When I rescued Tatty Jane from the Pasadena Humane Society, she was a super skinny, long-legged little thing with the black and gray coloring and sweetness of a poodle and the long, spindly legs and energy of an Italian greyhound.
At 16 pounds, she had sparse curly hair with a hilarious white tuft that hovered atop her head like a plume of smoke. She was soulful, elegant, loving and clearly puppyish, but her teeth were all brown — so discolored, in fact, that the staff technicians put her age at 4 years old. After examining her, my vet said she was probably only 1 year old — and her brown teeth were most likely the result of a bad diet.
So Tatty Jane had her teeth cleaned, and I determined that she would never again suffer from a bad diet. Of course, I wondered what she was fed to make her teeth so brown with plaque at such a tender age — after all, I have seen lean scavenger dogs in developing countries with beautiful white teeth. Starch and sugars, I learned, are the main causes of plaque, which could mean that little Tatty Jane was fed a steady diet of sugar-laden kibble — or doughnuts.
I did a deep dive into researching homemade dog foods. Who knew that cranberries, in small doses, are good for dogs? They’re full of fiber and antioxidants and help to keep a dog’s urinary tract healthy. I was also delighted to learn that I could bake and grind our chickens’ organic eggshells into calcium powder, needed for a dog’s bone health.
However, I soon concluded that, short of accumulating a whole pharmacy of supplements, I couldn’t guarantee that Tatty Jane could get all recommended trace vitamins and minerals. So I’ve compromised. I make her a well-balanced homemade dog food and serve it with a topping of vet-approved kibble.
So far, so good. Tatty Jane at 7 years old is frisky, at a perfect weight, with a bright white smile.
Michelle Huneven is a Los Angeles-based novelist and food writer.
