Nutrition

At Hot Water Rescue, it is very important for us that our dogs are as healthy as possible when they are with us, and when they move on to their forever homes. The best way to ensure that your dog or cat lives a long, healthy life is by feeding him or her properly. It is unfortunate, but most food companies will misrepresent the quality of their products, the ingredients in their products, and more often than not, vets will not take the time to explain why nutrition is so important for your dog or cat.

The way that we ensure that they remain healthy and have a great quality of life is by feeding Wellness brand dog food. Wellness dog food comes in a variety of different types (puppy, senior, chicken, lamb, duck, and fish). Wellness is a human-grade dog food that is very well balanced and will keep your dog happy and healthy. Many dog foods contain ingredients which can be very harmful to your dog. All dogs, but especially larger ones such as the ones we mostly deal with, are prone to cancers, dysplasia, and skin irritations as well as just simple allergies. All of this can be prevented by feeding the correct food.

Many of today's common brand dog foods (many of which people actually think are high quality, like Iams or Eukanuba, also, never feed your pet any food that you can buy in a grocery store) contain ingredients that are not even digestible for dogs! Dogs cannot digest corn, however that is a main ingredient.

Feeding your dog food like that will make them constantly craving food because they will be malnourished even though they may eat a lot! Another things we do not like about most dog foods is that they contain by-products which can be cancer-causing and also may very well not be digestible. These are parts of animals that have no nutritional value, and can very well come from diseased animals, and often animals that have been dead for days, possibly even weeks, because remember, the FDA approves very low quality food to be used as dog food!

Another thing we want to stay away from in dog foods is dog food that contains dog. Many dog food companies actually put dogs in their dog food! Given the amount of unwanted dogs in this country, it is a cheap and easy to obtain meat source, so when you look at ingredients, be careful when you see "meat by-products"!

Another thing to beware of is bloat! Many larger dogs (but all dogs) are prone to something called bloat. It is a medical condition that is the result of air and food expansion in a dogs stomach. Think about it, when you buy a condensed food and you add water to it, doesn't it double or even triple in size?? Well, that is also what it does in your dogs stomach! What this does is it makes your dog's stomach expand, and the result of that can be what is called bloat. Bloat is when the stomach bloats, and it turns in the dog's body and can rip their intestines. A dog that is bloated and goes untreated can die within 24-48 hours. To save a dog from bloat can cost thousands and often they do not even recover.

Taking this into account everyone, why would you want to feed condensed food?!?! (Also, another great preventative for bloat is buying your dogs elevated food bowls!) All of this said, we find Wellness to be the best food out there (As does the Whole Dog Journal who rated them #1!) It is well balanced, natural, healthy, human grade and oven baked! Mind you, it is a bit more expensive, but it is well worth it because your dogs will eat much less because the food is so rich, and they will also go potty less! If you are unable to find Wellness around where you are located, you can order it over the computer at Old Mother Hubbard or find out where it is distributed.

Other recommended foods are Innova and California Natural, however we find Wellness to be the best, but the other two come in close second.

Here is a list of ingredients in Wellness Chicken:

Deboned Chicken, Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Rye Flour, Menhaden Fishmeal, Whitefish, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Millet, Canola Oil (preserved with Rosemary, Vitamin C & E), Flax Seed, Amaranth, Dried Peas, Dried Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Whole Apples, Whole Blueberries, Whole Clove Garlic, Alfalfa Leaf, Yucca Schidigera, Probiotics (Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus), Prebiotics (Inulin, Fructose), Glucosamine, Chondroitin Sulfate, Beta-Carotene, Potassium Chloride, Zinc Proteinate (a chelated source of Zinc), Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Proteinate (a chelated source of Copper), Copper Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate ( a chelated source of Manganese), Sodium Selenite, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid. Curious to see what is really in this dog food and how it helps your dog?

For more information, please check out these web sites:

Ingredient Index

Vitamins/minerals