The ground pork was glistening in the pan and a mound of diced carrots was piling up on the cutting board while the rice steamer hummed and whistled on the table. No. 1 Teenager ambled into the kitchen, sniffed the air interestedly. “Dinner?” he wanted to know.

Yes, but not for him. The meal I was preparing — several meals at once, actually — was for his younger, quadruped brother, at that moment lurking under the kitchen table with an air of furry expectation. Mike, our 4-year-old shepherd-husky, was watching the manufacture of his next week’s suppers. And he seemed pretty happy about it.

In the wake of the recent pet food recalls, which saw hundreds of varieties of food pulled from store shelves and which were spurred by the deaths of at least 96 cats and dogs across the nation, more pet owners may consider cooking for their critters. When I realized that half the cans in my pantry had been recalled, I decided to add canine cuisine — at least temporarily — to my kitchen repertoire.

SO INSTEAD of the no-nonsense Chunky Beef Dinner and slightly tastier-sounding Prime Cuts in Gravy, Mike has been getting a no-salt, low-fat stew of beef, chicken, lamb or pork, plus veggies and grains, enlivened with a little parsley and moistened with homemade gravy, sometimes with a cooked egg or cheese. It smells and looks good, and I cook a lot at a time — using my slow cooker and electric rice steamer to save labor — and package it in Tupperware. Occasionally the spoiled beast gets his all-time fave, canned tuna with baby carrots and rice or barley. “I’m thinking he’s not going back to the cans, Mom,” said Teenager No. 2 as she watched him scarf up his Tuna Surprise.

But is this the way to go? The American Veterinary Medical Association warns on its Web site that pet owners should beware of homemade food for cats and dogs, because animals require nutritionally balanced meals formulated for their size, age and species. Too much fat can cause problems as mild as nausea and as life-threatening as pancreatitis. Salt and sweeteners can be dangerous. Bones or fragments can’t be digested.

“If your pet is healthy and doing well on the pet food it is currently eating, and the food is not on the recalled products list, there is no reason to change their diet,” AVMA President Roger Mahr says on the Web site. If you’re determined to cook for your animal, the AVMA recommends you talk with your vet and use recipes developed by pet nutrition experts.

In other words: I wasn’t necessarily doing Mike a favor.

But Anne Mixson, my vet at the Del Ray Animal Hospital in Alexandria, Va., says simple homemade meals can be healthful for dogs and cats. She feeds her own cat a raw diet of mostly chicken.

“THE PROBLEM is not that homemade food is bad; the problem is that we end up seeing issues with cooking and handling,” Mixson said. For example, she said, although raw bones “might be okay” for animals, cooked bones are prone to splintering and can’t be ground up well.

Pet owners also might not choose the right meats, she said. Organ meats, particularly from non-organically raised livestock, can be dangerous in large quantities. Some meats contain way too much fat.

Then there’s the difference between cats and dogs: Cats need more protein. Dogs can, although they may not want to, eat a heavily vegetable diet. Both species need extra vitamins and minerals, but cats need more taurine, so they should be given feline-specific supplements.

Still, as long as your pet’s homemade diet contains low-fat protein, the carbohydrates and vegetables your vet recommends, and the extra vitamins your type of animal needs, you should be good to go, Mixson says.

And cooking consistently for your pet can be a pain, especially if you’re already cooking for a family. So if you start, resist resorting in exhaustion to what Grandma fed Bowser. “Poultry skin, table scraps and other things can cause all kinds of problems,” Mahr said. “(Commercial) animal diets are formulated by Ph.D. nutritionists. This is why they are safer to feed unless homemade diets are done consistently and under the supervision of your vet.”

There are plenty of pet food cookbooks to choose from. The one recommended by the AVMA is the comprehensive, easy-to-follow Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative, by Donald R. Strombeck (Iowa State Press, 1999). A more upscale alternative is Throw Me a Bone, by Cooper Gillespie (Simon & Schuster, 2003) — Cooper is a Welsh springer spaniel owned by author Susan Orlean — with recipes by Sally Sampson, a cookbook author who has collaborated with chef-restaurateur Todd English, among others.

Some of Sampson’s recipes for meals, snacks and treats are quite basic: Grill a chop and throw it on a plate. One for carrot cake with bits of liver and carob powder is more complex. And the “Look, a Birdy! Burger” could be a good candidate to make and freeze for later. But the recipes seem more appropriate for a now-and-then indulgence than for regular sustenance.

I’m taking Mixson’s advice and adding a multivitamin to Mike’s chow (tablets for adult humans are okay for dogs his size). Keeping the hungry hordes out of the dog food might not be as easy as it used to be, though. “Mmmm — people food,” muttered Teenager No. 3 as she fed Mike his pork stew.