Rating: 
Summary: An excellent, common sense approach to caring for your pet.
Review: I love my dog and have always been concerned about the chemicals, dyes and other additives found in most commercial dog foods. I have talked to many veterinarians who are unconcerned about the rancid meat scraps, etc. that are put into kibble. Although I have found a product containing no chemical additives, I still felt guilty about feeding my dog something that I wouldn't expect a person to be able to live on. I have read many books on dog health, and was not impressed by any of them. Then I read Dr. Pitcairn's book. It was intelligent, well written and made perfect sense. The only inhibition I had about starting a natural diet for my dog was the cost. I'm a graduate student and money is tight. However, I started supplementing my dog's kibble with Pitcairn's suggested recepies. She is bouncing and playing like a puppy, her teeth are cleaner and her coat has gone from dull to shiny. I am so impressed by the changes I've seen, I have decided to eliminate the kibble entirely. Feeding my dog a natural food diet is much easier and less expensive than I thought. I have already extolled the virtues of this book to all of my dog owning friends and would highly recommend it to anyone who cares about the health of their animal. A wonderful book!
Rating:
Summary: The proof is in your pet....
Review: I have a 9.5 year old beagle/aussie mix - Misty - who was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor three months ago. After her tumor was removed I discovered Dr. Pitcairn's book. Since then I have been feeding my two dogs his recipes with the addition of liver, eggs, and tuna fish occassionally for variety and some added vitamin A and oils. The change in Misty has been dramatic. There has been no return of her tumor (which I can't attribute solely to the new diet), but her energy has sky rocketed, her attitude is now much more pleasant, and other skin abnormalities she had developed (that the vets said were just due to old age) have completely disappeared. We bought a puppy a year and a half ago and for the first year, Misty would never play with him. Now they play constantly. Misty used to go back to bed right after eating breakfast, and now she is up before I am playing with the our younger dog. I can't believe the change. She will be ten years old in a few months and now acts more like a puppy than she did when she was two years old. I highly recommend Dr. Pitcairn's book. Even if you are not ready to start using a homemade diet full-time, he has a great recipe for a supplement to dry dog food to help you get started plus numerous other disease prevention techniques and tips. This book was well researched from his own experience as a vet and explains everything in amazing clarity.
Rating:
Summary: Immense help for dogs or cats
Review: I used the powders and oils described in an earlier version of this book for my GSD Abbey, crippled by a "degenerative spinal condition" according to her vet. Her hind legs crossed and her back swayed as she walked with difficulty. Disinterested in eating, she wolfed down her dinner the day I added the powders and oils to her diet. She then recovered to the extent of catching and killing -- horrors! -- squirrels in a park. (She was fine with other dogs, thank heavens. She just wanted to be "it" and herd them! She also "wanted" a cat of her own. Chris, when he arrived, knew he was boss, of course.) I also wormed a dog successfully, using this book. I used the diets for cats for a street cat Belle that I rescued, riddled with cancer and dying. Dr. Pitcairn's were the only diets she would eat. I feel the diets prolonged her life considerably.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks nutritional value
Review: I bought this book after reading all the great reviews on it. I was looking for recipes that would contribute to my dogs health and well-being. The recipes were easy to make but after six months of feeding both of my dogs this way (one a Lhasa Apso and the other a Shitzu) almost overnight their hair started falling out in handfulls! Concerned for their health I took them to my vet. After a couple hundred dollars in vet bills I was pleased to find that they did not have worms and they were healthy but their diet lacked nutritional value. I replaced the grains and oats that the recipes called for with a high quality dry comercial dog food. I also upped the amount of protein they were getting by about 25% more. Though Dr. Pitcairn gives a recipy on page 39 he calls "Healthy Powder", it wasn't enough. After a month of feeding my dogs the altered recipe their hair stopped falling out. However, they still have a dull, thin coat. Hopefully in no time I will get their coats back to the shinny, soft, luster they once had. My suggestion is if you plan on feeding your dogs this way (I still think raw is better) that you watch your dogs closely for any change no matter how minute and supplement their diets with a good multivitamin.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Introduction to Holistic Dog & Cat Care
Review: This is often the first book I recommend to someone interested in learning about the holistic approach to dog and cat care. Dr. Pitcairn includes info on the pet food industry and what's wrong with most commercial foods. He then provides balanced recipes and ideas for feeding a homemade, natural diet. Unfortunately the diet he recommends is too high in grains (dogs and cats are carnivores and if grains are fed at all, they should make up only a small percentage of the foods fed -- raw muscle and organ meats, bones, fish, pulped veggies, eggs, even fruit and nuts, are all more appropriate foods for the canine or feline). On a positive note, Pitcairn's perfectly balanced "fresh food kibble booster recipes" are an excellent way for those who are not ready to feed a diet that's entirely homemade to add fresh foods to their animals' kibble several times a week. Apart from nutrition, Dr. Pitcairn addresses grooming and exercise, creating a healthier living environment, natural and effective flea control, alternative therapies, caring for a sick animal, handling emergencies, plus a large A-Z section of pet ailments and their holistic treatments. Since Dr. Pitcairn is a homeopathic vet, it is not surprising that the focus is often on homeopathic remedies.
Rating:
Summary: Immense help for dogs or cats
Review: I used the powders and oils described in an earlier version of this book for my GSD Abbey, crippled by a "degenerative spinal condition" according to her vet. Her hind legs crossed and her back swayed as she walked with difficulty. Disinterested in eating, she wolfed down her dinner the day I added the powders and oils to her diet. She then recovered to the extent of catching and killing -- horrors! -- squirrels in a park. (She was fine with other dogs, thank heavens. She just wanted to be "it" and herd them! She also "wanted" a cat of her own. Chris, when he arrived, knew he was boss, of course.) I also wormed a dog successfully, using this book. I used the diets for cats for a street cat Belle that I rescued, riddled with cancer and dying. Dr. Pitcairn's were the only diets she would eat. I feel the diets prolonged her life considerably.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Book to Have Around
Review: This book's diet portion uses LOTS of grains, so if you feed raw diets with little or no grains, you will probably NOT find the recipes useful.The health portion of this book is incredibly useful. My copy is dog-eared, highlighted, and a little bit puppy-chewed. It contains both herbal and homeopathic treatments for many common (and some not so common) pet ailments, and also tells you prevention measures. The successes I've had with some of the treatments in this book have even amazed my vet. I have dogs, but I've heard many people complain that too many books are "dog-centered." This one seems to have JUST as much info on cats, including separate recipes and treatments. Most health problems have bold headings for the separate treatments, so cat-only people don't have to read through all the dog solutions, etc. There's a pretty good index, some illustrations, lots of charts, and I've found the directions to be fairly easy to follow. I do not SOLELY rely on this book, but it will always have a place on my bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Life-saving help for my schnauzer
Review: When my schnauzer was very ill a naturopathic vet in our area recommended that I purchase this book. Thanks to the excellent advice from Dr. Pitcairn my dog went on to live a healthy, happy life for an additional 6 years. I made the natural diet recommended in the book for him for those 6 years and used the natural remedies at various times. I continue to use this book often for all of my animals. It is literally a 'life-saver'.
Rating: 
Summary: useful overall source book for your dog
Review: this book is decent in that it covers a lot of information. if you're looking for info on the overall health of a dog, this isn't bad. but if your looking for info on dog diets, then i would choose another book. the info on feeding/diets was very confusing for me, and i think for someone who's new to the idea of feeding raw or homecooked, this isn't what you need.
Rating:
Summary: one of my three staples
Review: Excellent, every animal owner should have this book, No matter how many times I purchase a new book I keep going back to this book and The Nature of Animal Healing by Martin Goldstein. I have given this book as a gift many times. A must have for all animal lovers
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