The dog's dinner

This is the vegetable half of Mia's dinner - steamed potatoes, carrots, green beans, bulgur and brown rice. Using whatever vegetables are in season, we make a large batch every 5 days or so (about 20 minutes of work), and refrigerate it in plastic containers.

Along with her veggies, Mia gets an equal amount of raw meat daily. Our butcher saves his beef and chicken offcuts for her, which he mixes with some offal (livers, hearts, gizzards, etc). In addition, he sends her his best and biggest beef bones, for free. She gets one big bone a week and adores cod liver oil pills as an occasional treat. We don't give her any processed dog food. She's had it a few times and wasn't impressed.

The amount we spend on feeding Mia is a fraction of what premium processed dog food costs and we believe it's much healthier too. Last week, our vet, who has expressed his disapproval of her 'unorthodox' fresh food diet in the past, grudgingly admitted that Mia is the healthiest, fittest dog he has ever seen. She has a glossy coat that almost never smells (unless she has rolled in something), no bad breath, good strong bones and teeth, bright intelligent eyes and a very sweet disposition.

And she loves cherries, but that's another story.