By COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer Saturday, April 14, 2007

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Augusta veterinarian Dr. Judith Herman says she feeds her dog Bryan homemade food, including raw meat, and suggests that her clients do the same.

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Herman, who has a practice in Augusta, doesn't bother with commercial pet food. Her dogs and cats eat raw, homemade meals.

She recommends to her clients that they do the same for their pets.

"Number one, you have control over the ingredients," she said.

"Number two, the quality is the same stuff you eat."

Herman, who owns the Animal Wellness Center, said such a switch does more than just protect pets from the threat of contaminated commercial food.

"When I switched my animals to homemade food," she said, "I saw a big difference in energy level and in their coats and in their stools and in their overall health."

Herman, though, is a bit of a renegade in her profession in recommending homemade food.

The American Veterinary Medical Association discourages pet owners from adopting the practice. The largest veterinary group in the world, the association features an article on its Web site that stresses the perils of fixing homemade meals for a pet.

Tom McPheron, a spokesman for the organization, said veterinarians realize the concern people have for their pets' welfare in light of the recall.

But he said people must understand that the recall only affected about 1 percent of the pet food on the market.

They also need to understand, he said, that feeding a pet properly is more involved than putting table scraps into its bowl.

"We just recommend that if they insist on cooking for pets that they educate themselves and work with their veterinarian to ensure the pet gets proper nutrition," McPheron said. "It is not as easy as a lot of people think."

Matthew C. Townsend, a veterinarian with Kennebec Veterinary Services Inc. in Oakland, also urges caution when considering the homemade food option.

"You can run into more problems trying to do the right thing for your pet," Townsend said.

At the same time, Townsend, too, realizes that the recall has spooked many pet owners enough to abandon commercial dog and cat foods.

"I think that everybody has to do what they feel comfortable with," he said. "If they have the time and can prepare a well-balanced diet for their dog or cat, that can work great. The problem is preparing a well-balanced diet."

Townsend added that diet needs can vary, sometimes dramatically, from pet to pet, depending on a number of factors, including age and whether an animal has medical issues.

Herman agrees that people need to educate themselves before making their own pet food. But Herman said once the knowledge is acquired, the practice is not that difficult.

To provide a dog a balanced diet, she said, "means that you have a meat source, that you have a calcium supplement to balance out the meat, and that you have the correct ratio of meat to vegetables."

Herman said that ratio generally is 60 percent meat to 40 percent vegetables.

Cats, in contrast, need a higher percentage of protein and cannot survive without meat, Herman said.

As a starting point for anybody contemplating homemade pet food, Herman recommends the book "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats."

"For new clients I have copies of his recipes that I pass out to them so they can get started in a confident way," she said.

Herman is a believer in using raw meat but said many veterinarians frown on that because of concerns over E. coli and Salmonella. She sees such fears as unnecessary as long as the pet owner is buying fresh meat and using it within three days -- unless frozen for later use.

"I'm not seeing it," she said of bacteria outbreaks, "and the veterinarians I'm networking with are not seeing it."

Townsend cautions, though, that ensuring a safe, healthy diet for your pet can be a tricky business.

"It is only as good as the food you put into it," he said, "and doing it at home doesn't guarantee you won't have problems."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com