New Release March 2008

The Ultimate Pet Food Guide

Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Dog or Cat

By Liz Palika

• Recipes and Tips for Homemade Cooked Food

• Raw Food Diets: what they are, pros and cons, how to prepare

• The good, the bad, and the ugly about commercial food

• Nutritional requirements and special needs

Table of Contents

1. The Digestive System of Dogs and Cats

2. The Basics of Nutrition

3. The Big Debate Over Commercial Pet Foods

4. The Old Is New Again: Home-cooked Foods

5. All About Raw Food Diets

6. All You Need to Know About Supplements

7. As You Begin Making Changes

8. Feeding Puppies, Kittens, and Their Mothers

9. Recipes for Active, Performance, and Working Dogs

10. Recipes for Pets with Special Needs

11. Celebrations, Snacks, and Training Treats

Appendix: Food Values

Return to Liz's main page

Introduction

Early in 2007, after thousands of pets became seriously ill, pet owners began bringing their cats and dogs to their respective veterinarians, and the animals began dying, mostly due to kidney failure. When all the clues were put together, fingers began pointing toward Canadian pet-food manufacturer Menu Foods, which was manufacturing foods sold under hundreds of pet food labels.

In mid-March 2007 the FDA issued the recall of 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat foods made by Menu Foods, containing wheat gluten that had been imported from China. That wheat gluten, which is used to help formed pet-food product keep its shape and to increase protein level of the food, was tainted with melamine. Melamine is used in making plastic.

This, unfortunately, was just the beginning of a huge fiasco. There were additional recalls, which continue even as this book is being written. Corn gluten has also been recalled, as has rice gluten. As consumer awareness has increased and additional testing has been done, other toxins have been found in the foods and additives.

More than six thousand pets are known to have fallen ill during this episode, and more than three thousand have died, although complete figures will probably never be known. Some pets may have died prior to the news breaking of the problem, and many veterinarians were too busy treating admitted pets to report deaths to the FDA.

If there is any good to be created of this incident, it is the awareness that pet owners now have of the importance of good, clean foods for thier pet. Although I hate the idea of anyone's pet dying, especially in such a horrible way, if these pets' lives can save others, perhaps there is some good to be found in it.

I became very aware of the importance of pet nutrition many years ago when my German Shepherd dogs were prone to gastrointestinal upsets. Due to their needs, I began studying pet nutrition with the guidance and support of the veterinarians I worked for. This came into good play several years ago when the Australian Shepherd belonging to my husband and I, Dax, was diagnosed with a serious liver disease at the age of six.

Copper toxicosis is a disease in which copper, an essential mineral, builds up in the liver until it reaches toxic proportions. The disease is common in Bedlington terriers, there is no cure, and those who have it rarely live beyound the age of seven or eitght years. Upon Dax's diagnosis, I decided to try and help support her through nutrition, since there was no medical cure, and I'm happy to say Dax just celebrated her thirteenth birthday. She still has copper toxicosis, but her diet is helping her liver cope.

Along the way, I have seen exactly how much food affects the quality of our pets' lives:

• The food that is eaten affects the animal's body condition and state of health

• Food and diet are important to the health of the immune system and can affect how an animal develops a disease or disorder, and how the animal recuperates from it.

• The food that is eaten provides the animal with energy, and a poor diet leaves the animal unable to work, play or exercise hard.

• Food sources are important. Plants grown in mineral-poor soils will not nourish the animal, and poor quality cuts of meat will not supply good proteins or fats.

• As a dog trainer today, I also see the relationship food has with canine behavior.

• And much, much more.

Now after years of studying pet nutrition, my interest in it continues; this is my seventh book on pet foods. After the pet-food recalls in 2007, I found myself answering thousands of questions from concerned dog and cat owners, and I realized this book was desperately needed.

So please, read and reread. Your dogs and cats will thank you!

Liz Palika