Home-cooked diets for your pet’s special needs Diets for: Allergies, Cancer, Arthritis, Obesity and much more


Helping you keep your pets healthy!


Buy two meals get one free with this ad. Limit 3 per customer • Expires 2/28/11


www.candbspecialtypetfoods.com 949-322-5239 or 760-420-9294


HOME-COOKED MEALS FOR PETS


by Lee Walker


lison Spencer and Jennifer Raupp, co-owners of C & B Specialty Pet Foods, have been on a crusade to help all types of pets in Oceanside, Orange and Riverside counties live longer and healthier lives. Using cooking demonstrations and speaking engagements as educational tools, they teach individuals the value of preparing cooked foods for their pets. In 2007, the two women met at


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Spencer’s newly opened Health Spa for Dogs. “Jennifer brought her dogs in for my canine water therapy,” recalls Spen- cer. Soon afterwards, Spencer’s furry, four-pawed friend, Deacon, died after eating tainted dog food that contained ingredients manufactured in China, and her other dog spent seven days in an animal hospital. Spencer’s loss led to extensive


Internet research and a connection with a Vermont veterinarian who had more than 700 clients across the United States, for whom he cooked and sup- plied recipes, such as Starter Stew, for pet meals. “Jennifer and I knew we were on to something important and wanted to


24 San Diego Edition


share with others what we had found,” enthuses Spencer, who warns that even after the recall of pet food, many manufacturers are still using ingredients from China. Pet food may be labeled, “Made in America,” but its ingredients frequently originate elsewhere and are frozen and shipped to the U.S. for preparation. Even more alarming are the unidentified ingredients that come from rendering plants. Preparation rules are lax, as well.


Spencer says, “I am not required to have to have a commercial kitchen to prepare pet food, but I would if I were preparing human food.” According


to her research, prepared dry food lacks adequate nutritional value, because once it’s cooked at a tem- perature high enough to turn it


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into a kibble form, it does not contain the variety of nutrients that animals need to maintain good health. “Manu- facturers add nutrients with a spray of vitamin oil,” notes Spencer, who adds that any prepared pet food—even or- ganic offerings—will lack the necessary variety.


She says the ideal menu for dogs should resemble the one she prepares for her own 14-year-old pet. Breakfast consists of combinations of salmon, oatmeal and fruit: berries, peaches, apples, pears and sometimes, mango. Dinner is usually chicken or turkey, potatoes or yams and even pasta. Spencer adds calcium, in the form of ground eggshells, or uses bone meal, which is more digestible. She also adds a crushed multivitamin supplement. C & B delivers throughout San Diego County and consults with local veterinarians to offer a cancer diet low in carbohydrates and high in pro- tein and iron, for pets going through chemotherapy. Also offered is a kidney diet, high in carbohydrates and low in protein, because protein irritates the kidneys.


C & B Specialty Pet Foods, 4660 N. River Rd., Ste. 124, Oceanside 92057. Call 949-322-5239 or visit CandBSpecialty-


PetFoods.com. See ad on this page.


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