How would you like to serve your furry friend natural fresh pet food you create from homemade dog food recipes? You really can. LoveToKnow's own Wendy Nan Rees has compiled dozens of her best dog and cat food recipes into The Natural Pet Food Cookbook. The recipes are natural, healthy and veterinarian approved; what more could you ask for?

We were fortunate enough to persuade Wendy to take time from her busy schedule to give us some background on the creation of the book and why feeding our pets natural food is so important.

January 2008
Interview: Homemade Dog Food Recipes from Wendy Nan Rees

Wendy, how did you become so involved in the topic of dog nutrition?
I first seriously got involved in dog nutrition back in 1985, when I got my first dog. I was living in Atlanta, going to cooking school and was engaged to be married. So, I did some research into Shar-Pei dogs and got one to breed and show.

Eight weeks into my ownership, the dog became very sick. Six-thousand dollars later, I found out that the dog was allergic to soy, salt and preservatives. I was in cooking school at the time and thought how hard could it be to develop a training and showing treat that he could eat, even with his allergies.

Eight months and thousands of batches later, Lip Smackers®, "The people cookie made for dogs ® " was born. It was a huge success with friends, family and even competitors at the dog shows I attended. At the time, my new husband, my dog Webster and I moved to California, and I started my first company based on this product.

The first package was a Chinese food container with a picture of Webster on it, along with our slogan "The people cookie made for dogs ®". I handmade the cookies at home until I was contacted by the California Department of Health that informed me I couldn't make them at home anymore. So, I found a bakery and rented it four nights a week.

From that humble beginning, I ended up creating 50 products, and we went nationwide. As luck would have it, my first job at the age of 17 was as a nanny for a couple that owned the first Natural pet food company. Who knew this connection would come in so handy down the road?

Tell us about your newest home cooked dog food recipes book. What inspired you to write it?
I was inspired to write this book of home cooked dog food recipes by the massive pet food recall in March 2007 because I was getting over 500 emails a day from people asking me what they should do. I was very fortunate to already be an established author with Wiley Publishing.

My publisher was very excited about the idea, and the book was a go right away. It is really the first time that there has been such a detailed book that features recipes suitable for dogs and cats; especially one with a focus on main meals, not just treats. I am already working on a companion to The Natural Pet Food Cookbook with more natural fresh pet food recipes because there was so much information I wanted to provide that we couldn't fit it all in one book.

We understand that all the recipes have been veterinarian approved?
Yes, Dr. Kevin Schlanger, DVM, was wonderful, and made sure all the ingredients we used were safe and wholesome for the animals whether they were dogs or cats. He is a great friend, and was a wonderful help throughout the creation of this book. He helped develop the dog and cat feeding charts in the book. He also helped by writing some of the nutritional sidebars and was always available for me to bounce ideas and questions off of.

Is serving natural fresh pet food really a viable alternative to feeding balanced commercial kibbles?
For me, this alternative is a no-brainer. The recall was a wakeup call. After all, wouldn't you prefer to know what you are really feeding your pet? Did you know that the pet food companies can change up to 15% of their pet food recipes without changing the ingredient panels on their bags?

I can't tell you how many times I have looked at the ingredient panel of a pet food bag and seen four to five different forms of one grain listed. While that may sound innocuous, it really isn't. If pet food companies had to list their ingredients as corn or wheat instead of corn grits, whole corn, corn middlings, corn bran or corn gluten meal, pet owners might be better informed. The reason I mention this is because if you added all those different forms of corn ingredients that you see on the label together, the actual percentage of corn in the bag might actually be a higher percentage than the meat ingredients. While this is legally allowed, there are many people who the practice is misleading.

There are some other disturbing facts that pet owners should be aware of. Ethoxyquin is a carcinogenic chemical that is routinely used as a preservative in pet foods. Even if it isn't stated as an ingredient on the bag, it could still be in there. Pet food companies purchase fats for their foods, and if they happen to purchase fat from a company that uses ethoxyquin as a preservative for their fat, they don't have to list it on the ingredient label. The reason they give (which is legal) is that they don't add the ethoxyquin to the fat in the bag, so they are under no legal obligation to tell you.

Last but not least, is the issue with propylene glycol. It is an additive that is used as a binder in many foods and treats currently on the market. It was recently discovered to cause cancer in cats, so its use was discontinued in cat foods and treats. However, it is still added to dog foods and treats, because this too is legal.

The book is filled with so many wonderful recipes. How did you come up with them?
Over the years I have kept a file that has over 1,000 recipes idea and tips that I have been collecting since 1985. I value it so much I keep it under lock and key. I once lost the book during a move, and I was hysterical. I had my husband, friends and even the moving company looking for it. No one was allowed to leave until it was found.

Tell what it took to develop the recipes in The Natural Pet Food Cookbook.
When I develop a recipe, I begin with an idea, but I have to make sure all the ingredients will be safe for dogs, cats or both. I then start blending, mixing and playing until I have a viable recipe. Sometimes it can take up to a month to perfect a single home cooked dog food recipe. Presentation is also very important to me, so once the recipe is perfected, I also have to consider which form I want to present it in. Do I want it to be a cookie, a loaf or a casserole? There are other factors that also need to be determined, such as how well a particular item freezes, and how long it will last in the fridge.

What about your crack team of professional taste testers?
Frankly, I had an amazing team to help me. Of course, I had my own motley crew of three: Senny, Cappy and Little Man. I also relied on my wonderful, life-saving assistant Ruthie to test the recipes in her own kitchen. Her professional taste testers included all of her cats, not to mention the chickens, geese, ducks and one cow that got the overflow. Ruthie believes that I have another career waiting in the wings if I choose because no one on her farm turned anything down! I also received some initial feedback friends and acquaintances in the neighborhood who volunteered to test the recipes for me so they could get free food!

How long does it take to prepare most of your homemade dog food recipes?
Most of the recipes take 30 minutes or less to prepare, aside from any actual cooking time required. Kibble and biscuit recipes require extra time for drying, so they can take up to eight hours, but you're not really working on them all that time.

Any tips for pet lovers that just don't have time to cook for their pets every day?
Absolutely. If you must feed commercial kibble, choose wisely. You can add some cottage cheese, shredded cheese, yogurt, beef or chicken no-salt or low salt broth to increase the nutritional value and make it more palatable. Veggies are good, and canned plain pureed pumpkin is also good as a fiber source since most pets love the taste.

Where can our visitors find The Natural Pet Food Cookbook?
The book is available from Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes and Noble, online websites that sell dog books and many pet stores. All you have to do is Google "The Natural Pet Food Cookbook" to find out where you can get it.

Initial Author: Kelly Roper
Retrieved from " http://dogs.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Homemade_Dog_Food_Recipes "

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London Daily Mail, May 2006
By Chrissy Iley

Some people like to comfort eat to make themselves feel loveable and cozy. Some get their pleasure by comfort feeding others. And that's certainly the aim of Wendy Nan Rees, who cooks gourmet food for cats and dogs. When I discovered the recipes in her books No Barking At The Table and No Cat Napping In The Kitchen, I knew my pets would be thrilled. I read them out loud and my cats, Slut and Mr Love, whirred and purred with excitement.

Mr Love in particular is something of a foodie. He weighs 20 lbs and is currently ranked the largest cat in health-and-body conscious California, where he and Slut live. He is very tall though, big boned, and has surprisingly healthy tastes - well, healthy if he was human. He enjoys his three portions of vegetables a day but loves nothing better than a scramble of broccoli, asparagus and ham. We communicate through food. Slut, his mother, has more cattish tastes, but she's also incredibly fussy. So the thought of Wendy's stew with chicken, carrots, green beans, peas and garlic, was a thrill. As was the turkey meatloaf with wheat germ, green beans, egg and a slice of bacon on top. Slut turned up on my doorstep one day after I moved to live in Los Angeles part-time. I thought, 'You are very fat for a stray cat' and the next day she had five kittens. All the kittens went to the homes of actors and models because the only people I knew in LA were people I had interviewed. Renee Zellweger selected Mr. Love's twin, a normal sized girl named Grady. Grady is a hunter and doesn't enjoy gourmet food; she catches mice and fillets them.

For the gourmet pet in your life Wendy's Doggie Bag offers the possibility of a three course meal with sides of rice and vegetables and apple pie, blueberry muffins for dessert or diet pumpkin slims - pumpkin puree with a touch of molasses - pudding for dogs on a diet. Of course where they live is a world of pet limousines that will take dogs to parties, weddings, bar mitzvahs and a cat-only spa that will give your cat a kitten clip and acrylic nail tips - kinder on your furniture. A delivery service offering pet go unmet meals doesn't seem out of place, it seems extremely sensible. But when you look at the food itself - and see how good it looks - you realize it is probably only a matter of weeks before it starts up over here. It comes in convenient boil in the bag or microwaveable containers made fresh for you to freeze and supplement your pet's dried food. Prices are from £3.50 per serving. The semi-moist liver treats made with egg and broth, cost £3.50 for 25; muffins £5.25 for six. But what does it actually taste like? The only way to pass proper judgment on the food was to hold a pet dinner party. So Wendy and her business partner Alanna Chasin delivered some sample platters. The guests were Mr. Love, Slut and the dog they live with, Biggie Smalls, (a suede and white American bulldog, who weighs 140 lbs and could probably eat the table), Wilhelmina, a miniature schnauzer, and Alanna's two dogs, Emmy the shihtzu and Rainey the tea-cup poodle. They ate from silver platters and Versace china. Mr Love sampled a dish that had been concocted in his honor - Mr. Love Cake - a savory feast of ham and broccoli. Wilhelmina, not known for her polite behavior, was willingly subservient in anticipation of this unbelievable treat she must have had doggy dreams about. How placid and content she became after a face-full of Carly's Pasta Carbonara, twice baked pasta with three different cheeses.

All the recipes - which we give to you on pages XX to XX in todays Weekend magazine - are run past a team of vets to make sure they are nutritionally beneficial. Celebrity vet and author Bruce Fogle confirms the market for pet food in the UK is becoming increasingly sophisticated with a trend for more organic food. He says when cooking particularly for cats you should not apply the same rules you do for human nutrition. "Low fat is good for us but for a cat its natural nutrition is a mouse which is high in fat." Giving cats added Vitamin C and fresh tuna an also create problems. "A cat will die if it doesn't eat meat whereas a dog can survive eating roots and vegetables. Fat is not such a problem for dogs as it is for humans. It is an ideal form of energy if they are undertaking a high level of endurance. To keep your dog lean you should feed it a mixture of protein and fat rather than all protein." Dogs who have specific food allergies can be catered for personally by Wendy. For instance Biggie Small is allergic to soy and corn, which appears in most canned dog foods. He seemed to think that the dinner party plates were simply appetizers, or some kind of tapes event where he could eat everything. A proprietarily hiss from Mr. Love put him back in his place. Perhaps a little too firmly - the blue velvet dining room chair buckled under his weight. Biggie Small's paw went through the upholstery.

Alanna's more refined dogs behaved like impeccable trainee supermodels. They even stopped eating on command to pose for the camera. An array of blink necklaces arrived with Alanna. She designs them because she thinks dogs "need a bit of bling to feel good about them. It's certainly not gender specific. I have a yellow Labrador that loves his pearls." Clearly what the dogs loved was attention. Alanna used to sell computer networks. "It was a very boring job and I would have to travel and put my dog Zoe, a cockapoo, (a cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle) in kennels. Every time she came back with a cough and took a week to settle, so I decided I would provide a very high-end boarding house for dogs. Many of my clients are celebrities, I can't say who because I sign a confidentiality clause, but often the dogs arrive in limos or I have to go to pick them up under cover to make sure we are not followed by photographers. Often I have to pick them up not from their house but from a nanny because they are very aware of people following them.

"I don't take that many dogs in at a time. I'm very selective, and all dogs have a choice. They can sleep with me on my bed or in their own beds which Wendy made. They have a cool-down zen time at night with candlelight and classical music and each dog has its own TV to keep it company. Animals love TV, it makes them feel connected to the world of humans. I think all dogs like to look pretty. They walk differently when you give them a pretty sweater. I know I feel great when I have something new to put on and then have a lovely meal, so do they. You can tell, it's written on their face, they love it." Alanna's new line of dog wear is going to be cat pajamas and sleepwear for dogs. Certainly you could tell Mr. Love was very disappointed when a jacket in tartan fleece inspired by Broke Back Mountain was brought for him. Unfortunately it didn't fit round his girth because it had been designed for a spaniel. He is larger, and getting larger by the second because of his new Mr Love cake. Wendy went to cooking school in Atlanta, Georgia after she left college and was first married. "I didn't know what I wanted to do. I had been riding horses competitively my entire life. I went to cooking school because I thought I'd be cooking for my husband and entertaining - all my family is good cooks." Although that marriage didn't last and her life of being a fabulous host ended, her culinary skills came into play when in 1985 she purchased a Chinese sharpei named Webster.

"He was allergic to soy, salt and preservatives, and at that time there wasn't a lot of dog food on the market that didn't have that. I created Lip Smackers, the all natural cookie made for dogs. It was a sort of treacle digestive. That was the birth of me being in the pet industry and by 1994 I had 50 products. My next husband and I started a company doing Just Dog beds. The beds were filled with fragrances and I created one called cedar green mist, which everyone loved. By 2000 I was doing a TV show called Pet search USA where I was the lifestyle adviser. Then I was pregnant with twins and lost them. Three months later at a check-up I found I had breast cancer. I had to take a year and a half off to do chemo and radiation." Wendy talks with sweeping understatement. By this time she'd sold her Lip smackers business and only had the dog bed business with her husband. But her marriage was falling apart. She comes from stiff upper lip patrician blood. Her father was a former US ambassador to Belgium who ran the presidential campaigns for Al Gore and later, John Kerry. Her grandfather was Howard W. Koch, producer of Airplane, Manchurian Candidate and Ghost. Her uncle was the producer of Wayne's World. She should have had a charmed life, yet her one constant, the thing that gave her unconditional love, was her dog Governor, a black Labrador.

She went through chemo and radiation and says, "It wasn't all that bad. When you're told you've got cancer there are very few things you can do to control your life. Of course it changes your perspective and as a survivor you feel you must do something that matters with your life. You look for a way to make your mark. 'When I went to college I wanted to be a social worker but there was too much red tape. Then it occurred to me, making animals happy was a different kind of social work and more rewarding. I do yoga as much as possible and when I'm in the meditation pose the recipes just come to me, but I also consult with vets so we use approved ingredients: Brewers yeast, garlic, brown rice, low fat meat. When the food arrives you could literally eat the same food as your dog, so you might have that wonderful bonding experience, except you might want to add some salt to yours." She assures me the ultimate take-away for two is when you eat exactly the same as your pet. You become as one. She also comes up with menus in conjunction with vets for pets with particular allergies. If a dog is sick and has to eat very simple chicken and rice, she arranges delivery so that a person stressed with a sick animal needn't be further stressed by having to cook.

One of her most popular treats is the pupcicle. It's a frozen little snack made with chicken stock with maybe a jerky (dried beef) treat in it. "Some dogs love ice cubes and they like nothing better than the iced chicken stock on a hot day. We have a monthly special where we might add things to complement the flavors." In our house these went down particularly well, although table manners dissolved. Biggie chased one round the room. As it slid away from him the more he pounced on it. And while he was in crunching slobbering bliss, Wilhelmina found a way to hold the stick between her paws and lick the pupcicle to its death. One day soon I will be bringing Slut and Mr. Love back to the UK. I want to spend less time in LA and more time with my cats. Slut has a passport and can travel under a seat on Air France. Mr. Love is a travel phobic and has to come on a private jet, courtesy of a celebrity friend, because he is too big to fit under a seat. It may be deemed his heart is unfit for air travel so he may have to come on the Queen Mary II where he has agreed to take part in a talk about his time in Hollywood to pay for his passage. He likes the high life which is why he warmed to Wendy's service. Wendy often caters entire dog birthday parties with a centerpiece cake, but insists she doesn't want to shake up a dog's diet and their stomach. "Basically it's a wonderful home-cooked meal instead of canned dog food which will make them healthier and happier. When you're feeding your pet you're connected to that animal. You want the food to be pretty to look at. It's like loving them, cuddling and hugging them.

'Feeding them is what you do to bond. They look to you for that, especially rescue animals. I want to show the dogs that I have taken the time to get what's the very best for them. The minute I go into the kitchen my dogs Senator, Little Man the Chihuahua and Cappy the yorkie all just lay down. Alanna is the souls chef and the dogs are the tasters for new recipes. It's all a wonderful experience. Here you are giving your dog a heart-shaped tuna tart. I have put a lot of love and time into it, so it represents you giving that animal a lot of love and time. It's there, that's in the energy, that's what I really believe. 'Animals are so healing. When I was sick my black lab Governor never left my side. It was an amazing thing. He stayed by my side for a year and a half. He showed me that he loved me no matter what. And I suppose what came out of his love is that I wanted to give something back to him."

All the recipes are taken from Wendy's book No Barking at the Table and No Cat Napping in the Kitchen. Wendy's new book Your Pet around the World with recipes from around the world is published in the autumn.