Rating: 
Summary: A great resource for animals with GI tract problems.
Review: If your dog (or cat) is suffering from GI tract problems and/or food allergies, this may be a book for you. If you are convinced that raw meat is the only way to go, you might want to stop here. But if you find the thought of feeding raw meat a little terrifying, the book is chock full of recipes for dogs and cats - including some vegetarian alternatives.Flipping through it upon receipt, I was surprised to read that "ethoxyquin is safe as well as effective...has a very wide range of safety...[and] more so than any other antioxidant, has anticancer properties." Checking the author's bio, I found out that he "is widely published and has received numerous awards, including the Ralston Purina Award for research excellence in small animal diseases..." "Terrific," I thought, "an apologist for the pet food industry." NOT what I was looking for... Reading further, however, I discovered Dr. Strombeck laying out his expose of commercial pet foods in a dry, clinical style that was actually a refreshing change from the strident and at times self-righteous indictments of the whole foods and holistic alternatives literature. Here is a lot of the same information expressed in a way that not only you can understand, but that your very straight-laced conventional veterinarian might actually consider. The book is full of recipes that seem easy to prepare with one exception: unless you have a large animal, or are prepared to cook in larger batches, you will be trying to figure out how to measure 1/5 of a vitamin tablet or 1/10 of a teaspoon of salt (at least the recipes don't call for ethoxyquin). And, returning to that dry, clinical style, keep a dictionary handy unless you already know that "borborygmus" is basically those gurgling sounds in the gut. I found the book very helpful in understanding why my dog's GI tract problems, which are probably food allergy related, are both so hard to diagnose and so hard to treat. It lays out a program that requires both patience and perseverance, but little in the way of medications or other invasive procedures. I'd give it at least 4 stars (5 if I wasn't a basically hard grader).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, if a bit dry
Review: Of the several resources I looked into, this was the best for implementing a home-cooked diet for my cats. An earlier reviewer was disappointed with the quantity of information available for cats, but I didn't find this to be the case (and I certainly was able to find many diets which didn't contain clams...). Besides basic healthy diets, the book also covers diets for a variety of medical conditions or food allergies. "Clear and easy-to-understand" is probably not how I would choose to describe this book, however. The author sometimes uses highly technical terminology without offering any simplified definition (e.g., what the heck is "coprophagy"? Once I found out, I wasn't sure I WANTED to know, but no definition is offered in the book.) Some readers might take as a negative the fact that he promotes cooking all the meats because of potential health risks such as salmonella. Many now believe that raw meat is healthier for a true carnivore (which cats certainly are) than cooked. The issue of raw vs. cooked isn't given much attention here, so you will have to go to other sources for more information on that. While this book can't be described as perfect, it certainly was very satisfactory. This is the book that I would give my cats' vet for Christmas.
Rating: 
Summary: a contrary opinion
Review: This book might be fine if you have a dog or two. If you only have cats, as I do, there's not enough in it to justify the price. You have to wade thru many pages of material on dogs to find several sentences on cats. There are also only about four recipes for cat food -- very repetitive and all using clams.
Rating: 
Summary: not bad, but i don't agree with the diets
Review: this is a decent book if you are wanting to make home cooked meals for you pet. it gives scientific evidence, backs up what it claims, and sites sources, which a lot of books on this subject fail to do. my problem with the book is opinion based. my opinion is that although it is better to feed your dog a homecooked meal over kibble, it is much better to feed raw over homecooked. and after reading this book i still stand firm in my belief that raw is the better way to go. but, if your a person who feels that homecooked is the way to go, then this is a good book to have. it's very detailed, and explains a lot on how much calories per day a dog/puppy should have, etc. also outlines meals that you can prepare.
Rating:
Summary: not bad, but i don't agree with the diets
Review: this is a decent book if you are wanting to make home cooked meals for you pet. it gives scientific evidence, backs up what it claims, and sites sources, which a lot of books on this subject fail to do. my problem with the book is opinion based. my opinion is that although it is better to feed your dog a homecooked meal over kibble, it is much better to feed raw over homecooked. and after reading this book i still stand firm in my belief that raw is the better way to go. but, if your a person who feels that homecooked is the way to go, then this is a good book to have. it's very detailed, and explains a lot on how much calories per day a dog/puppy should have, etc. also outlines meals that you can prepare.
Rating:
Summary: An Indispensable Reference
Review: This is an excellent book on animal nutrition. It's clear enough for a layperson to understand, as long as they have some background in biology and nutrition. If you plan to feed your pets home-prepared diets, this book is a must-have reference. You will probably want to look at the Pitcairn book as well. Strombeck used a computer to balance his recipes. This results in some awkward portioning, and some odd yields. Be prepared to use a pencil and paper to adjust the recipes to your needs, especially if you intend to make more than one serving at a time, or if you have multiple animals. The ease of use issues here lose him a star. Faults aside, this book is refreshing in its objectivity. Strombeck backs up every single point he makes with hard science, unlike most other books on the subject. In a world where most animal care professionals learn their nutrition from materials provided by Hills, this little 300 page volume is invaluable. So buy two copies: one for you and one for your vet!
Rating: 
Summary: Superb summary of Dog and Cat Nutritional Requirements
Review: Whatever diet you choose to feed your dog or cat, this book will guide you in understanding the nutritional requirements for each. It is an outstanding treastise that contains many charts which do the intricate calculations in the NRC or Waltham Center Requirements so that you don't have to do them yourself. Additionally, there are well thought out cooked diets for cats and dogs enabling the breeder or pet owner to easily cook for their own dog(s) or cat(s). There is no other book that I know of on the market today that contains the wealth of information in this one; whether you are feeding a cooked, raw or commercial diet to your dog or cat, this information will be of value.
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