Home-cooked and delivered - for your dog

When was the last time you were jealous of your dog's dinner?

If he eats commercial food - brownish slurry from a can, or chalky, crumbly kibble - the answer is probably never. But the Turkey Muttloaf from Melissa and Gayle Lizerbram's Doggie Diner is another breed of chow.

With its attractive layering of sweet-potato puree and herb-flecked ground meat, it just might tempt even the most squeamish of dog owners to sneak a spoonful.

The Lizerbrams, two sisters from Yardley, have developed their own line of fresh-cooked dog meals that they deliver around the Philadelphia area.

The Muttloaf is just one of several dishes they've adapted from the human diet. They also cook up Shepherd's Pie, Poochie Paté, and Chicken Barley Stew, plus Yappetizers (Fish Sticks and Parmesan Pieces) and Finales (carob chip and peanut butter cookies).

The Lizerbrams' interest in cooking for dogs began two years ago when Luna, their family's beloved German shepherd, was ailing and no longer interested in conventional dog food.

Gayle Lizerbram, then living at home, began researching other approaches to feeding dogs. When she read that a home-cooked diet might be more nourishing and comforting, she began serving her dog brown rice, string beans and ground meats. "She was dying by then, but she became enthusiastic about eating again, and she also seemed to have much more energy," Lizerbram says.

When the major recall affecting 50 brands of dog food hit the headlines last March, and owners grappled with the scare of commercially produced pet food, the sisters saw growing demand for alternative meals.

Though some pet owners have been cooking for their dogs for years, the recent buzz about homemade pet food has grown to an audible bark.

The Web now swells with tips for mixing dry and fresh foods, dealing with dietary allergies, and maintaining the proper nutritional balance. Books like last year's

The

Good Treats Cookbook for Dogs

(Quarry Books) and

The Natural Pet Food Cookbook

(Howell Book House) offered a new spate of vet-approved recipes. This year,

The Healthy Dog Cookbook

(THF Publications) and

The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook

(Cider Mill Press) will join the expanding genre.

"You have all sorts of foods - organic, natural, age-specific - coming on the market, just as it has on the human-food side," said Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. In urban areas mostly, he reports more enterprises similar to Doggie Diner offering home-cooked dog food, including at least two in New York.

Marty Goldstein, a holistic veterinarian who appeared on a recent

Oprah Winfrey

episode devoted to "Loving Our Dogs," suggested that home-cooked pet meals were a better choice than any commercial pet food.

But vets caution that owners must take special care when preparing their own meals for pets.

"It's obviously possible to create a complete and balanced home-prepared diet for a companion animal, but often, home-cooked meals lack micronutrients," says Kathryn Michel, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine. "For instance, the requirements for calcium and protein are very different for dogs than they are for humans," she says. "We've also seen zinc deficiency in dogs on a home-cooked diet."

Vets often warn people not to feed their dogs human food because it may be too fatty or heavily seasoned, which could cause weight gain, pancreatitis, or serious gastrointestinal upset. And some table foods are toxic to pets, such as grapes, raisins, currents, onions, garlic, chocolate and macadamia nuts.

Michel suggests that dog owners consult with a certified veterinary clinical nutritionist before switching to a home-cooked diet.

With Americans expected to spend more than $40 billion on their pets - including $16.1 billion for food - and with local vets seeing more people interested in home-cooked foods, the sisters felt the time for their new business was right.

Seizing the moment, Gayle, 28, and Melissa, 25, gave up their respective careers in biopsychology research and entertainment marketing to launch Doggie Diner in earnest last fall.

Their home-delivery service banks on the fact that, despite the best intentions, most dog owners don't have the time to cook homemade meals for themselves, let alone for their four-legged friends. After consulting with veterinarians, they felt prepared to offer a fresh, healthful alternative to commercial food.

So far, much of their steady customer base has been built by word-of-mouth advertising and the samples distributed at dog events. One client, Harriet Fox of Lower Gwynedd, found Doggie Diner after Callie, her bichon frisé, was sickened from food tainted with rat poison.

"When you hear that you're making your own dog sick, it's the worst feeling in the world," says Fox, who now uses Doggie Diner food daily, along with dry food. "I feel like I now have much more confidence in what she's eating. Her digestive problems have been resolved. She's excited to eat again, and she seems much happier and healthier."

Other clients are simply concerned about their pet's intake of processed food.

"When you look at a package of processed dog food, you don't recognize half the ingredients," says Gayle Lizerbram.

The sisters recommend a rotational diet and suggest that clients purchase a package with four different meal options that includes a week-to-week schedule, to obtain the optimal nutritional benefits. And while Doggie Diner does not add calcium supplements in the food, the company sends out an information sheet with resources for delivering the vital nutrient.

Supporters of home-cooked pet diets say that beyond having confidence in the quality of the ingredients, dog owners witness their companions' increased energy, shinier coats, improved hydration, and healthier stools.

The meals, which come in neat, white-plastic containers with color-coded paw prints, can be ordered for the week, frozen at home and defrosted for use, then served warm or cold, depending on the dog's preference. Though the recipes lack salt and other spices, their ingredients - olive oil; vibrantly colored carrots, peas and sweet potatoes; and turkey and beef from a local butcher - make them practically identical to human meals: Indeed, the Muttloaf smells like meatloaf.

In particular, the Yappetizers and Finales are especially appealing: The peanut-butter patties look like they came straight out of the cookie jar, though the whole-wheat flour lends them a slightly gritty texture that is more like a natural-foods-store cookie than Mom's.

Still, they've been equally popular with canines and their masters, says Melissa Lizerbram: "One customer actually told us that she fights her dog for them."