---
product_id: 2855142
title: "Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets"
brand: "patricia a. schenck"
price: "VT25285"
currency: VUV
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/2855142-home-prepared-dog-and-cat-diets
store_origin: VU
region: Vanuatu
---

# Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets

**Brand:** patricia a. schenck
**Price:** VT25285
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets by patricia a. schenck
- **How much does it cost?** VT25285 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Description

Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets, Second Edition

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![Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61bbZgtX5EL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    One of the more informative you'll find available for the non professional on nutrition but with baking soda mistake
  

*by O***S on Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2010*

edit: Note about this book mislabeling baking soda as calcium: Caution should be noted in the first part of the book (1-267) there are 2 instances of baking soda written to be the same as calcium carbonate; both in chapter one: page 8 (one occurrence) & page 12 (one occurrence), and in the recipe/diets portion (269-505) there were 21 instances found in the following... dog recipe section: 416-420 & 422-424 (recipes for dogs with renal disease), 425 (recipe for dogs with struvite urinary stones) & cat recipe section: 457-459 (recipes for senior cats), 473 (recipe for cats with cancer), 497-501 (recipes for cats with renal disease), 502-504 (recipes for cats with oxalate urinary stones)...these all label "Baking Soda" (which is also known as sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate or NaHCO3) mislabeled as "Calcium Carbonate" (which is also known as CaCO3, and often used medicinally as an antacid/calcium source supplement). Do not give your pet Baking Soda as a Calcium supplement.  There may be other reasons to use baking soda in a recipe, but it is not addressed in this book, and baking soda is wrongfully identified as calcium carbonate.*I originally gave 4 stars, before seeing for myself this baking soda error...an error too easily overlooked, since it's listed as "calcium carbonate (baking soda)" and "baking soda (calcium carbonate)" & the eye/mind can correct (as one or the other) while reading, without realizing...not good if someone reads as "baking soda"."HOME-PREPARED Dog & Cat DIETS 2nd Ed." (Schenck) is one of the most informative books on this subject I have found; that is available to the non-professional (but has the baking soda mistake...you will need to correct the pages mislabeling baking soda as a calcium carbonate supplement); on figuring out (calculating) and understanding recommended analysis on pet's nutritional needs...this is very hard to find in the books available today.Although this is available to the non-professional (and in an easy to read format for the average person), it's not something I'd recommend if you are not use to preparing diets, or have no clue about the time and efforts required...this book may appear quite overwhelming.  This is not a "first book", but more of a tool/resource for those wanting to be more precise with their pet's nutritional needs.  If you choose to get this book, try to find it used and at a less expensive price (especially with having an error on baking soda/calcium) and make sure you correct the pages with this mislabeling.For a great book on getting started, I'd recommend "Better Food for Dogs: A Complete Cookbook and Nutrition Guide" (Bastin, Ashton, Dixon, DVM) and/or "Raw & Natural Nutrition for Dogs: The Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals" (Olson, PhD) as an informative beginner's tool, before reading this one, and/or to use along with this book.  (sorry, I don't have any cats)What to expect getting out of this book:-Learn how to make precise calculations for your pet's feeding requirements (daily Caloric needs/kcal), based on your pet's weight, age & activity levels by using easy mathematical formulas. [example: RER = 70x(body weight in kilograms)^0.75 & DER = 1.6 x RER] (RER = resting energy requirement; DER = daily energy requirement)-Learn importance of vitamins, minerals & other nutrients and the appropriate *ratio for your pet's weight, age and specific needs (depending on health issues or diseases that may or may not be present).  *This is given in percentages (%) and if you do not wish to give a full spectrum multi-vitamin/mineral supplement (and/or desire to give minimal supplement necessary w/ complete diet), it will require some mathematical background in working with percentages (having an ability to do so; without needing a tutorial, since the book doesn't give a "lesson" on this).  --If this is too hard for you (or you don't feel confident), then you'd want a veterinarian (that specializes in nutrition and diet for pets) to help work it out for you.  *remember NOT to use baking soda as a calcium source!-Read information about several of the most common diseases (and health concerns), how they reflect your pet's nutritional needs and what should be added/subtracted from your pet's diet; to help create a more nutritional specific diet for your pet.-Find very useful information on safe food handling, ways to monitor your pet's health/nutritional needs, along with useful resources and suggestions.How to use this book:It's best to use this book as part of a teaching tool, to help enhance the way you balance (and help monitor) your pet's nutritional needs...mainly with calculating.  The recipes should be looked at as a baseline, and in my opinion, should be altered by concerns; in order to make complete. Note: Recipes will need altered, especially for those wanting higher protein and lower (to no) grain diets (& those with baking soda labeled as calcium).  The recipes provided are made in a way this can be easily achieved; with common sense knowledge using basic mathematics skills on calculating measurements & working out percentages.What this book isn't:This is not an "easy breezy" "no thought needed" cookbook!  The recipes included generally include a meat (or protein source), a grain (or starchy vegetable source like potato or legume), a fat and added supplements (like bone meal, multi-vitamin, mineral).  *Most do not have fruits or vegetables included in the carbohydrate portion of the recipe.  When adding these, you will need to alter the grains (calculating proper total kcal from carbs to include both grain & fruit/veg).Overall, HOME-PREPARED Dog & Cat DIETS 2nd Ed, is well written (outside of the mistake on baking soda) and a good educational tool for calculating.  At worst, this book should help with understanding how to read pet food labels correctly and how to calculate these recommendations.  This is still a useful tool as long as used with caution.My gripes about this book:-The nutritional analysis recommendations calculate proteins and fats in the form of DM (dry matter) and not in their natural matter (whole), while carbs (grains/vegetation) and fiber are calculated as unspecified or DM (more DM in health condition specific diets)...this can make it too convenient for the prepackaged 'science type diets' to be enforced.  Most people who prepare foods at home for their pets won't use DM measurements on (especially) meats and fats, since we are working with whole-foods.  *The author does explain how dry matter is calculated, so you will be able to work out the whole matter (with the mathematical formulas provided and explained), but this does add more work and does make these analysis recommendations more convenient for "dry kibble", prepackaged and manufactured foods.-Mislabeling baking soda as calcium carbonate can be dangerous to your pet.  No one should use baking soda as a source of calcium!  Hopefully, the author will correct this error, because this book could be a great resource for many.  If baking soda was meant to be in the recipe, it should be given the appropriate name AND explained as to why the baking soda would be beneficial. If it's a misprint, then TUMS would be a better "familiar name" for calcium carbonate.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Trustworthy nutrition, a lifesaver for cancer- Be sure to buy baking soda Substitute
  

*by B***D on Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2013*

UPDATE: 2015: One of my dogs fell ill some time ago and we could not get her well. Turns out she has bladder cancer and has probably had it for some time. For the past year, I have been feeding her homemade food, following the guidelines that are detailed in this book for cancer and this dog has amazed me! We decided against chemo, since the chemo drugs made her so sick and miserable. We have managed her cancer with Piroxicam, diet, and certain supplements to boost her immune system. She is actually stronger now than she was a year ago. I don't know how long we will be blessed with this good health and energy, but I am very grateful. I think the homemade cancer diet is a major factor in her well-being and highly recommend this book for anyone who is willing and able to make their own food. Not only has it proven to be the best thing I've ever done for my healthy dogs in general but it is a lifesaver for this cancer dog.ORIGINAL REVIEW:This, along with the first edition of this book (That one authored by Strombeck) is the only cookbook that I trust to give my pets proper nutrition on a homemade diet. Homefeeding is a big fad right now. There are a lot of books on the subject along with a ton of advice on the internet. Most of it is not accurate. A study by UC Davis recently showed that when analyzed, most of the homemade diets were either lacking, or were overdosing. These recipes were developed and analyzed at a university and so they are the only ones I trust for long-term use.I've had excellent results with this program.  I have performance dogs and so I have to get it right. I need a food that will keep them in top form, maintain weight, muscle and good health. I need food that will keep the bones and teeth strong and food that is clean so that risk of cancer or kidney damage is minimised. These recipes do it for my dogs. I also appreciate sections devoted to geriatric animals and those with specific health issues which require a kind of prescription diet. With this book, I think anyone could work with their vet to come up with a better diet than you can buy.That said, the book has one serious flaw which almost gave it four stars instead of five. PLEASE READ THIS: In a homemade diet, calcium is critical. In these recipes, the calcium source is Calcium Carbonate BUT some of the recipes actually say 'Baking Soda". That's a BIG problem, because plain old Arm n Hammer is actually Calcium BI-Carbonate and that's a very bad thing to put in dog food! So what you want is to buy Baking soda SUBSTITUTE- which is Calcium Carbonate, not BI-carbonate.On page viii of the Preface, the author explains that she did this because she wanted people to buy food-grade calcium carbonate instead of the bulk garden-grade stuff. That is available as Baking Soda SUBSTITUTE, but her omission of the word SUBSTITUTE in some of the recipes is bound to cause confusion and lead to trouble for people who do not read carefully. So that's one thing I like better about the first edition. Dr Strombeck just uses Bone Meal, which is available as a human grade supplement. I think that's a whole lot better way to do it but anyway, if you are sure to buy Calcium Carbonate and NOT regular baking soda, you'll be fine. It's just something that anyone using this book needs to be aware of.This has been a good series of books, the best in my opinion but I am hoping for a third edition that will address the baking soda thing. If you have any worries about it, the information in the first edition is available online:  [...] and you can always use that.EDIT: I want to point out that MANY of the recipes do not use Baking soda substitute at all. All of the ones I've been using just use Bonemeal and salt substitute, etc. Very Simple! So please do not let all the flack about that scare you off. It's just something you need to be aware of if you do this. This is a top-notch feeding program and in giving us this book, the author has given our pets a tremendous gift! The work and research that went into this is phenominal. I changed the rating from 4 to 5 stars just because the longer my dogs are fed this way, the better they do. Truly grateful!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Cat Owners, This Is Also a Resource For You, Too
  

*by A***R on Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2015*

Cat owners wondering if this book is worth purchasing (as I was, before ordering it here): it is worth getting.This book is written in informational chapters (so, if for instance, your pet is not elderly you can easily skip that chapter).  All chapters in this book begin with dog information.  Cats are written about second.  Most of the topics in the book cover cats (though, not all do).  Not all topics about cats are covered as in depth as dogs but most are.  Finally, there are more dog recipes than cat recipes in this book (about a third as many more).  Having said that, there is a fair amount of recipes to feed cats dealing with different health issues.What Schenck does state about cats is helpful.  If you are wishing to learn about what biophysical needs the feline has that regular feeding must meet for a healthy balanced diet, what cats having different physical ailments need or require of diets, what all of those recipes are, and how to prepare your cat (or dog's) food - this is the book for you.She gets into the biological, chemical, and age/health, life stage, etc. specific details and you may choose to read that in depth or not.She is a bit repetitive in the book (e.g. you read repeatedly, as a cat owner, that cats uniquely (compared to dogs) require the amino acid taurine throughout the book, but this is understandable as not all cat owners will read every topic in the book that pertains to cats and this information is critical to feeding your cat a healthy diet).If you don't mind reading about cats, as a species, in relation to dogs (e.g. "...as with dogs, cats..." or "...being smaller, cats..." and so on) and don't mind there being less cat information than there is about dogs - I recommend you get this book.

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