Normally, I do not pick sides in my blog posts when it comes to brands and products. But their comes a time when every man needs to draw a line in the sand. It's proven that Dr. Tim Hunt makes what many, including this guy, believes is the very best premium athletetic dog food in the world. I would reckon there are folks from all sorts of canine athletic walks of life that would echo my sentiment. Just the other day I received an email from a reader who asked some great questions concerning his American Water Spaniel.
Reader's question...
Hello and good morning! I stumbled upon your blog this morning while doing my own research for advice and information pertaining to my dogs nutrition. I have a soon to be three year old American Water Spaniel that is currently being fed XXX dog food and prior to that WWW. I choose these food because they are locally made and have been a trusted brand in my family. However, my dog lacks energy when out hunting and while training. I have had his blood work tested and everything is perfect, therefore my vet and I agreed it could be food related. He has no aversions to grains or proteins either. I therefore concluded that the food simply lacks enough calories or is too low in protein. Am I right in my conclusion? And if so do you have a recommendation for both a protein to fat ratio as well as how many calories per day he should receive. He currently gets no more than 1 3/4 cups per day at about 400 calories per cup. I would also be interested in your thoughts on a specific brand of food. It seems as if there is a huge push away from corn, wheat, soy, glutens, etc. However it also seems that the majority of trialers, breeders, and professionals feed XXX and WWW alike, and foods that include those ingredients. I am not averse to either formula of food personally. I certainly would appreciate a nudge in the right direction. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for your help. Your blog is a great resource for information! All the Best! -Kevin
My response...
Kevin, First off, thank you very much for taking the time to contact me. But most importantly, thanks for caring for the health and wellbeing of your American Water Spaniel. You bring up some great questions and concerns. Hopefully I can help. You're currently feeding good foods but ones that lack the neccessary daily caloric intake your canine athlete requires. Without the needed calories, energy and stamina tends to suffer. It's also a weird dog food world we live in. XXX and WWW have cornerstoned the sporting dog marketing world. Big business has a way of doing such things. Those companies, with vast sums of advertising money, can easily control and manipulate the way field trailers, professionals, kennel owners, and breeders support their brand. Believe me, I fed XXX for years and was a die hard advocate until I really had that life moment when I stepped back and took the time to understand what I was actually feeding my dogs! The field trail world is sort of like NASCAR where everyone, by regulation, must run Goodyear tires and Shell gas. Trialers tend to breed, raise, train, and run their dogs with the same NASCAR mentatily. By no means makes them bad foods.In fact, They are good foods but far from great. Unfortunately, sponsorship may pay their bills to play man games with gun dogs! Personally, I would tell you to check out Dr. Tim's Momentum Formula. His food is like Perelli tires and Nitrous Oxide gas when it comes to fuel for canine athletes. It is HIGHLY digestible, aka food burns hotter and brighter in your dogs coal stove(stomach). At 588kcal per cup of Dr. Tim's Momentum you will feed the same as you are and have and your spaniel digesting more completely and his field energy will surely increase! It's a food made by a Vet who actually cares and is made specifially for real canine athletes. Outside of all this food talk... Please make sure you're giving your spaniel good, clean, purified, water to drink. Nothing in this world can help a dog's long term health more than fresh, crystal clear water! Thanks again and hope all is well!
Best of luck out there. -Mark
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