great new dog cookbook aids animal hospital

Yesterday I came across a lovely new book full of healthy recipes for dogs. (Actually, it's for humans, too, and cats, ferrets, birds, lizards, turtles, rabbits, guinea pigs and rodents, but who cares about them?)

The cover of the book grabbed me immediately because it was so gorgeous. (I always judge a book by its cover!) But I've noticed the version that is to come out soon on Amazon has a less colorful design. I presume the Amazon version would have US measures and names for ingredients, as I can't think of any other reason for the difference in the editions, seeing it's brand new.

It's written by Dr Sasha Herbert, senior vet at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital, so that gives the recipes credibility. She mentions a recipe loved by Jasmine, a samoyed her family adopted from an animal shelter many years ago. She say:

Walking along the rows of cages with all those sad eyes or frantically wagging tails is one of the hardest things to do.

Yes!! Many years ago I took my class of young children to an animal shelter. It was the first time the children had seen me cry. I couldn't stay within metres of those sad, sad cages and had to wait outside for the students to come out.

So I love the fact in buying this book I'm giving money to the Animal Hospital.

The first recipe I'm going to try is a meatloaf, made of one kilo (2.2 pounds) of beef mince, two eggs, a tablespoon of tomato paste, two cups of breadcrumbs, one large carrot, grated, one cup of chopped celery, including the leaves, two tablespoons of soy sauce, one large garlic clove, chopped, and a cup of raw rice (which has to be boiled for 15 minutes and the water strained off after it has cooled).

It sounds simple. You just bake it for forty minutes at about 5 cm (two inches) deep in a baking tray. She says for the celery you can substitute fruit or vegetable pulp left over from juicing.

There are a couple of ingredients I've never given Penny - garlic, tomato, soy sauce - but I'm willing to try them because the author is an experienced vet. However, I won't be feeding this often, because Penny basically has a raw diet, and we don't usually feed her rice or bread.

I thought I might try baking a little of it for longer and producing treats for training - but it might be too crumbly, so I'll have to experiment.

This is one of the most beautifully produced dog cookbooks I've seen.