Help...my 2 labs struggle to eat dry complete dog food and I end up adding gravy but this cannot be good for them....I have tried allsorts of food - including Skinners and Arden Grange but they turn their nose up at it - more so the black one he won't touch it.

I ran out of dog food so nipped to the local shop all they had was Bakers Complete - they loved it......Unfortunately I have heard a couple of not so good things about it - that it is full of E numbers and not so nutritious.

Can anybody either comment on the Bakers good or bad OR let me know something that looks like the bakers ie more colourful - they seem to like the different colours and shapes.

Thanks:

Gravy is not a good idea as it's normally salty. Have you thought of adding a wet food with the dry?

Dogs do not see colours the way we do, the colouration is mainly for human consumption. One of the greatest cons the pet food manufacturers like to pull is to "humanize" dog food.

In terms of good food look at The Dry Dog Food Index and the ingredients. You should notice higher meat content for the better foods and less "filler" material which has little if any nutritional value for a carnivore.

This brings me to the main point however. Chopping and changing food will only produce more fussy dogs. The way to stop this is called tough love. Put bowl down. 15 or 20 minutes later it goes away. If the dog does not eat, the dog goes hungry. No treats or replacement meal. It is actually far harder on the owner than the dog if they do not eat. It may take several days before the dog will eat whatever is put down.

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have you thought about feeding a complete wet food? dogs that are fussy with dry food tend to love wet food as its more meaty, its smelly and tasty.

I feed Natures Harvest to my dog. It has 78% meat content, and good quality wet food such as Naturediet, Naturemenu and Wainwrights have similar meat content.

Bakers is a horrible food, its got lots of E numbers and has very small amount of meat content.

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I OWN A CHOCOLATE ROAN COCKER SPANIEL
RIP David xx Run free at the bridge. Love you always xx 19th February 2011
RIP Jack and Mickey xx Run free at the bridge. Love you forever xx 20th June 2011

Hi,
Have you tried adding a bit of good quality wet to their kibble? Wainwrights trays from Pets at Home are reasonably priced and if you mix a chunk with some water and then mix in the kibble, that would act as gravy, be much healthier and cost effective too.

I fell into the trap of changing kibbles because my pup went off them and she ended up with a poorly tummy as a result. That said, when I put her onto wet food, she's never refused a meal.

Hope you find something that works

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"Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own”

Poor doggies - give them some nice meaty bones and see them flourish.

Some raw oily fish fed once or twice a week will over the course of two to three months show in a brilliant polished fur coat.

BARF

Hi,
Just to let you know my dogs have eaten bakers for a very long time...not anymore though.it is basically full of **** and poisons.even euthanised animals are put into this stuff,and e colours,the likes of which I never knew existed....my 2 will not be eating this again.

I think you should definitely try a better wet food - most dog foods offer a dry kibble and an equivalent wet food.

Charlie had butchers puppy or something for a few days when he was younger. He loved it. But that doesn't mean I'd keep feeding it to him. Kids would love a diet of chocolate and ice-cream but we all know thats not gonna happen!

I feed a mix of about 70% wet with 30% biscuits as Charlie didn't like all wet or all dry in his bowl.

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I am the last person in this solar system to defend tinned pet "food", but the euthanised animals is no longer true.

Some e-numbers are natural foods, and you will find them listed under different names in some products seeking to spin their marketing. Also any heat treated "food" will have additives to compensate for the losses due to processing.

Any tinned jelly and kibble based diet will be surpassed by feeding BARF - better for the dog - better for your bank balance.

No disrespect to your point of view, I would agree if your dog will eat a wide enough variety of raw food and you can get it cheaply but personally I'm struggling on both fronts.