Dog Food
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!
I wanted to make a page all about dog food. People think that if you buy the most expensive food out there you are getting quality food. NOT at all true! Read the ingredients and check what they really mean.
 
Never buy any dog food that contains by-products of any kind. Here is an example. 
Chicken By-Product Meal: consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice. Yummy what's for dinner.
 
Are we really expecting our new family members to eat that? At the bottom of this page you can click the link to read what all the ingredients you are feeding your dogs are. Also as you read on you will find different things you should not have in your dog food.
 
Watch for itching and dry skin areas this can be a huge sign of food allergy! Food allergies common to the Shih Tzu breed are wheat, soy products, artificial sweeteners, corn, milk, whey, fish, beef, pork, eggs, and chemical preservatives. Your Shih Tzu may not be allergic to any of these just watch for the symptoms and change the food if necessary.
  • The primary ingredients in all food should be meat!
  • No preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).
  • BHA is a checmical preservative believed to be carcinogenic. Please do not feed your new puppy this in their food. A carcinogenic can cause cancer.
  • Ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative commonly added to fish meal, and that is banned from use in human food because is believed to be carcinogenic.
  • No artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.
  • Corn is difficult for dogs to digest and thought to be the cause of a great many allergy and yeast infection problems.
  • The use of wheat is a significant negative: wheat is believed to be the number one cause of allergy problems in dog food.
  • Beet pulp– it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food especially so high on the ingredient list. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.

Always feed the best food available to you. There is no reason to NOT feed the best food you can for your new little addition.

Our adults and puppies are on Canidae for all life stages. They love it and it is a fantastic food. We prefer that you keep them on the same food they leave on but if you decide to change make sure there is NO corn, soy, wheat, grain fractions, or fillers in the food. If you have any questions about a brand please feel free to ask us for help.

Our dogs and puppies are also given Nuvet Plus Vitamins (please see our Nursery page and click on the link). 
 
Please read the ingredients here. You might be amazed what you are feeding your little ones.
 
A great way to see if your dog food measures up at all go here and see what reviews about your current food say.

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