To want some genuine proof that Bakers Complete dog foods are the work of the devil?

[Jolleigh]

We've recently admitted defeat and acknowledged that we have an extremely picky dog who has, for the year we've had him, lost about a kilo since we rescued him.

He'll eat wet food without issue, but that's the expensive option and not good for his teeth. He also digests it far too quickly and ends up over eating if we keep him on that exclusively.

Most dry complete dog foods he won't touch unless he's really extremely hungry...he doesn't like anything that's too dry.

We tried him on quite a few different dry foods on the vet's advice, but a year later he's no better.

We've tried adding mixers and doggy gravies...he licks the bits he likes and leaves the rest.

We were in a tight spot as far as dog food is concerned recently and ended up having no choice but buying a Bakers Meaty Chunks complete food.

He loves it. He's eating better and is much brighter. Lovely coat.

But I've heard so many bad things about Bakers, I'm nervous to keep him on it. I can't find any actual evidence behind the word of mouth though

Mydog got the squits on bakers he spat out very expensive arden grange, hes been on chappie dry for a while now I dont think many dog owners approve of chappie because its Cheap meh if your dogs eating bakers then least hes eating

Personally, I'm of the belief that if he's happy on Bakers feed him that but gradually mix in greater proportions of a preferred feed over a long period of time. This will give time to reeducate the pallet as well as giving time for the enzymes in the digestive system to adapt.

That's what horse owners are advised to do when changing feed. Take it slowly.

If he is happy with the bakers leave him on it!!!

My mum's collies love it as does my Patterdale

People will always find "evidence" to discredit /support pretty much anything.

Zombie thread.

Personally I am not a fan of man-made processed dog food at all and much prefer to feed my dog raw meat, bones, and veg (with the occasional piece of fruit). It's much nicer to do that it sounds because you can buy packets of it, and I'm happier that he has a diet that is as natural as possible for him. I get it delivered from Albion Meats.

P.S. my dog smells lovely and never farts either!

What's wrong with Pedigree?

Mine also loves doggy junk-food aka Bakers, and will often reject the pricy, healthy dry food I try to get him to eat instead, so what I do most of the time is mix about 1/4 Bakers in with 3/4 healthy stuff and hope that tricks him into eating the lot. Sometimes he just picks out the junk and leaves the healthy stuff, though. Otherwise a small spoonful of leftovers or a sprinkle of grated cheese (not terribly healthy either) tends to make it more attractive.

I had 2 pedigree dogs, the first one was fed Bakers complete for years, she was PTS at 8 years old with severe kidney failure.

2nd dog was a rescue and came to us when Dog 1 was about 7. Dog 2 was fed Bakers for about 6 months until we were told how bad Bakers is. Dog 2 used to drink bowfulls of of water. Changed his food and he stopped drinking water like it was going out of fashion.

Dog 2 is now 11 and thriving. No problems.

Chappie is actually recommended because it is so cheap. The cheaper the tin then the less additives and shit is put in it. It is mostly bulked out with corn.

Sauvignon - the ingredients are just awful.

The largest component is unspecified cereals with only a small amount of mostly unspecified meat and animal derivatives (note derivatives, not plain 'meat', a very weaselly term encompassing any part of the carcass and any form of processing). This lack of specificity allows them to change the formula regularly according to cost - one month it may be wheat based, another maize etc, same with the meat content. Basically you can never know what is in it.

There's so little meat content that the protein level is bumped up with vegetable protein. So much of it is indigestible to the dog that many get the classic giant, soft orange shits and terrible farts.

It contains added salt, artificial preservatives (some of these very controversial, for example ones that are banned in food for human consumption, known to cause cancer in lab rats etc.) Unlike Bakers they seem to have removed the artificial colours which is good. Bakers also contains added sugar (hyperactivity, teeth).

It's not about cost or being veterinary approved or anything, some of the premium branded foods are pretty shoddy as well. IMO it's wrong to feed a dog on something so high in cereals and I think diet has a lot more to do with some itchy/colitis-y/hyperactive dogs than people may think.

What should you be looking for then?

The rescue our dog came from was being sponsored by Pedigee so I'm guessing they used it there.

Your post had me laughing for ages.....'galloping
arse gravy' will be in my verbal repertoire from
now on !!!!

Randallpinkfloyd

Your 'arse gravy' post was hilarious !! I'm randomly
smiling to myself when it pops in to my head,
which it does at inappropriate times too !!

I have a springer spaniel 7 years old and a cocker spaniel 1 year old they r very very healthy dogs and very well behaved and both have beautiful coats both on bakers meaty meals although they will both eat absolutely anything if I change their diet especially my springer he drastically loses weight very quickly while on the bakers he remains the perfect weight I will not be changing his diet again