Food & Water

Shih Tzus and all other dogs of cause need prober food and water 
every day to live and stay healthy.




Humans and dogs, we all need to drink water every single day :-)

Humans need to drink 2 1/2 liter of water every day, the rest of 
the fluid we need, we get through, what we eat. The same goes for dogs.
Human food contain about 70% water (fluid), unfortunately that is
not the case for most dog food or the food dogs eat. 
Dog food should also contain 70% water (fluid), but mostly do not,.... therefore you have to be extra careful, that your dog drinks enought water to stay healty.

Dogs need 80 ml of water pr. kilo  body weight every single day, some
of the water dogs need to drink, some of the fluid they get through,
what they eat. But since it varies, what type of food - dry or wet - dogs
eat, it also varies, how much water they have to drink to have a healty
fluid balance and not get dehydrated.  
On hot or warm spring and summer days and if you have a very active dog, he or she need more than the 80 ml of water pr. kilo body weigth.
To have a healthy fluid balance dogs need to drink plenty of water
and is universal for all dogs regardless of breed, mix breeds and size:

*Dogs, who eat dry dog food dry, need to drink 1 dl or more of water 
pr. kilo body weigth every single day just to compensate for aeting dry
dog food..... otherwise they will be dehydrated. That is a lot of water!

*Dogs, who eat dry dog food wet, need to drink 60 - 80 ml of water
pr. kilo body weight every single day to have a healty fluid balance.

*Dogs, who only eat wet dog food, need to drink 50 - 60 ml of water
pr. kilo body weight every single day to have a healty fluid balance.

*Dogs, who eat RAW dog food (på dansk BARF / in danish BARF), need
to drink 50 -60 ml. of water pr. kilo body weight.
If the dogs eat the raw dog in a dry version, then they need
to drink 1 dl of water pr. kilo body weight every single day to have a healty fluid balance. 

*Dogs, who eat only human food - food home cooked from
human grade ingedients, that you will eat yourself, 
need to drink 50 - 60 ml of water pr. kilo body weight 
every single day to stay healthy.


Dry dog food contain only max. 10 - 12% water, but should contain 
min. 70 - 80% water, that is why dogs, who eat dry dog food, 
kibble so very easily get dehydrated or even live their lives dehydrated.

Dogs urine pH value should be between 6.2 - 6.4 (6.0 - 6.5)
to be healty and .
Many dog food products make dogs urine higher than pH 7.
The wrong urine pH can easily cause problems such as bladder stones,
lever and kidney problems, all 3 with the Shih Tzu is prone to 
get / disposed of getting, diabetes, cancer, crushing disease, 
dehydration, hotspot, allergies etc.

*** Just to be clear, it is TOTALLY healty in fact the VERY BEST for at dog to eat human food, human grade food cooked or served raw for dogs !!! 



Daily calories for dogs: 

                  Body Weight (kg) x 30 + 70 =  Calories (Kcal) pr. day.

                   Ex. 6 kg x 30 + 70 = 250 calories (kcal) pr. day.


Before choosing / buying dog food for your dog, ask
yourself these questions:

* Why is it a secret, how much of the enery comes from carbohydrates?
* Why do the dog food companies not on the dog food bag, how much
of the energy comes from carbohydrates ?
* Because the content of carbohydrates is way too high ?

* Why do the dog food companies not write on the dog food bags, 
how much in % of the energy comes from animal protein with a high
biologigal value and exately from what kind and part of meat does this high biological value protein come from ? 
* Is that because the answer is : "None" ?

* If the different kind of dog foods are oh so good, why do the
dog food companies add nutricional additives, vitamins, minerals
and taurin to their dog food ?
* Could it be, that the dog food is not so good after all ?

* Why make dry dog food, when dogs need to eat food
with a content of water of min. 70 - 80 % ? 

* Why buy processed food, when processed food is so unhealty ?

* Why does dog food look and smell like not-food, what are
they trying to hide ?



Correct enery distribution in food for normal and healthy
dogs needs to be:

Protein              : 70 - 80 % of the energy from animal meat of high biologigal value.
Fat                     : 15 - 20 % 
Carbohydrates : Max 8 % 




Carbohydrates = Sugar in dry dog food:

Dog Food, both grain-free and non-grain-free contain a lot of starch carbohydrates which convert to sugar in the dogs 
bodies.

The formation of dry dog food, kibbles requires a starch carbohydrate ingredient to make the food sticky enough to form and shape the kibbles, so in non-grain-free those starch ingredients are grains and in grain-free the pet food producers have substituted those starch carbohydrates grain with other sugar-making carbohydrates such as pea products ( not to be mistaken with fresh or frozen peas), chickpeas, lentils, sweet potato, 
potato and tapioca. 
Kibbles have to contain at least 40% starch carbohydrates, because it is literally imposible to make extruded kibbles without starch.

Pet food producers like to use pea products (dried peas - slit peas or field pesa), because :

  • they are not grains = grain-free dog food = good marketing 
  • they are gluten-free = good marketing  
  • they contain about 25% protein = which makes the total stated content of protein in the dry dog food higher, which looks good on the label on the dog food bag = good marketing 
  • BUT plant-based protein is a poor substitute for animal protein and dogs need animal protein, since dogs are carnivores, dogs eat meat.
On the labels on the bags with dry dog food the pet food producers do
not reveal, how much of the total content of protein comes from animal
protein and how much is plant-based protein. Dogs need animal protein, they have no use for plant-based protein. So be aware of this.

Many grain-free dry dog food contain more sugar-making starch 
carbohydrates than non-grain-free dry dog food do.   

Dogs daily needs of intake of carbohydrates is less than 8 %. And Higher 
daily intake of carbohydrates trigger various kind of health problems and diseases such as irritated skin, skin problems, hotspot, obesity, diabetes, 
blood sugar fluctuations, insulin resistance, pancreas, urine with too high
pH-value leading to crystals and stones in the bladder, lever and kidneys,
cancer and sugar feeds cancer cells. 

How to find out how much carbohydrates = sugar your dog`s dry dog food really contains:

The energy, Calories (kcal) /kilojoules (KJ) comes from fat, protein and carbohydrate and totally that is 100%

So take a look on the bag with your dog`s dry dog food and read how
many % fat and how many % protein is contains.....

Eg.:  

Fat:        13,5 %
Protein: 22,0 %

100% minus 13,5% minus 22,0% = 64,5 % carbohydrates = sugar !!!


Here are som examples from the real world of dry dog food:

*Canagan, *Royal Canin, *Acana, *Orijen, *Kingsmoor, *Olivers, 
*Essential Food, *Naturea, *Arion, *Frolic, *Carnilove, 


Canagan Grain-Free Chicken for small dog breeds /
Canagan Kornfrit Fritgående Kylling for små hunderacer :

Protein : 33, 0 %
Fat        : 17,0 %
= 50 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Canagan Grain-free Scottish Salmon with Herring and Trout /
Canagan Kornfrit skotsk Laks med Sild og Ørred:

Protein : 33, 0 %
Fat        : 17,0 %
= 50 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Royal Canin Mini Adult (non-grain-free) :

Protein : 27,0 %
Fat        : 16,0 %
= 57 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Royal Canin Shih Tzu Adult (non-grain-free) :

Protein : 24,0 %
Fat        : 20,0 %
= 56 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Acana Regionals Wild Prairie (grain-free) :

Protein : 35,0 %
Fat        : 17,0 %
= 48 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Acana Singles Grass-Fed lamb (grain-free) :

Protein : 31,0 %
Fat        : 15,0 %
= 54 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Acana Light and Fit (grain-free)

Protein : 35,0 %
Fat        : 1o,0 %
= 55 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Orijen Fit and Trim (grain-free)

Protein : 42,0 %
Fat        : 13,0 %
= 45 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!

*****

Orijen Adult Dog (grain-free) :

Protein : 38,0 %
Fat        : 18,0 %

= 44 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Kingsmoor Pure Chicken Adult (grain-free) :

Protein : 25,0 %
Fat        : 14,5 %

= 60,5 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Kingsmoor Original Lamb (non-grain-free, gluten-free) :

Protein : 25,0 %
Fat        : 15,0 %

= 60 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Olivers Chicken Grain-Free Adult :

Protein  : 27,0 %
Fat         : 15,0 %
Omega 3: 0,91%
Omega 6: 2,23%
= 54,86 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Olivers Fish Gran-Free Adult :

Protein   : 26,0 %
Fat          : 15,0 %
Omega 3 : 4 %
Omega 6 : 1,2 %
= 53,8 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Essential Superior Living (grain-free) :

Protein : 30,0 %
Fat        : 18,0 %

= 52 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Essential Nautical Living (grain-free) :

Protein : 30,0 %
Fat        : 16,0 %

= 54 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


******


Essential Contour (grain-free) (for weight loss):

Protein : 33,0 %
Fat        : 13,0 %

= 54 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!! -for dogs, who have to loose weight !!!!


******


Naturea Atlantica - Salmon (grain-free) :

Protein : 25,1 %
Fat        : 7,7 %

= 67,2 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!! WOW, that is a lot !!!


******


Nuturea Naturals Adult Chicken (grain-free) :

Protein : 28,0 %
Fat        : 17,0 %

= 55 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Arion Adult Chicken & Potato (grain-free) :

Protein : 25,0 %
Fat        : 15,0 %

= 60 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!




******


Frolic Complete with Ox / med Okse (non-grain-free) :

Protein : 17,0 %
Fat        : 16,5 %

= 66,5 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Frolic Complete Mini with Poultry (non-grain-free) :

Protein : 17,0 %
Fat        : 16,5 %

= 66,5 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Carnilove Salmon & Turkey, Puppy (grain-free and potato-free) :

Protein : 38,0 %
Fat        : 20,5 %

= 42 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****


Carnilove Duck & Pheasant (grain-free and potato-free) :

Protein : 37,0 %
Fat        : 18,0 %

= 45 % Carbohydrates = Sugar !!!


*****














L-ascorbyl-2-polyphophase is an inexpensive feed-grade of vitamin C.


Menadione is synthetic vitamin K, which may be toxic to the lever and
other organs.

Thaimine mononitrate is synyenic vitamin B.

Caramel colour is an artificial food additive. A common used caramel
colouring is 4-Methylimidazole, which has been linked to lung cancer
in mice and possible leukemia in female rats.


To be updated :-)