What is wrong with bakers?

[Crawling]

Does anyone have any links? or can tell me how they know it is bad? we dont use it so this is purely for curiosity. Also what about pedigree chum? are there any supermarket brands which are good? I know IAMS is bad and why that is.

Just had a look at the ingredients for Chudleys as I wasn't familiar with it:

Wheat, chicken meat meal, maize, glucose syrup, chicken fat, wheat feed, peas, unmolassed beet pulp, chicken liver meal, dicalcium phosphate, soya oil, salmon oil, de-hulled soya bean, prairie meal, salt, yeast, potassium chloride, carrots, blackcurrant extract, charcoal, fructose oligosaccharides, with EC permitted antioxidants; mixed tocopherols, vitamin C and rosemary extract. With EC permitted colours, sunset yellow and ponceau 4R red.

Glucose syrup (sugar!) has no place in dog food. Neither does salt and added colours. Grain content not ideal, especially the wheat (two kinds), maize and prairie meal.

I will bow out now before people get seriously bored and pissed off with my ranting about dog food. I just ask that people take an objective look at what they are feeding to their dogs.

I need advice on my pup's food. I feed him wainwrights from pets at home but just lately, he is refusing to eat it. Today, he didn't eat any at breakfast time so I removed it and this evening he ate half if it,

I'm going PAH tomorrow as he is almost out of food but do I stick to what I've been buying or would it be best to give him a change of food? He isn't skinny so I know he won't starve, I'd prefer him to be eating though.

Ours eats Bakers without side effects. He's 11 & teeth are great. (Had check up & vaccs today.) Vet said colours unnecessary but better than many other brands.

Have got to say huge no to Arden Grange. Breeder had him on that as a young dog & recommended it. Caused eye problems which took 6 months to clear after coming off it.

Thesse 2 independent websites have very good info about dog food

www.Dogfoodanalysis.com read about bakers on this one makes me laugh, then go to the 5 and 6 stars, you feed less of foods without cereals so cost wise isn't to bad.
www.thedogfoodproject

Hope this helps, I like Acana, suits my whole pack and my springer isn't hyper on it!
I have a friend who is a dog handler and thats what they feed all the dogs. :)

where can you buy naturediet wetfood?

thanks to everyone for info, it's very interesting - you're not waffling!

We give Pero organic dry food usually, or Arden Grange if we can't get the Pero (only one supermarket around here seems to sell it). I thought this was fairly good quality food, but that dog food analysis site criticises it for low meat content.

I'm going to look into alternatives. One interesting thing is that we have to keep portion sizes quite small for our dog, as he's prone to getting overweight (not good as he's getting older and has a bit of arthritis) - but the poor thing does seem really starving hungry all the time. I'm wondering if a diet with higher meat/protein content would make him feel more satisfied and full with the same calorie intake (apparently it does in humans, as that's partly how all those low-carb diets work).

On the other hand I'm a bit reluctant to change as he tends to have sensitive stomach and at least the current food doesn't make him sick...

I have just bought some food that a local dog training group have packaged up for their own dogs.

I went along to a trial dog training session and they absolutely pulled apart the supermarket products, but claimed theirs was fantastic and far better than most.

Would anyone care to have a look at the ingredients and tell me what they think?

Rice (min 26%), Turkey meal (min 26%), Oats, Barley, Linseed, Lucerne, Refined poultry fat, Monosodium Phosphate, Seaweed, Minerals, Vitamins.

Protein 21%
Oil 10%
Fibre 4%
Ash 7.5%

• Vit A, D3, E, Copper

It costs £31 for 15 kgs.

Thankyou

It could be a lot better but there's certainly a lot worse! If it agrees with your dogs it's fine. Skinners (duck/salmon and rice only) has a very similar ingredients list though and is £22 per 15kg (VAT-free as it's marketed as a working dog food).

baskingseals, you can buy Naturediet at Pets at Home and also at a lot of country stores (Countrywide etc).

Ephiny - have you considered a raw diet? Bone acts as a natural bulking agent and leaves them feeling full and satisfied.

Smarties for dogs!

To Kormacha

He got very cloudy eyes under age of 2. Vet very surprised at state for age. No obvious cause except poor nutrition. Took him off Arden Grange, no other change nor any meds & 6 months later bright eyes. Still clear now 8 years on.

As a guide ingredients have to be listed in the highest amount in the bag first. Dogs need plenty of meat and don't need carbs in the way we do.
I feed Acana, there is plenty of other good foods out there.

Says it all. One has 60% meat - 33% protein the other 8% meat - 23% protein and lots of 'various' things.
Bakers don't even list what meat is in the food.

Acana

Chicken meal, russet potato, boneless chicken, boneless walleye, whitefish meal*, peas, chicken fat (naturally preserved with vitamin E), sun-cured alfafa, chicken liver, boneless lake whitefish, whole eggs, salmon oil, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, turnip greens, tomatoes, carrots, apples, organic kelp, cranberries, blueberries, juniper berries, blackcurrants, chicory root, licorice root, angelica roots, fenugreek, marigold flowers, lavender flowers, summer savory, rosemary,

Bakers

Ingredients
Cereals, Meat and animal derivatives (Minimum 4% fresh meat in the soft moist kernel, minimum 4% beef in the natural and brown kernels), Vegetable protein extracts, Oils and fats, Derivatives of vegetable origin (0.5% beet pulp in the natural and brown kernels), Various sugars, Minerals, Vegetables (minimum 4% vegetables in the green and yellow kernels). With antioxidants, coloured with and preserved with EC additives.

The reason Bakers don't list what meat or cereals they use is because it changes depending on what is cheaper to buy at the time.

hephaestus, I will look into the raw diet, have heard a bit about this and I know some people swear by it. Have to admit though I prefer the idea of bags of dry kibble to having lots of animal parts and bones around the place! especially as all humans in the house are veggie so not used to handling/storing raw meat, and I don't even like walking down the meat aisle in the supermarket. Dog would probably love it though...

Ephiny, pray you don't ever come to visit me. I found a chicken wing behind the sofa cushion the other day. Fridge and freezer full of bits of animals including wiggly offally bits and carcasses, probably not the best if you are squeamish!

Agree shineon, Fish4Dogs is good stuff. For kibble.

Dog would love your house though, can just imagine him rooting around for a stray chicken wing!

The Fish4Dogs kibble sounds good, it's expensive though...

My dog has Baker's, her poos are fine

The fish4dogs mouse is on offer at the moment, I got an email from them today. I think you get 45 pouches for £22 and get 45 pouches free.

I got my pup some waggs today and he literally gobbled it up. I haven't seen him eat so well in ages.

if we run out of normal food, we sometimes have to run to the offy to get Baker's for our staffs

I see it as the equivalent of getting battered sausage and chips for the kids when the cupboards are bare. They love it, but tis a one off

...farts and shits are grisly as well, ime

Been told Wagg is pretty nasty stuff too! We feel our dog Barking Heads - it's one of the best we've found for a decent price and has a high meat content.

*feed, obviously

Just wondering what you would all do if you ran out of food while waiting for a delivery and had to buy something from a supermarket?

I'm totally disorganised and deliveries never arrive when they are supposed to so it's happened to me more than once. Most of the time I'll buy brown rice and minced turkey or beef. But recently I had dry royal canin and just needed something to top it off so instead of meat or gravy I bought a pedigree pouch. Big mistake! The diarrhea was awful the next day.

I'm also interested to know how other dogs get on with raw food? I've tried it once but again we had diarrhea so I've stuck to feeding him rare red meat (but well cooked pork and poultry)

we get in bulk from here, including naturediet which is the cheapest place I have found it here