Okay, so Peter and I are out shopping with the big guys in tow (Chance & Steeler of course) and while in Ollie’s Peter came upon the dog aisle as I meandered around the rest of the store looking for more crap to spend my hard earned cash on. Suddenly I neared the dog (okay a bit prejudiced); pet aisle and I heard his voice.
“Hey, sally, look at this.” Pete said holding up a bottle of what appeared to be water with a picture of a dog on it.
“What the heck is that?” I asked.
“Bottled water for dogs! With flavoring!” He said with such enthusiasm like we really had to have it.
‘Tsss.” I said with a wave of my hand as only I can do. (well, me and every other wife in the world) “We don’t need that, put it back.”
Flavored water for a dog, what will they think of next? I mumbled. After all, my hard earned money needed to go to good crap, crap for me! Crap that may or may not last more than a week!
But as I wandered through the aisles I came across cases and cases of bottled water for dogs and then I could not resist. Temptation grabbed my hand and made me pick up a bottle of this flavored water and read the label. Hmm, amino acids, electrolytes, vitamins and minerals listed right on the front of the bottle! It was the electrolytes that sold me. So for 99 cents I bought a bottle. Let’s not go crazy now; to buy a case would be wasteful if they didn’t like it! The bottle said, “It could be served as a treat or water replacement in conjunction with a healthy diet.” Having gotten only one 32 oz bottle I decided to serve it as a treat. After all, for a water replacement I‘d have to buy five gallons to cover a days water intake by all my Newfs!
Mom Abby and daughter Emma are my picky eaters and there are occasions where they may turn their noses up and not eat the full meal given, which can lead to guarding if I don’t pick up the bowls right away, and trust me, with my mind, well let’s just say sometimes I forget to pick up a dish or two after feeding. So I started to add the flavored water into their food to see if they would;
(A) Leave any morsels behind,
(B) Continue their pattern of, maybe I’ll eat it, maybe I won’t, or
(C) Eat the whole kit and caboodle at one sitting.
As stated earlier, it was the electrolytes that sucked me in because I give a lot of advice daily on dogs which have been vomiting and having diarrhea. I find myself endlessly telling owners to pinch the skin above the shoulder to see if the dog is dehydrated and then I suggest they give their dog children’s Pedialyte to keep up the electrolytes and help with any dehydration. So, my mind definitely pondered as I read the bottle of this enhanced dog water.
Could there be something tastier and as easily accessible out there for consumers other than children’s Pedialyte to help with this?
The bottle I purchased was called ‘Water Exercise Recovery’ and I found out later that there are three different types of water the company makes. I chose this bottle not because I was an informed consumer, no, that would be too easy, but because I did not fully see the label before buying the item so I thought they were all just flavored water!
This is a great reason to always have your reading glasses with you when shopping! I should have learned that lesson when I recently picked out and used my latest hair dye!
My general consensus is that the water did seem to have the dogs eat their full meal at once, no leftovers, and the ingredients are there for dehydration. I would however, still like to check out the ‘Hip and Joint’ or the ‘Healthy Aging’ since my guys are getting up in age.
On another note, I noticed when I mixed just a little of this bottled water in with the regular water that my males drink, they hardly touched the water at all. In a way this is good because it makes my job of filling up the bowl ten times a day much easier, but not real healthy over all for them. We drink to live and live to drink!
So I would suggest to you, my compadre’s, giving it a try both ways. If you have a picky eater it may help that situation.
But like ‘Everything Dog’, regulations of food, treat products, and toys are poor, so I suspect that it will just be a matter of time before something goes wrong when more manufacturers produce this for dogs and cut corners to make that extra buck.
'Our Hero enhanced flavored water" by century foods has three different varieties ,
1) Water for healthy aging,
2) Water hip and joint
3) Water exercise recovery.
(I am personally waiting to see if they come out with "water for menapausal and cranky bitches")
Well, until next time dawgs, have a drink on me or for me! Your choice!
(Brief on Electrolytes)
Electrolytes exist as solutions of acids, bases, or salts. These solutions are normally formed when a type of salt is placed into a liquid such as water, and it dissolves into its component elements. Primary ions of electrolytes: sodium, potassium, calcium, hydrogen phosphate and hydrogen carbonate. Of course electrolytes as we all know are important for hydration and are critical for nerve and muscle function. (Probably why we get muscle cramping when we are dehydrated.)
Below you’ll find some of the ingredients in Our Hero Dog water.
Ingredients: water, whey protein concentrate, phosphoric acid, Potassium citrate, calcium lactate gluconate, potassium sorbate , natural and artificial flavors, magnesium gluconate, nacinamid, thiamine mononitrite, pyridoxide, hydrochloride.
crude protein,(min) 1.0% moisture (99.5%)I soleucine min 0.05% leucine min 0.09% calcium min 0.01% phosphorus min 0.09% potassium min. 0.001% thiamine min. 0.3 mg/kg chloride min 0.010% magnesium 0.001% niacin 22 mg/kg ,pyridoxine min 0.2 mg kg
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