Reviews for Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet

The average rating for Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-03-31 00:00:00 Brandon Jones This is more of a testimonial than a review: My husband heard about this book nearly 7 years ago on the Tom Martino radio program. At the time, we had a brand new puppy, little more than 3 months old, and he was already showing signs of severe allergies. The vet, an older country doctor, suggested that unless we got a handle on the allergies, my puppy would need ear surgery and life-time medication. I was very resistant to the idea of "natural" feeding, but agreed to read this book and give it a try. Within a few days, ALL of my puppy's symptoms started to clear up, and over a couple of months he became glowingly healthy and energetic. At 7 years old, my dog (a cocker spaniel) is routinely mistaken for an older puppy, even by the vet techs (at first glance). About 6 months after putting the pup on the natural diet, one of our cats developed a UTI, so we put the cats on Schultz's diet. At 11 years old, he has never had a reoccurence, and our second cat also is glossy, healthy and full of energy, even though he is at least 10 years old. All of the pets are at their ideal weight. Schultz' diet is explained in detail, but simple enough so that it's not overwhelming. In seven years, my implementation of her program has changed a bit, but the basics remain the same. This book is my starting recommendation for anyone who is interested in a more biologically appropriate diet for their fuzzy babies.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-01-17 00:00:00 Loki Aryan Schultze is a popular and well known author known for her "Ultimate Diet" that she teaches in lectures and presentations. Her diet is basically a raw diet that she promotes. Her book instructs pet owners on how to create such a diet. She includes information on food groups and the nutrients they provide. Schultze recommends "building a prey animal" out of raw ingredients to ensure that your pet gets an optimum mix of nutrients. She argues that dogs (however erroneous) and cats are carnivores and that rather than trying to measure out exact nutrient requirements, it is easier to imagine what they may eat in the wild and emulate their diet to be similar to that. Unfortunately, her instructions are a bit difficult to follow as she describes different ingredients and how to use them - she varies between use them sparingly and use them often, contradicting herself and causing confusion - "Is this a good ingredient or not?" Schultze relies heavily on the human emotional response to promote her theories. She states that humans should eat a larger variety of fresh foods and attributes that to feeding pets as well. She also argues about lack of vigor in commercial food fed pets and attributes health problems to feeding in such a manner - not taking into account the wide variety of foods that are available commercially and the related variations in quality. The author does not mention any ill effects of feeding raw and the dangers associated with it, only anecdotal potential improvements. To add to her seeming expertise and experience, the book has forewords by three individuals (two of which are veterinarians) and several testimonials towards the end. These stories do not list the commercial diets the pets were on previous to switching foods and attribute many problems that appeared to improve to the feeding of "The Ultimate Diet" without examining alternate potential causes. To her credit, the author appears to be a viable source of good information. She is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist and an Animal Health Instructor. The former certification is an achievement in human nutrition which, while not specific to pets, and therefore vastly different, is more formal training than most authors on the topic have.