Advice re Bakers Food Please!

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gemmafrancis

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Hi All

Just a quick one, I have always fed my dog Bakers Complete food as tinned food or any other dried food makes her get a bad tummy! She's a 3 year old english bull terrier.

However, I was recently told by the owner of my local feed place that Bakers is hard for dogs to digest as it contains cereal and that there are much better foods on the market. Has anyone else heard this and should I be worried? I now feel like I have to change her food but don't know what is best to change it to etc. My vet is no help either! She seems happy enough on Bakers though and has had no problems with her tummy since!

Any advice would be gratefully received! :-)
 
I was recently told that Bakers contains lots of additives and so is not a very good food buts its the only food my dog will eat, other foods she will only eat for a couple of days then leaves it.
 
I know some people think of Bakers as the devil's work, can't day I have ever been tempted to use it - all the colours and long list of ingredients puts me off, but it is horses for courses and dogs for grub so I am not going to say 'don't feed it, at all costs!'

We use Arden Grange hypoallergenic. In an ideal world we would feed raw, but I have been vetoed by The Boss (mumsie
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We have tried her on loads. The more I think about it the more I'm not keen on Bakers now. We rescued her so have only had her for a year and a half and I have no idea what the previous owner fed her. She is a pig though and will eat anything but I just need some advice on what is the best thing for her to be eating.
 
For dry, Beta, Feedwell, Hills. Arden Grange and Royal Canin are brands I would go for. The latter three can wind up quite expensive, though.
I know there are other brands on the mainland but I am not aware of them/have never used them.

I wouldn't change her around TOO much as I don't know how good that is for their tummies. But maybe someone with better veterinary knowledge could advise you better on that.
 
I wouldn't feed Pedigree either and since hearing JWB have been bought over by Pedigree I have stopped feeding it.

Burns, Nature Diet and Royal Canin are good foods to try for.
 
It's hard to know what to feed for the best
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I think im going to try my girl on Beta if that is a good one, but will introduce it gradually so it doesn't upset her.
 
Raw is the way to go but if you want to feed dry food. Really anything that is low in cereals and additives and has a high meat content is good.

You can go into pets at home and they do free little trial size bags that when i was feeding dry food i would just feed a few bits a treats to see if its something they would want to eat and then chose from the few that they would happily eat.
 
I have been led to believe from a "source" that Wainwrights is made for P @ H by JWB - Keep away from Bakers dry it is allegedly sprayed with syrup! Beta, Hills or Burns.
 
Is Beta expensive? As I really need a decent dog food for Beastie that doesn't cost the earth!

As I said previosuly, I have stopped buying JWB even though it was often on offer as I'm led to believe Pedigree owns it?
 
[ QUOTE ]
What other food have you tried her on? Have you tried hypoallergenic food such as Burns?

I wouldn't feed Bakers at all, it's full of additives and crap.

[/ QUOTE ]

Echo this!

My boxer's had no end of digestive problems, We've tried all sorts both cheap and expensive but moved onto Burns last year and it's truely amazing. A really good food with excellent results. He even got a bit fat which we never thought would happen as he was always a bit underweight!!
 
Our Labs are fed on Wagg, which is very cheap and seems to work fine - no runny tummies, and far less wind than when they were on the working dog mix
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My Newfoundland has numerous allergies and the first thing I did was take her off Bakers as my vet told me it was full of additives. I switched - gradually - to James Wellbeloved and have not looked back.
Having said that I had a specific problem whereas your dog is fine on Bakers. It may be best to leave well alone but if there are any probs in the future then switch.
 
We used to feed our pups baker but was told by the dog trainer it was full of additives and its high in protein which was not good for our dogs as it made them hyper! We changed them over gradually to dried chappie which is easy on their stomachs and low in protein. Plus it doesn't cost the earth! Hope you find something you and your dog like!
 
Would love to see a picture of her and what's her name...
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I feed Bakers on occasion, also Beta, Chappie and a few others with a meat meal also, though my current bitch has no issues with allergies etc. You do have to be really careful with Bullies though, once you get skin problems it can be a nightmare.
 
Like Katey said the best option is raw and if not raw then a home lightly cooked variety of human grade food.

The problem is that ANY food that is cooked and has a shelf life needs to bee cooked at high temperatures, so many nutrients are lost, most have to add vitimins and minerals back in that are destroyed by the cooking process plus preservatives and stabilisers to stop it going rotten and all the fat seeping out! The way some get round this is to "buy in" certain elements of the feed that way if someone else adds it they do not have to declare it is present in the food label.

Next is the fact that protein is expensive so bulk is added so that the feed becomes affordable. The cheaper brands use wheat derivatives to bulk out the feed, others use oats, rice and even potatoes none of which are natural for a dog to eat.

If you do feed continue feeding commercial dog food start looking at the labels and MOST important start asking questions about the labels themselves, the source of the proteins in their feed and the origin of the bulking agents they are using, I would suggest that if the company don't or won't answer you don't feed it and tell others. That way you will get the "best" (I use that loosely) possible food, considering it will be highly cooked, unaturaly dried and tedious!
 
I think Bakers is the canine equivalent of blue Smarties ! The reason dogs love it is because it is full of additives and sweet things
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I used to feed raw tripe but can no longer get it so I feed Skinners Field & Trial and raw pet mince (bone ground into it so keeps tummies good).
 
I would echo those who have said Skinners Field & Trial - hypoallergenic, less than half the price of JWB, and my two greyhounds both look fabulous on it
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Put it this way, even my mum (dog breeder for 60 years, doyenne of the Kennel Club, knows more than the rest of the world put together about feeding dogs
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) commented on how fabulous they looked and that she had never seen my dogs looking better
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Sorry Mother if you read this, that was tounge in cheek
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QR

I feed my dog Bakers Meaty Meals. Hes a fussy eater and this is one of the only foods he eats. (have tried all the "posh" brands and he stopped eating them after a few days) Hes a healthy weight, has a good coat and never has wind.
 
QR Henry is on Iams which suits him.

I wouldn't go for Bakers, I bought some of their dog treats once and Henry was climbing the walls like a two year old child with a sugar rush!

My vet told me Iams, Eukanuba, Arden Grange, Hills (though that is arm and a leg territory!) were all good to try.

Once you have found one that suits you can buy huge big bags of most food which work out a bit cheaper.
 
I have tried a few different things and currently 2 of mine are on omega, which they love (and much prefer to some of the more expensive stuff) and its 12.99 for a big sack. Then my lab is on Skinners due to his itchy skin and i echo what other people have said i think its fab so far.
the reason dogs like bakers is because its equilent to eating mcdonalds every day, i guess there is a slight amount of addiction to the colourings and additives. Ive known one to be on bakers for so long that it took sooooo long to get him off it, but bit by bit and gradually he changed over and was much better for it.
 
I hate bakers it is full of cr@p. Dogs love it but I have one bitch who goes bright red and all her hair starts dropping out as soon as she gets a sniff of it! I feed eukanuba in various varieties now, very happy with it and always wean pups to it. I also like beta (I forget why we stopped using it) and skinners field and trial (I would still feed this now but its really hard to get hold of here).
 
QR. Briliant thread thank you. Cocker has turned her nose up at Bakers for the last two weeks and as I have been on the lookout for a better diet for both ours for a while now I have read through all your comments and have a good list of new feeds to try them on.

Thank you!
 
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