Thinking of changing my dry dog food.

[baileyknows]

I have been feeding my Jack Russell the same food for many years and he has always had an oily coat, I assumed it was just the way he was and didn't think to much into it as he was not showing any signs of discomfort. I was then told about a dog food called "good hair day" or "Bad hair day" from a company called barkingheads. I have never seen my dog is looking so great, it should be called 10 years younger. Has anyone else tried this brand?. And if someone has can you tell me what your thought on a long term issue?.

 

[Nocturnal]

If you're going to try 'stealth' advertising, I'd use a word processor. And... you know... some stealth...

 

[smiffyimp]

Ive never heard of Barkingheads so cant comment, but dont touch Bakers, its junk food for dogs and full of more **** that a well know Burger bar!

 

[baileyknows]

Sounds like a great idea thank you for your comment. Im not quite sure what you mean lol.

 

[PooJay]

we use barking heads for my 2 pooches. Only because our local dog lady (sitter/walker/dog touch/trainer lady) recommended that we change from Bakers onto this stuff.

She said Bakers is like feeding your dogs macdonalds every day. Barking Heads is feeding a balanced diet with all the vitamins and minerals included. We feed it along side chicken (yes, i s**t you not, the dogs eat better than me) and have had no problems. It's pretty cheap as well, i think we use a 6kg bag a month, if that and it's about £25.

Both dogs get a bit squitty when they go back onto Bakers.

Hope that helps!
(and well reminded too as i need to order some more!)

 

[Oberon]

Probably best asking in the All About Dogs forum.

I feed raw so don't know about Barkingheads.

I know plenty about Bakers.

I'd rather feed my kitchen table to my dogs than that filth.

 

[baileyknows]

we use barking heads for my 2 pooches. Only because our local dog lady (sitter/walker/dog touch/trainer lady) recommended that we change from Bakers onto this stuff.

She said Bakers is like feeding your dogs macdonalds every day. Barking Heads is feeding a balanced diet with all the vitamins and minerals included. We feed it along side chicken (yes, i s**t you not, the dogs eat better than me) and have had no problems. It's pretty cheap as well, i think we use a 6kg bag a month, if that and it's about £25.

Both dogs get a bit squitty when they go back onto Bakers.

Hope that helps!
(and well reminded too as i need to order some more!)

Yes thank you that helps a lot.

 

[touchstone]

Never used Barking Heads food, but use pets at home own Wainwrights dog food which is decent quality at a reasonable price. Wouldn't feed Bakers to mine.

 

[CarolineJ]

Almost anything but Bakers, it's like stuffing a hyperactive toddler with nothing but blue Smarties!

Our springers are on Skinners Field & Trial and look fab on it.

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Wouldn't feed either to mine

Mine have raw with Skinners as a back up for when some one else is looking after them.

 

[Foxhunter49]

I only feed raw - would certainly agree that feeding the dogs the kitchen table would be better than Bakers.

The below comes from a dog food analysis page.
Highest rating is 6*

BARKINGHEADS 4*

Pros: First and third ingredients are named meat products, generally good quality ingredients
Cons: Minimum acceptable meat content

The first ingredient of this food is a named meat product. This is inclusive of water content (about 80%). Once that is removed, as it must be to create a dehydrated product, the ingredient will weigh around 20% of the wet weight. It is thus likely that in dry form this ingredient does not make up 26% of the food as suggested, but somewhere in the region of 5-6%. There is a second meat ingredient, this time in dry (meal) form third on the ingredient list and comprising at least 26% of the dry weight of the food. The total meat content is thus probably a little over 30%. This is greater than many products on the market, but still minimally acceptable.


The major ingredient in this food is rice; with oats as a secondary grain. Although more plentiful than we'd ideally like, both are good quality grains. We have no particular concerns with remaining minority ingredients.


Overall, this product appears to use good quality ingredients. Our sole concern arises from the limited meat content, which users could address by adding real meat to the diet.


BAKERS 1*

Pros: None
Cons: Inadequate meat content for feeding a canine, use of carcinogenic chemical preservatives, artificial colourants

This food receives a 1-star rating simply because there is nothing lower.


We cannot comprehend feeding a dog on a mixture of cereals and “derivatives” of animal or vegetable origin. There are no official definitions for those ingredients, and assurances that there is a minimum of 4% chicken, green vegetables and carrots in the food does nothing to decrease our horror at the idea of feeding this food to a canine.


We note that BHA, BHT and propyl gallate are chemical preservatives. The first two are known to be carcinogenic and have been banned from use in human foods in most countries for around 50 years. We would never consider feeding our pets on foods containing those chemicals. Propyl gallate is believed to cause skin irritations and gastric upsets. It is not permitted in foods for infants and small children, because of the propensity of gallates to cause blood disorders. There is no need to add artificial colourants to pet food either – some of these are believed to be carcinogenic and cause hyperactivity disorders and are banned from use in many countries. See the main page for more explanation of the dangers of chemical additives to pet foods.

 

[ihatework]

One of my local pet stroes feeds barking heads - as far as dry dog feed goes I think it's one of the better ones. I fed it to my dog for a while but he put on weight and was quite squitty so I changed to skinners field and trial which was also significantly cheaper!!!

 

[Kyo's Mum]

I swapped my old boy (now 12) to barking heads golden years food about a year ago and he is looking fab. Would not think of changing him to anything else. He is better on this than he has been on anything else we have tried inclluding Purina, James Wellbeloved and Wainrights. His joints are really good and he was growing lympomas at scary rates and they have now all but regressed!! Go for it I say xx

 

[FoxTrotx]

We feed barking heads bad hair day to ours, one with yumega as she has flaky skin. She is very shiny, fit and happy so won't be changing anytime soon.

 

[rubydog]

Blooming heckers I have just checked out that dog food analysis webpage and I am shocked my dog feed gets only 1 star - beta (purina)

 

[Dubsie]

Blooming heckers I have just checked out that dog food analysis webpage and I am shocked my dog feed gets only 1 star - beta (purina)

I am not surprised - I tried a bag of Beta Purina for our oldie (the shop was out of our normal so fortunately only bough a small bag), after gradually introducing it over a week his arthritis flared up so badly he could barely get up.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I used Beta salmon and potato as a stopgap a couple of times (he can't have high meat or cereal content) and my dog did the biggest, sloppiest, most orange poos I have ever seen.

While I see this has been flagged as stealth marketing, if anyone comes to this lately, I would urge them not to feed their dog Bakers!!

 

[Foxhunter49]

We have 13 dogs, they are fed raw meat and bones. That is all. Those that have always been fed raw never ned their teeth cleaning or anal glands emptying. None have ever been to the vet for anything but injuries.
My parents always fed the dogs raw and between my sister, parents and myself we have had 27 dogs. They all lived to be well into their teens bar two, one of those being a GSD who was born with a hole in the heart and she was 11 and the other was a rescue that developed cancer aged three. The eldest was my BC who was a fit, albeit needing a hearing aid and bifocals, 18.5 years when I had her euthanised.

Research started about 8 years ago in Holland shows that dogs fed raw and or table scraps live and average of four years longer than those fed on 'dog' food.

 

[Spiritedly]

Agree wouldn't feed my 2 Bakers! They're hyper enough!! Never heard of Barking Heads. My 2 have Skinners field and trial or raw, would feed raw all the time but I think my gsd must be one of the only dogs who gets an upset tummy if she eats too much meat !

 

[NOISYGIRL]

Well I use Barking Heads Tender Loving Care, my dog loves it, maybe cos she's called Bailey lol, I want one of those puppy toys but I only buy the small bags so can't have one Boooooo

 

[NOISYGIRL]

We have 13 dogs, they are fed raw meat and bones. That is all. Those that have always been fed raw never ned their teeth cleaning or anal glands emptying. None have ever been to the vet for anything but injuries.
My parents always fed the dogs raw and between my sister, parents and myself we have had 27 dogs. They all lived to be well into their teens bar two, one of those being a GSD who was born with a hole in the heart and she was 11 and the other was a rescue that developed cancer aged three. The eldest was my BC who was a fit, albeit needing a hearing aid and bifocals, 18.5 years when I had her euthanised.

Research started about 8 years ago in Holland shows that dogs fed raw and or table scraps live and average of four years longer than those fed on 'dog' food.

That's very interesting about the anal glands, so if you feed raw, do you feed white or red meat or mixture or what ? and what do you feed, sorry never looked into it before, must pay more attention to cinnamontoast's posts lol, I'm might seriously look into this

 

[Serephin]

There is loads of good info on raw feeding in the all about dogs forum.

I feed my pooch Natures Own raw food cubes and Fish 4 Dogs kibble - she looks good on it and no longer does farts that could clear a room.

 

[misterjinglejay]

I used to feed JW or Skinners - they seemed better on the latter, but now solely on raw and they look fab, and love it. It's also quite fun to feed as you decide what they have each day, no more boring looking kibble!

 

[indie999]

Good old chappie chicken and rice(police dogs are fed it) and mine is fine! Vet told me to stop rich foods etc. I dont like dry foods as I dont think its normal for dogs to have to drink all that water etc due to dry food etc etc. Also the dogs I know that have dry food if you gave them a bone they are always so ill or a bit of meat! Cant be doing with that.

Dont eat dry food in wild so am happy with cheap chappie...with the odd rotten rabbit leg if he finds one!!!!......he doesnt complain and is a happy cocker spaniel. Good luck.

 

[indie999]

That's very interesting about the anal glands, so if you feed raw, do you feed white or red meat or mixture or what ? and what do you feed, sorry never looked into it before, must pay more attention to cinnamontoast's posts lol, I'm might seriously look into this

No poo expert but human one! I understood dogs need to have a harder poo to stimulate the anal glands not soft poos like humans. My dog on his chappie chick/rice/ bones etc etc does do hardish poos and never has anal gland problem. If he has a soft poo moment he does get scrappy on the ground bottom! I prefer natural food not all the special dry feeds.

I did get a telling off in a pet shop about the fact that chappie was full of water! Well dog has survived 5 years perfect health no vet visits etc!

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I only feed raw - would certainly agree that feeding the dogs the kitchen table would be better than Bakers.

BAKERS 1*

Pros: None
Cons: Inadequate meat content for feeding a canine, use of carcinogenic chemical preservatives, artificial colourants

Hilarious! If only we had a like button!

must pay more attention to cinnamontoast's posts lol, I'm might seriously look into this

Fame at last! Will PM you a handy link.

There is loads of good info on raw feeding in the all about dogs forum.

Indeed there is. And I wouldn't feed any kibble other than Orijen if it was going to be the main food. TBH. Barking Heads is OK, not top notch, IMO.

 

[MiCsarah]

Mine are fed a mixture of skinners and raw (as of today) of course not on the same day though. The amount of people who have had a heartattack when I told them my dogs had a raw chicken wing for breakfast

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Mine are fed a mixture of skinners and raw (as of today) of course not on the same day though. The amount of people who have had a heartattack when I told them my dogs had a raw chicken wing for breakfast

Peoples' faces are hilarious-they think I'm mental when I show them a picture of the dogs scoffing a whole rabbit!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Agree wouldn't feed my 2 Bakers! They're hyper enough!! Never heard of Barking Heads. My 2 have Skinners field and trial or raw, would feed raw all the time but I think my gsd must be one of the only dogs who gets an upset tummy if she eats too much meat !

My older GSD cannot tolerate raw full time so he has raw days and dry days like yours, he has to have very plain, low-protein fish-based mulch or his allergies go into overdrive sad that a carnivore has evolved to not be able to tolerate high levels of good quality protein
The younger one is on raw and loves it

Indie the police dogs I know are all on raw

 

[liveryblues]

Probably best asking in the All About Dogs forum.

I feed raw so don't know about Barkingheads.

I know plenty about Bakers.

I'd rather feed my kitchen table to my dogs than that filth.

^^^same