could it would be VERY costly.*I am unable to get majority of the supplements mentioned, again it will be very costly for me to ship in from the states, finding an alternative shouldn't be too much of a mission but the supplements section is fairly vague followed by getting very technical!! and if it is so important why don't they knock up all these supplements together and sell it saying feed this if you're feeding bone. feed this if you are not feeding bone etc. I don't even take that many supplements!!!!*Discussing with my integrative veterinarian is not an option; there are not many people/veterinarians in my country that have enough information about feeding raw to assist. (I am infact the only person I know who feeds raw.) discussing with vets here is a bit of a futile exercise.*And despite saying this can be used by first timers/layman it does get quite technical and convoluted.*Finally it isn't 100% kindle friendly so I am missing vital information when there are tables involved (I have zoomed in and out and tried portrait and landscape to no avail). Should have bought hard copy but wanted to get reading asap and not wait months.*So I still don't know how much of what to feed my dog partly because of the non kindle friendly issue and partly because there is a vast amount of information all over the place.*I have been feeding my version of raw quite happily for a year or so now but now after reading this I feel that I am doing more harm than even kibble which has vits and minerals added in it at the very least.

I got his book as I wanted to move my dog on to a raw food diet. I found this book quiet hard to understand and it was very hard to understand. I came away totally confused about what to feed my dog, what quantities and all the supplements required. Thank goodness I found something esle and now find it very easy to feed my dog raw food and he is all the better for it.