Better Food for Dogs: A Complete Cookbook and Nutrition Guide »

Dr. Grant Nixon, D.V.M. has been practicing compassionate veterinary medicine for 10 years. He has a keen interest in nutrition and natural diets and the role they play in the health and well being of his clients.

David Bastin and Jennifer Ashton are the proprietors of Licks and Wags, The Original Canadian Dog Bakery in Summerland, British Columbia. They have done a tremendous amount of nutritional research not only for their business, but for their own five dogs.

A nutrition guide and cookbook intended to take the guesswork out of feeding your dog a home-prepared diet, written by a veterinarian and the proprietors of a dog bakery.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Canine Diet

Dogs and Humans: Similar yet Different

Diet and Health

Table Scraps as Dietary Enhancements

Does Price Determine the Quality of the Food? / Identifying Good-Quality Processed Foods / Commercial Foods and Home-Prepared Diets / A New Breed of Commercial Dog Foods

Know Good Health When You See It / Problems Associated with Low-Quality Diets

Myths About Dogs and People Food

A Potential for Contamination / Other Potential Risks / Bones as Raw Food

No Doggie Vegans

Dogs Like Routine

Obesity / The Immune System / Greasy Coat, Dandruff and Doggie Odor / Chronic Ear Infections / Gastrointestinal Problems / More Diet Related Diseases / Behavioral Problems

Chapter 2: Better Food for Dogs

Diet Formulation: A Sensible Approach

Monitor the Diet / Make It Tasty / The Joys of Home Cooking / Kilocalories / Seal of Approval

The Essential Nutrients

Proteins / Sources of Protein / Carbohydrates / Sources of Carbohydrates /Feeding Carbohydrates / Mix Well for Optimum Health / Fats / Omega-3s / Water

Multivitamin-and-Mineral Supplements / Bonemeal / Salts / Vitamins / Macro- and Micronutrients / A Fine Balance / Beyond Nutrition / Minerals

Specialized Nutrition Plans

When Is Your Puppy Mature? / Puppy Nutritional Requirements / Energy Requirements for Puppies Compared with Adult Dogs / Puppies and Home-Prepared Diets / Choosing the Best Food / A Plump Puppy May Not Be a Healthy Puppy / Just Enough of a Good Thing / Watch and Adjust

Chapter 3: Making It Work

Supporting Wellnesss

Dogs and New Foods

Introducing a Home-Prepared Diet / Assessing the Diet / Weighing Results / Checking Weight

Complete Blood Count (CBC) / Chemistry Screen / Know Your Dog As You Know Yourself / Urine Test / Touch and Grooming for Wellness / Keep Your Eye on the Doogie Doo / Your Dog's Teeth / Feeding Bones / Exercise

Food Intolerance and Allergies / Foods that Are Known to Be Toxic to Dogs / Toxic Foods / Other Potential Problem Foods / Poisoning and Other Related Emergencies / Food Safety / Choking / When Your Dog Throws Up / Eating Grass

Chapter 4: Recipes Basics

Using the Recipes

Start with Your Dog's Weight Class

Why Weight Matters / Follow the Instructions / Vary the Ingredients

Essential Information / Vegetable-and-Fruit Mix / Cooking Meats and Fish / Cooking Carbohydrates

Chapter 5: Meals

Chapter 6: Cookies

Chapter 7: Adding Essential Nutrients

The Supplements

Using the Charts / Half per Meal / Bonemeal / Multivitamin-and-Mineral Supplement

Resources

Reading List

Index