Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard H. Pitcairn, Susan Hubble Pitcairn

over half of the diet for dogs and cats, on a dry weight basis.
    Grains are one group of foods that definitely should be cooked. Because the intestinal tracts of dogs and cats are much shorter than those of cereal-eating animals ,like cows and horses, grains fed to dogs and cats need some pre-digestion (in the form of cooking). Once prepared this way, they are completely utilizable by the body. Usually, wild carnivores eat these foods only if they appear in the stomach of their prey, thus the grains are partially digested already.
    To save both time and energy, we emphasize quick-cooking and economical grains—oatmeal, cornmeal, millet, and bulgur. They are well-accepted by most dogs and cats and are high in nutrition. Oats and bulgur, forexample, are loaded with protein, and millet is rich in iron. Larger grains like rice and whole wheat berries or barley are best used with dogs; unless these larger grains are mashed, cats tend to pick them out. Crumbled whole-wheat bread is a quick and convenient ingredient when preparing food for a cat or small dog, but it’s too expensive to use regularly for feeding large dogs. Amaranth, whole-wheat couscous, buckwheat, quinoa, and spelt—all highly nutritious grains—are beginning to make their way into the American diet. They are usually costlier, but use them if you wish, substituting them in amounts similar to those for bulgur.
    Each recipe in the next chapter suggests several grain substitutions that provide comparable or greater nutritional value. Amounts are provided, but you might need to refer to the “Recommended Grains” table above for cooking instructions.
 RECOMMENDED GRAINS 
 This table contains cooking directions for recommended grains, including the amount of water to use per cup of dry grain. It also indicates yields and caloric and protein contents. 
 GRAIN (1 c dry) 
 WATER (c) 
 COOKED YIELD (c) 
 COOK TIME (min) 
 CALORIES 
 PROTEIN (g) 
 Barley 
 2 —3 
 2.5 
 30—60 
 696 
 19 
 Brown rice 
 2 
 2.5 
 30—45 
 720 
 15 
 Buckwheat 
 2—3 
 2.5 
 20—30 
 570 
 20 
 Bulgur 
 2 
 2 
 10—20 
 602 
 19 
 Cornmeal 
 4 
 3.5 
 10—30 
 462 
 12 
 Millet 
 3 
 3 
 20—30 
 641 
 19 
 Rolled oats 
 2 
 2 
 10 
 312 
 11 
 Wheat berries 
 3.5 
 2.5 
 60 
 652 
 20 
 Whole-wheat couscous 
 1.5 
 2.5 
 3—5 
 602 
 19 
 Note: Another good source of grain protein is whole-wheat bread. Two slices provide 122 calories and Three grams of protein. Crumble up the bread before mixing it in the recipes. 
    L EGUMES
    Beans and other legumes are emphasized in several of our recipes for dogs. That’s because they provide a great deal of protein at less cost than any other food, allowing you to reduce your dog’s meat consumption if youwish. It takes more time to prepare legumes, but when you fix large quantities of food, a little planning about including legumes will be well worth it. Here are some tips for saving time and/or energy when cooking legumes.
    Use quick-cooking legumes such as split peas and lentils. Lentils are high in protein and because of their thin skins, they require no soaking. There’s also no need to soak split peas, which makes both these legumes good choices on a compressed schedule.
    Presoak longer-cooking beans overnight. Soaking beans at least three hours—and changing the water at least once, if soaked longer—helps reduce intestinal gas after they’re consumed. It also helps to boil the soaked beans for 30 minutes, discard the cooking water, and finish cooking with fresh water. (Beans are done when you can easily lift off the outer “skin” of the bean.)
    Use a pressure cooker. If you have one of these appliances, you can cook beans in 35 to 45 minutes.
    Precook a large quantity of beans and freeze them in recipe-size portions for future use.