Dr. Becker's Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats

When I read the first half of the book, I thought, wow this is complicated. But as I read the second half of the book it clicked. The chart that you fill out is a big help. My wife and I switched our 2 golden retrievers to this diet. They are both about a year old, and after a couple of weeks on the diet they seem to glow. They seem to have so much energy now and their coats are the greatest I have seen. (I have had golden retrievers for the last 25 years). I also noticed that they don't drink as much water as they did when they were on dry kibble. The raw diet is 70 percent water, compared to 12 percent water in dry dog food. I also liked the recipe for the mineral supplement to ensure the dogs are getting the minerals they need. I recommend this book to anyone wishing to get away from the corrupt pet food industry and feed their dogs a healthy, balanced raw food diet.

This book is incredible. I wish there was one like it for humans, haha! At first glance, it is a little overwhelming with all the charts, and the idea that there are several components to each meal that you have to combine together each time, but 15 minutes into it, I realized that it is something I can really do and so can you! Obviously I've tailored it to be as convenient as possible for me, but honestly, I love the idea that my dog is getting all the nutrition he needs and none of the junk that normal dogs in the wild don't eat. A newish pet owner, I never really did understand why there were grains and potatoes in dog food since I couldn't imagine a dog eating potatoes and grains in the wild, but since it is literally almost the only option out there for dog good, I would buy it. However, my dog developed a fungal skin condition and after googling it (google!), I came across Dr. Becker's article on dog fungal infections and how diet is really the main thing to change. And then began my homemade dog food journey. 2 weeks later I have seen some improvements, but it's not completely gone. I think it will be a slowish process, and hopefully the probiotic I added in will really make a difference. The one amazing thing I did notice the NEXT DAY after getting him off of processed dog food (and he was on Blue Grain Free!) is that his eyes were immediately brighter and clearer. I didn't really they weren't bright and clear until then. He used to have pretty regular eye gunk (gross - sorry), but in 2 weeks I have only seen it once now. Also, his fur is much softer AND his skin is actually normal skin tone now. Again I didn't realize he was pink all over and that was abnormal until I saw the normal skin tone after he got off of the processed food. Of course, I read Dr. Becker's article about dog fungal infections and she said some dog's are reacting so badly to their food that they're pink from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, and I was like, hm, glad my dog doesn't have that. Lo and behold, he did, but I didn't realize it until after it was gone. While it may sound like I am the most unobservant pet owner ever, honestly these are very subtle changes and you would never know it till after. I have taken him to the vet regularly for check ups and my vet never mentioned these things either. In fact when I brought up the dark spots that now progressed into full blown fungal infection, the vet or vet tech (I can't remember) told me they were freckles. Helpful. Also, please don't be overwhelmed by the vitamin powder you have to make. At first I tried to find one I could buy, but since all the products that I found didn't give amounts of the vitamins, I just bit the bullet and made it myself because if I was going to go this far, might as well go all the way and make sure he is actually getting vitamins. You can find all the vitamins on Amazon, and while Dr. Becker says just throw them in a blender in the capsule form, I prefer to minimize the steps (why blend and then sift out the capsules?) and just opened the capsules and dumped out the powder. There aren't really that many capsules to break open - I think it took me less than 15 minutes. Buy a cute little mason jar and a measuring spoon and you're good to go! Honestly, this is THE best book on pet nutrition, the end.

This book is an excellent guide to raw feeding. It is a little complex, particularly in terms of making the vitamin mix. You often have to convert mg and mcg to get the correct dosage. I would have liked to see an index because after reading it several times and even after making the food several times I have to flip back and forth to find what I am looking for. It also indicates that it is cheaper to feed raw and this may be so regionally but not for me and not for a large dog. With a 15lb bag of top grade kibble I was paying $45 and supplementing with my own concoction of a rice based home cooked food concoction. This was costing me perhaps $100 every 6 weeks. This raw diet is about $5 per day and a lot of work. I watch for sales but cannot find chicken under $1.99 per lb and lean beef under $3.49 per lb. Overall the book is a great guide to creating a perfect diet. However, even humans do not eat a perfectly balanced diet. My vet suggested that if I need to use slightly fattier meat to compensate for calorie and fat increase by decreasing portion size. Also chicken breasts and thighs which the book suggests differ by up to 300 calories per lb so there is some deviation there on the per ounce calorie content Doctor Becker refers to anyway. Again this is a great guide to raw feeding. My dog did lose some weight in the month she had been in this diet. I am not sure if she cares much for beef and/or certain vegetables, and not sure if this will be a true rotation diet if I eliminate the beef. Most people that feed commercial stick to one brand and one flavor so I may eliminate the beef which is pricier anyway. Be prepared for a lot of work, a lot of math, and a lot of mess if you choice to feed this way. I believe there is a site where you can get the vitamins pre-mixed but there was no link to this in the book. This would have simplified the process a little.

This book was really informative and I learned a LOT about my dogs' nutrition. But honestly super complicated. She goes into extreme detail on every nutrient that your dog needs to be healthy (which I appreciate) but then every time you change one ingredient in the dogs meal (which I have to do because my dog has tons of allergies) it changes the entire recipe and it's very hard to figure out what to include instead. There needs to be some kind of online meal building app to actually use her system.I feel like she wrote this for dog food manufacturers :) But I'm sure if your dog doesn't have alergies like mind (chicken, eggs, all fish, sweet potatoes, etc.) then you could just straight copy her recipes and be fine.

Great if you are serious in giving your pooch/cat the best chance! I have just lost Westie at almost 22 years of age (normal life span 12-16 years) that always had home prepared food. Once you get the principal the rest soon becomes a habit and small effort for the huge benefits! I also found it that once all the components are bought it is not more expensive than chemically enhanced shop bought food overloaded with carbs and lacking in nutrients for healthy fur! Effort is minimal as larger quantity can be prepared, portioned and frozen. Check on line for organic meat suppliers! I believe in loving my pets as much as they love me!

An excellent book for anyone interested in having a healthy and long lived pet. It's a little overwhelming initially but well worth the time and effort to read over and over. I started with the fruit & veggie mixtures. As we are already feeding our Yorkies excellent and complete raw food I can go slow making my own and they are still receiving absolute benefits. Next step - finding and gettin comfortable with the supplements then putting it altogether. So far the pups have enjoyed and reflect the quality of food they receive. Love this book and the seller derived on time and as promised.

Very interesting and easy to understand

Supercalafragilisticexpialidous... bloomin' marvellous, thank you.

I wish it had more recipes for raw diet. It made me feel like making my own raw diet to complicated.