FOOD .

Puppy Grub

Two Philly sisters come up with a healthier way to plump up your pooch.


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Published: Nov 27, 2007

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Cooking dinner for your best friend doesn't usually involve butchering injured or sick cattle, mixing in liberal amounts of synthetic preservatives and dehydrating the whole mess into convenient pellet form. The ingredients in commercial dog food may sound wholesome, but as this year's massive recalls indicated, they may be doing more harm than good to your furry friend.

Enter Gayle and Melissa Lizerbram (pictured), two sisters who recently moved back home to Philadelphia from Manhattan and D.C., respectively. When their family pet, Luna, a 12-year-old German shepherd, stopped eating the wet and dry food she'd willingly consumed for years, they searched for ways to help get her interested in meals again. This led to the sisters cooking nutritionally balanced dog food made from ingredients purchased at the supermarket. When their pet began eating their recipes with gusto, they knew they'd hit upon something good. Now, their new business, Doggie Diner, offers an opportunity for other dog owners to feed their pets healthful meals without investing a lot of time in preparation.

After researching pet-food ingredients, the Lizerbrams realized that most pet owners had no idea what they were feeding their beloved animals. According to the Animal Protection Institute (api4animals.org), dog food can contain chemical preservatives, dyes, drying agents, petroleum derivatives and meat by-products that would never be sold for human consumption. The Lizerbrams assert that though dogs may eat what they're fed, there are other options. Doggie Diner uses only human-grade food and no preservatives.

The sisters cook their products in a catering kitchen in Langhorne with simple ingredients sourced from local wholesale markets as well as Trevose's Madrigal Meats. Meals are delivered frozen and can be defrosted and served cold or warmed in the microwave according to your dog's preference.

Doggie Diner's menu is the product of extensive research into canine nutrition in addition to the Lizerbrams' trial-and-error approach toward refining recipes. Their ingredient list is simple: meat, rice or potatoes, vegetables, extra-virgin olive oil. There are small-portion "yappetizers" as well as entrées like turkey muttloaf and chicken liver poochie pate. Prices range from $4.50 for a small entrée to $42.99 for seven days' worth of large-portioned meals. Though the current menu is primarily meat-based, vegetarian options are in the works, as well as puppy and senior menus.

"Some vets don't advise doing homemade diets because people don't make balanced meals for their dogs," says Gayle. "They just [feed them] meat and table scraps, which don't provide all the nutrients a dog needs." Each Doggie Diner order comes with nutritional information that outlines caloric content, fat and protein. There's no salt in the dishes because dogs don't need it, and no refined sugar is added to their dog desserts, which are made from natural peanut butter, whole oats, wheat flour, carob and honey or brown sugar.

According to Melissa, Doggie Diner products are "safe enough to eat yourself, but perhaps a bit bland to a human's palate."

Doggie Diner could very well become the newest fad in pampered-pooch circles. But trendy or not, the Lizerbrams know that since Luna became happier and healthier eating their meals, other dogs should have the chance to try them, too. "It's comforting for people to know that this is food they would eat themselves," says Gayle. "The key is that people are thinking more about what they feed their dogs."

(felicia.dambrosio@citypaper.net)

For more on Doggie Diner, call 215-735-2423 or visit getdoggiediner.com.