New food needed - advice please

Hello, I have been feeding my 4 year old beagle baker complete dry foods like the meaty beef chunks etc. unfortunalty he went to the vet today and was told he's 5kg overweight and that the bakers stuff is very fatty and isnt good for battling puppy fat. could people recommend a good dry food for him please that will help him 'tone up' and lose the fat, i believe something higher in fibre? He does get an hours walk off the lead a day aswell

thanks

Welcome to Dogsey!

I'm sure any of the more 'premium' dried foods will be fine - James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange, Burns etc...

Although they seem more expensive than Bakers (which is full of rubbish!), you won't need to feed as much, and the quality is much better

For shifting the weight Burns is quite good. But any brands light food.
As a general rule I avoid anything which is coloured. I always think it is coloured for the owners benefit not the dogs and is not needed.
Also anything with 20% or less protein (for dry foods) is a good guide, as any more is not really needed and decent brands/products know this and so only use this much.

Lots of talk on here about raw food and how good that it, maybe an idea? Not for everyone though.

Slightly cheaper is Wainwrights, sold by pets at home. Heard good things about it, but I prefer Burns for my lad, keeps him nice and trim and in good shape. Plus never has runs which he did often on Bakers... Yes I'm ashamed

I recommend Skinners as a good quality cheaper option. They do a very good complete dog food. My lot all eat Skinner Salmon and rice and love it... Just be careful with the daily amounts...

I have large breeds and they only need one scoop of the skinners food, (they had two of my old type before I changed over) which seems like a tiny amount, but they are all in very good shape so it must be right!

Raw food is, indeed, a very good way of keeping dogs fit and for keeping an ideal weight. If you want to look into that, try the Brit Barf yahoo group and read the threads on here.

There are two main methods, the Prey Model which is mainly meat bones and offal, and BARF which includes liquidised raw veg. I started on prey model but over the winter my dog put on a few pounds,. My sister feeds BARF so, copying her, I started adding liquidised veg to every meal. Not only did he lose weight easily (as you can reduce the meat and use veg to bulk out the meal) but I found it vastly improved his 'output'. So, clearly some dogs really benefit from the veg addition.

It isn't for everyone as said, but I wouldn't go back to feeding commercial food now, and it doesn't have to be expensive either.

I will always recommend fish4dogs however it is expensive, below that i go James Wellbeloved (Wainwrights is the same but pets at homes own brand - James is cheaper as you feed less of it).
The better foods are usually more expensive as you feed much less of it, if money is an issue i recommend Chappie or CSJ (my dog's about to go on CSJ) and these two brands are cheaper than Bakers and better for them
With CSJ i recommend the That'll do (in their original range) as there is over 20% meat in and not many fillers

So a dog doesnt need anthing more than 20% protein? Do you mean that anything higher isnt metabolised/digested?

My boy is on Orijen at present for his dry and thats 40%

It certainly wont necessarily need more fibre for a dog to lose weight. What your vet is talking about is the fact that you feed a low quality protein diet that is full of fat and extras the dog does not need.

Try to look for foods that have a named protein first on the list in meal form, so 'chicken meat meal' or 'salmon meal' If you go for a weight loss food it may be second on the list.

This is a sign of a good quality food and the 'meal' should be at least 20% of the food. (remember named protein not just animal derivatives etc) Dogs need good quality protein to provide energy, muscle, ligament repair etc

Personally I prefer to feed a raw diet for many reasons however if you feel a dry food is more practical for you and your dog, try to stay with the higher quality foods, they may be more expensive initially but will last longer and hopefully keep your dog in better condition/health, so far better value.

If possible then I would;
* try to get him on a better food (Orijen, Arden Grange, Acana, Fish4dogs etc Skinners foods are not bad and reasonably cheap/good value if you dont mind feeding grain) Some are grain free, others arent but most foods in that class will be better than Bakers!)

* try to play with him more in short bursts

* add to his exercise in the form of some short 15 min walks (on top of his usual 1 hour walk)

* make sure not to feed a lot of whichever food you choose, most other foods, you probably need to feed half of what you fed on Bakers to maintain weight never mind lose it. I'd also feed twice a day.

This is all just what I would do though...

If thats the case then I do not agree. Dogs do not need carbs but they do need good quality animal/meat protein.

My boy gets Wainwrights salmon/potato. Its excellent food. We saw vet recently for a booster & vet said he was in fantastic shape / really nice dog!

My next choice would be Wafcol salmon/potato / slightly more expensive but a great food

In theory any excess is excreted in urine... It's peed out or is transferred into energy (calories/sugars) however you want to think about it. So if your dog has kidney problems or is over weight then a diet lower in protein is better suited.
I'm not going to pretend that I have a great understanding of dog nutrition but from the research I have done (spent many many many many hours searching the net, asking vets, behaviourists and owners) the conclusion I have come to is 18-20% is about right for an adult, upto 22% for puppies or pregnant/lactating bitches.

Higher for working dogs, or dogs that are exercised lots and lots. I don't mean a walk on lead with you, or a run around the park, I mean spending all day thinking, moving and doing. Which is why some brands go much higher.

Some dogs have problems with the excess protein, some people believe that it can cause hyperness before the body is able to get rid of it/store it, while others don't. I haven't really seen evidence for or against and this is what I'm still working on finding out.

There are many different types of amino acids (proteins) and the dogs body can create some of these but not all. I have read that dogs need 9 or 10 of these and a diet which doesn't contain all of these in the right amounts then this can effect the dog in various ways, as the body strips itself for those it needs. So if a food contains all the needed proteins in the right amounts this may work out at about 20% of the food. The best source of protein is apparently eggs, but not great for dogs to eat all the time... I don't really understand how it works.

I'm sure there are many people on here that can explain it better and will be sure they know what they are talking about opposed to me spitting out lots of second hand stuff which I hope is right