Bakers Complete Puppy Food

[maccie75]

Hi There

I have recently moved my 5 month puppy onto Bakers as the food he was on which was Atarky he seemed to go off - and previously other dogs I have had (old english and terrier) really liked Bakers.

The thing is I am not sure if I am imagining it but he seems to be more hyper than a couple of weeks ago and wonder if changing the food had really made a difference or if he is just going through a new faze!!

I have read some threads about some foods having high levels of protein which can cause problems and wondered if anyone knew if Bakers was one of them. I used to feed my OE Eukanuba but came off this after about 18 months as was told by the vet that its great quality but can cause some behaviour problems due to its high levels of protein.

Any suggestions or help would be great - fortunately Marco is not a fussy eater but just seemed a bit bored with Atarky Puppy Complete?


Thanks

[Crazy Cocker Gang]

we call bakers bonkers 

Its full of additives and colourants.

Like feeding your kids mcdonalds and red bull everyday.

It will be having an effect on his behaviour.

The foods mainly recommended on here off the top of my head are arden grange, barking heads, healthy paws, orijen (if your rich, it costs a fortune  )

A very general guide is dont feed anything with different coloured bits in, its done to look pleasing to the human eye.

HTH

[black taz]

I would ditch Bakers immediately. I originally had Taz on Bakers as my previous dog like it (and she was fussy beyond belief) but hyper wasnt the word - i changed him to Hills Scientific and his behaviour seemed to change overnight.  There are loads of threads about alternative foods.  

[Karma]

As Crazy Cocker Gang says, it's not the protein content in Bakers which is the problem (I don't actually think it's very high), but the artificial colours etc.  

[september]

Bakers doesn't have a very high meat content and is full of all sorts of artificial nasties. 

It has taken me about 10 months to convince my mum to swap her cocker from bakers to JWB.  Now she has Lucy doesn't smell (she used to stink of smelly dog which you could smell in the house - gone now!)  and her poop is much better! 

She is a miserable thing anyway so I can't say that it has changed her behaviour!

[Scarlett]

the breeder I will take Scarlett from, gives Royal Canin & Eucanuba to her dogs.
I know & I give for years Royal to my cat...what do you think of them?

[Karma]

From what I know, Royal Canin is a good food.  Eukanuba is good quality, but I think a lot of people avoid it because of the controversy surrounding the company's stance on animal testing. 

I'm not sure about this idea that high protein foods cause hyperactivity, as it's more to do with the quality of the protein, as far as I can see.  Honey is raw fed, so she has very high protein levels in her diet!!! 

[maccie75]

Thanks for the speedy responses guys!!!! Cant believe it I thought I was imagining it but it does make sense lots of pretty colours dont just come from nature! And yes his is deffo hyper and now you come to mention it his breath and general being is a little doggiefied!!! Am binning the Bakers as we speak I still have some artarky left which is what the breeder feeds all her 5 on and the puppies during weaning so will stick with that and perhaps look into some of the other brands.

In terms of price I have to be realistic as I cannot afford some of the high cost brands for owners on a budget what would you recommend? - He also has wet food which is NatureDiet Puppy food twice a day and his dry complete is left down for him to go to as and when - he really seems to enjoy the contrast so would be keen to keep him on natures diet but just need to change his dry food.

Thanks for all your suggestions so far xx Debbie

[emilyjw]

We feed ours autarky (with a bit of meat) and find it's fine for ours. we have two fussy eaters (one of which unsuprisingly loved bakers - Bracken hasn't ever got to try it  ). We've also tried Burns (which ours weren't struck on) and James Wellbeloved (which is made by the same company as Royal Canin but is a cheaper alternative).

[K1m8]

Bakers is the worst food for your cocker, on a pare with pedigree chum! its full off additives & colours which is just like giving a child a pack of smarties! ive know customers at work who have loads of money & whilst they live the high life with nice clothes, holidays, cars etc they feed there dog bakers!!?? working with dogs at a boarding kennels people who come in and say they feed there dog on bakers really makes me & the girls angry. 

There are so many better quality foods out there JWB, Burns, Barking heads, Fortheglade. Obv it depends on your dogs needs and what food suits him best but my advice would be to get it off the bakers asap

[Joules]

I agree - I would bin the Bakers 

Naturediet is a good wet food as is Forthglade.  Before I put Coco onto raw she had a mix of ND and a dry food - either James Wellbeloved, Burns or Arden Grange.  They are all good foods without any nasties and they are fairly easy to get hold of.  There are quite a few others - just look at the list of ingredients and see what it contains. If you don't know what the ingredients are, then they are probably artificial additives 

If you want to know what some of the common ingredients used are you can look on here:  http://www.crpf.org.uk/index.php?section=535  and it will tell you what everything is 

When you are thinking about the cost, remember to bear in mind that with a good quality, higher meat content food, you don't need to feed as much as there is less rubbish and filler in it.  Some of the cheaper foods are bulked up with cereals etc which are of no benefit to a dog 

[bracken]

My Goldie was on Bakers yrs ago (I hadn't done my research then) he had 4 teeth removed when he was 2 my vet said quite possibly the food was responsible 

Have use JWB ever since 

[maccie75]

Thanks for the replies I have binned the bakers and bought some JWB which he seems to like.

I cant believe I fell into the trap of something easy to buy at the supermarket and fairly inexpensive!!! feel like I have really let Marco down as the first year is so important at least he has only had a 2kg box and not one of those huge bags!!!

Bought him two flavours in small bags of JWB and will stick with the Natures Diet as wet food.

Fingers crossed

xx Debbie

[Joules]

I cant believe I fell into the trap of something easy to buy at the supermarket and fairly inexpensive!!! feel like I have really let Marco down as the first year is so important at least he has only had a 2kg box and not one of those huge bags!!! 

Don't beat yourself up    Sounds like you are doing your best to do the best for your little fella    It really is a minefield - I never get any petfood in the supermarket these days apart from Arden Grange cat food which Waitrose sells.    You can hardly find anything in any of them that is not full of fillers and additives 

[maccie75]

Will try not to beat myself up about it - think what happened was he started on Autarky which the breeder weaned them all on and we got this for him and he was fine until about 4 months then just totally went off it. Autarky is quite hard to get as well I have only found one place in Norwich which is 20 miles away that does it so realistically it wasnt that practical to stay on it anyway.

But now have JWB and can buy that locally and its nice as it has a few different flavours to try him on.

xx Debbie