| Country of origin | Australia |
| Available from | Woolworths |
Baxters can be found on the shelves of Woolworths as one of their own brands (read our post on phantom brands). For our Woolworths Baxters Dog Food Review we’ll take a look at the With Real Chicken and Rice formula, but they’re all fundamentally the same and equally as bad.
⚠️Baxters Dog & Cat Food Warning
26/07/2017 Pet Food Reviews has heard in excess of 80 reports of dogs being sick after eating Baxters. It’s worth reading the consumer comments on the following Facebook posts here, here, and here.
The following video shows Izzy, who having been fed Woolworths Baxters became very lethargic, unable to walk, difficulty breathing, pain, and diarrhoea. This coincides with many reports of sickness with dogs having been fed Woolworths Baxters dog food.
Baxters dog food review
What the marketing says
I’ll quote the Woolworths website directly – “Baxter’s Adult Food is specifically formulated to aid digestions”. Seriously, they can’t even get their grammar correct. I think they mean “aid digestion”, but looking at the ingredients and all the terrible feedback that doesn’t seem to ring true.
What the marketing doesn’t say is this is a home brand which should probably be labelled as such, but Woolworths have it made to look like a glossy commercial brand. If you look at all the dog foods in the dog food aisle you simply wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from the surrounding commercial brands. Tricky, eh?
Warnings from the Woolworths Baxters dog food page!
For the many who have suffered very sick dogs having eaten Baxters dog foods, Woolworths have offered a robot reply saying the product is safe and yada yada yada, but on their website they have “get out clause” warnings:
A dog may have a sensitive stomach, but they may only have a sensitive stomach to a dog food product which is made from very poor quality and possibly harmful ingredients. You decide.
What the labelling really says
When we see the word “With” on the packaging it means the food has to contain the ingredient, but it doesn’t need to be much. When we see “With Chicken” it means there’ll be a very small amount of chicken in the food as a whole, but not enough to justify it being written in UPPERCASE on the front of the packet. It’s one of the ways marketing deceives us into believing a product is something which it’s not. They shouldn’t be allowed to do this. It’s deceiving, and in my opinion dishonest.
The first ingredient in the food happens to be meat and meat by-products derived from beef and poultry, so not exactly the chicken they’re saying it is. This is the cheapest and nastiest inclusion of meat in a pet food, and it won’t look palatable if you saw what was in it. What I expect we’re looking at is remnants of animal carcasses and offal once anything of value has been extracted and sold off for human consumption. Carcasses, bones, offal, tumours, and “bonus” protein sources such as undeveloped eggs and maggots are common in an ingredient such as this. There’ll be some form of chicken in there too to justify the label.
If you’re not already put off then the 2nd ingredient (which is probably an equal proportion to the first ingredient) doesn’t get much better. Cereal and cereal by-products will have little nutritional merit, especially the cereal by-products. It’s derived from wheat, the number one most problematic grain when it comes to allergies, dry and flaky skin, lethargy, and bloat. Cereal by-products are often referred to as “floor sweepings” in the pet food and grain industries, for good reason. Manufacturers can argue this has nutritional merit, but a more accurate assessment is it’s very cheap per tonne and would otherwise be a waste product. It’s high in carbs, harsh on digestion, and far from species appropriate for a carnivorous animal.
We estimate at least 50% carbohydrates. That’s bad.
The 3rd ingredient, Tallow, is found in many foods on the cheap side of the scale. It’s the fatty residue from cooking up a mixture of animal carcasses and by-products. I could show you a video of tallow being made, but you’d likely gag and it may ruin your day.
So is there anything good in the food? Well yes… peas. But that said I’m sure they’re included here as a cheap way to bump up the lackluster protein percentage of 22%.
It’s interesting to see bentonite included, a clay substance that aids digestion, bloating, gas, skin complaints, vomiting, and diarrhea. I would assume this is included to mask the side-effects of feeding the food? Out of all the foods reviewed on this website, only one other manufacturer uses bentonite, and they make terrible dog food as well (because they’re a milling company, not a dog food company).
Potassium chloride is used to add potassium to the food but also to balance the pH of a poorly formulated food. We find it in a number of foods in small amounts. I’ll reference a few points here in relation to the many reports I’ve received of dogs being sick after eating Baxters and the symptoms which have occurred:
“Trace Minerals (Potassium Chloride) (1 stars) found in 4% of pet food products analysed. Source of potassium to balance pH, small intestinal ulcers may occur, indicates lack of well-rounded supplementation” ~ Cooperative report between food formulator Dr. Lisa Newman N.D. Ph.D (www.azmira.com), Mike Adams (www.healthranger.org) and the non-profit Consumer Wellness Centre (www.consumerwellness.org).
Potassium chloride is “used to cause cardiac arrest as the third drug in the ‘three drug cocktail’ for executions by lethal injection” ~ Wikipedia.org
“Potassium supplements may result in these side effects – muscle weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite” ~ PetMD.com Note: This is in relation to supplement tablets for dogs suffering chronic kidney conditions or kidney failure, but I note it here as the effects are inline with many reports I’ve received of sick dogs eating this food.
Woolworths Baxters dog food review summary
Still reading? Don’t buy this food. Woolworths should be ashamed for selling Baxters. It’s a terrible dog food with such an awful reputation.
From a composition aspect the food is very high in carbohydrates (known to be harmful to be dogs), and very low in fat (don’t take this as a good thing, dogs efficiently digest animal fats for nutrients and energy).
If our Baxters dog food review has helped, or if your dog has been sick after eating Baxters dog food, then please let us know, either by comment below or message us on our Facebook page.
Where to buy Woolworths Baxters?
The term “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” comes to mind. It’s on the shelves of Woolworths, and we recommend you leave it right where it is.
Avoid the other Woolworths home brand as well – Woolworths Essentials. It’s made by the same manufacturer, Australian Pet Brands.
Ingredients of Woolworths Baxters Dog Food
The ingredients of Woolworths Baxters dog food are as follows:
Meat and Meat by-products (derived from beef and poultry), Cereal and Cereal by-products (derived from wheat), Tallow (derived from poultry and/or beef), Peas, Bentonite, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Essential vitamins and minerals, Whole Linseed, Beet Pulp, Preservatives and Antioxidants.
Guaranteed Analysis of Woolworths Baxters Dog Food
The guaranteed analysis of Woolworths Baxters dog food are as follows:
| Protein | (min) 22% |
| Fat | (min) 10% |
| Crude Fibre | (max) 3% |
| Carbohydrates * | Estimated 50% |
If our Woolworths Baxters dog food review has informed you, please share it to help others – thank you.
Very Interesting!
Would their oven baked doggy biscuits be in the same catagory?
Thanks, John
Hi John, I expect the Baxters dog biscuits are made by the same manufacturer but I can’t confirm. However, given the low protein and fat percentage you can expect the first ingredient of wheat flour to be the most significant ingredient. Sugar as well. As a canine nutritionist I couldn’t recommend them on a nutritional basis, and boiled chicken would probably be a better bet as a training treat.
Thank you for writing & sharing this informative article. We gave our dog this product maybe about 3 times and have noticed a significant decline in her mood and energy. I came online to search for a review on this product and you’ve surpassed my expectations. Just today I said to my partner, let’s stop giving her this & see if she improves. We will be doing just this. So sad to read the lack of care gone into a product. Thank you
Omg. BAXTERS! Our poor nostrils and our poor 7month old puppy’s stomach.
This food is definitely not agreeing with her, it is giving her constant wind that is permiating everything.
And I’m sure giving her a complex…
Will not be using again.
What is the healthiest dog food for senior dogs
Our Pup cannot tolerate many of the Baxters Range. He will not even eat the ‘treats’
Baxters Range is bloody rubbish
Smart doggo.
i would like to know why it is so hard to get your products as my dog has treats plus dog bones for breakfast and they hard to get at moment
Hi David, this is only a review of Baxters. If Woolworths don’t have any in stock you would need to ask them (it’s a Woolworths home brand). Although it’s worth reading this review…
Dog poo had blood in it just after 2 feeds looked online to my shock this stuff can kill your dog.
Don’t buy this brand whatever you do.
How has this not been recalled with the amount of bad reviews
Hi Michael, can you report the issue here please – https://www.apog.com.au/recall-issue-log/woolworths-baxters/
Thank you
I’m worried that our border collie dog died as baxters wet food is what he ate. He bleed internally and died. And there were no other foods we gave him. Could the wet food be as bad as the dry food. I wish I seen this sooner our poor dog was in so much pain for four days. We tried everything to save him with blood transfusions etc and even a chemo drug. We had to make the dreadful decision to put him to sleep on day four.
Hi M B,
Firstly I’m very very sorry for your loss.
Whether the Baxters was the cause or any other factors like age, other food, illness etc is always very hard to ascertain. I highly recommend you add as much information to the Woolworths Baxters log on the APOG website – https://www.apog.com.au/recall-issue-log/woolworths-baxters/
What a lovely products. Opened a tin for my guys after Xmas. Found plastic. Rang and spoke to someone. We will get back to you. Over a week ago. Last night opened a tin. Gave some not much with dry food. Tonight, went to feed them the bloody inside, mould. And yes had a cover and in the fridge. Got pictures and expires 2025. Avoid this product.
Hi Noel, feel free to add pictures of the plastic and mould if you can.
Avoid this food, even when I shop at Woolies & I see people with Baxter products in their trolleys, I can’t help but warn them off buying this product for their pets, it should be banded in Australia!
My dog was sick from this food!
This is horrifying.. do people know if it’s a reaction directly to the food… or is it because dog food changes need to be slowly transitioned?
I had been feeding my German Shepherd Baxters foor for going on a year and all she did was itch scratch herself to pieces i took her to the vet she had NO fleas NO mites NO bugs what so ever. My vet suggested i changed food so i did and withing 2 weeks her itch was completely gone and all i did was change from Baxters to Natures Gift. I do believe Baxters was the problem and the evidence supports it.
Most likely caused by wheat as the most problematic grain. Poorer quality wheat sources can contain mites which are often the real cause of the allergy.
Hi Kalissa,
when a dog has food sensitivities they can itch scratch, red paws & have sloppy poo, you need to work out what ingredient she is sensitive too, keep a diary, I’d say she was sensitive to Wheat or another cereal by-product used in the Baxters cause Baxters doesn’t list which Cereals they use it’s hard to say what ingredient she’s sensitive too, have a look at “Nature Goodness” grain free it’s on special this week at Coles for $12 they have 2 formula’s, Chicken & Duck with Garden Vegetables & Wild Game with Sweet Potato. try the Wild Game with Sweet Potatoes formula its chicken free, Baxter used Poultry by product meat, she may have been sensitive to chicken, I also feed Natures Goodness wet can food there’s 3 formula’s….Natures Goodness is made at the same place where “Ivory Coat” is made & Nature’s Goodness is 1/2 the price….
another good supermarket pet food is “Applaws” it’s all good, Applaws has 3 formula’s, get a bag when it’s on special, I rotate between a few different brands this way your dog isn’t eating the same brand 24/7 & if something is wrong with 1 brand your changing foods & your dog isn’t eating the same brand long enough to become unwell…also get some “Malaseb” medicated shampoo, it’s excellent for itchy, yeasty dry skin, Malaseb is sold online or pet shops, a small bottle last a while, I bath my boy 7-10 days, he has seasonal environment allergies & food sensitivies to chicken, barley, tapioca, corn gluten meal, oats, there’s probably more ingredients he can’t eat..
after spending over 600 in tests at my dogs vet he has been cleared of Cushings disease and indeed it must be that bloody Baxters dog food. It gave him exactly the same symptong as Cushings. Loss of fur, frequence in drinking and urinating. Black blotches on his skin. Bloated belly. THIS FOOD MUST BE TAKEN OFF THE SHELVES. I enquired about having it tested found a place that would do it but to cover every single toxicology test it will cost 1000’s of dollars that I don’t have. With enough complaints the testing should be done for free as it is a danger to dogs. DO NOT FEED YOUR DOG THIS CRAP. I am angry as the packaging makes it look a lot better than it is, being made in Australia I though oh at last, but now he is fed applaws and does not each as much he also has been introduced to a 5 star dog food Stay Loyal. He loves both and eats much less than he was with Baxters.
Also my daughter was feeding her puppy Baxters treats and she was itching badly she took them back for a refund and since taking her off of them the dog no longer itches or bites herself. The large amount of fillers (grain) is one of the problems
I started giving my 8 year old dog Baxter’s beef strip’s. She developed a severe skin condition. She was put on medication. Vet said it wouldn’t have been them. Silly me she was improving so listening to vet I allowed her to have the treats again. She is back on antibiotics and I am never giving her Baxter’s again. She is 8 and has never had allergies
Hi Sharon, firstly I’m sorry to hear this has happened to your dog, and personally I’m not surprised the treats were the cause. It’s a shame you fed them again based on the vet’s advice.
It’s worth adding this information to the Baxters page on APOG – https://www.apog.com.au/recall-issue-log/woolworths-baxters/
Feel free to read the other reports on that page which are similar to what you have experienced.
They saw how much money dog foods can yield for them so they created their own brand, it’s cheap because the ingredients are the cheapest ones you could possibly buy, they don’t care for the dogs I can see that, it’s all about the profit and they are making a lot of money on this food as still a lot of people are buying and using it despite the warnings.
Those are probably the people who don’t believe anything they read online, in a world of online news and everything else this is kind of a bad decision on their behalf.
I know of such people over on dog food advisor, we have all this new cancer series info and they don’t believe it because it’s online lol.
Hi Pet Food review, Who makes Baxters dry kibble treats & wet foods??, which pet food company is making it? cause they’d also make other pet food brands as well wouldnt they?
I have an idea but I’m not 100% sure as yet.
Why isnt Woolworths doing anything about this & takingit OFF their sheves?? so much about their “Fresh Food people” motto Im going to Woolworths & putting printed flyers on all the Baxter dry foods Warning people not to buy….I posted the link about Tank the Bull Arab on Staffy F/B groups i belong too & do you know how many people posted back saying their staffy’s became so sick 1 man’s staffy bowel was hanging out of his bum from BAD diarrhea, after eating Baxter dry food, so many people are feeding this cheap $6 food.
When buying fruits and veggies not always but a few times you’ll be taken aback by how not fresh any of their foods actually are, their breads are frozen and reheated, in Sydney stores that I’ve been too their yogurts and fruit drinks were always off and now this new deal lets poison peoples pets with our brand of dog food yay! >.>
I always buy Coprice dog food at $40/bag but were caught short financially so bought Baxter’s biscuits to tie our dogs over after reading no artificial colours/flavours. A few days later our healthy dogs were vomiting and really lethargic and refusing food. Now their vomit is so thick and syrupy like diarrohea, rich yellow. So nasty. This food has to be removed from the shelves!!
Your food isn’t great either, for the amount you feed some foods are like half that, I had to check a few brands for a friend and the difference was insane for some of them, in the end it costed less even if up front it seemed like more.
I have a 12 yr old golden retriever about 30kg and a 15 yr old Rhodesian ridgeback about 28kg. Thanks
Ok so I will go look at a few brands whose prices are okay for the size of the bag nothing over $110 though.
1. Blackhawk is on special at pet circle cheapest price is $90 for 20kg and the fish and potato states 25-30kg at 2-2 3/4.
2. Their large breed food should be around the same price stating 25-40kg at 2-2 1/4. So that ones a little better and your dogs are seen as large breed.
3. Applaws large breed is using grams not cup sizes I’ll use google to change it to cups actually. You know what nevermind I can’t figure out which number is correct and which one isn’t I’ll just state what the website states, anyone who can do dry food maths can try if they want. 260 to 486 grams. All their foods seem to be the same amount.
4. Farmers market is not worth it, it starts at 2 cups for 20kg and hits 3 cups at 30kg.
5. Leaps and bounds from Petbarn despite better rating 3-4 cups … damn.
Well that’s all from the better brands with Blackhawk winning because of its price every time lol.
I’ll have to go over some of the trashier brands their prices and ingredient lists to see if there’s anything not that bad from there, but mum wants to go to cemetery for now so I’ll do it when I come back.
Hi I’d be interested to hear about your recommendations. When my dog was a pup I used Bonnie and he had chronic vomiting/ diarrhoea for 6mths until my vet told me it was the food. I have since used Coprice for 12 years with no such sickness. It may not be Super Coat but both of my dogs have been healthy. I understand buying in bulk is more beneficial but at the time I had $15 to spend so regretfully opted for this Woolworths brand. Never again!
Every comment was removed lol someone’s having a laugh I bet, https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c6ebf83966ccdb48c6f973e33ba8ca287516905dbb7927de43cde83d33f7e66.jpg here’s a photo of the website for the series since I can’t link or type anything that has to do with it.
I understand people using the same foods for several years but we are just now learning how this actually isn’t a good thing, there’s a free pet cancer series running right now that tells you a lot of reasons why feeding the same for years whilst not adding any fresh foods is a bad idea, we are getting sicker not healthier these days after all.
Genetics are only playing about 10% of all cancers it’s mostly foods, now I’m not saying your dogs will get cancer but I think it’s very important to understand the new information to make a better decision for future pets.
Blackhawk is still within reason for price I calculated the old formulas at 0.48c per 100g as opposed to optimum at 0.42c, they come out at around $5 per kilo these days, the formula quality went down but the damned price went up, the usual though.
I’ve been keeping an eye on new food prices for a friend, I want her dog off of super coat and onto Ivory Coat and a few other 4-5 star foods within a healthy budget for her, she says she refuses to pay anymore then around $100 for 20kg, so Blackhawk still fits into that, but apparently despite all these new foods no other food fits that bill, it’s all 9-13kg for $100+ for the ingredients you get most of the foods with that price aren’t worth it not one bit.
Now if you can only afford supermarket prices then Applaws is pretty good, farmers market is not bad not sure if they have truly big bags though, I know online Applaws from pet warehouse or pet circle had big bags, not really sure what the price was though, but if a 2 or 3kg bag is $17 then it shouldn’t be that high.
Of course it all comes down to money and if you just don’t have enough to do any of this it might simply be best to rotate foods from time to time and add at least 20% fresh food to the diet this reduces cancer and other ailment rates by 90% I think it’s important to do what you can to allow your pet to live a better life as in thriving not just simply living.
Cooked human foods were found to be the most problematic cause of disease in dogs because all the good stuff has been cooked out, what I found interesting in the video is that kibble wasn’t at the very top but instead this was and the best was obviously raw with omega oils.
Could you point me in the direction of this video series? I wouldn’t mind taking a look.
Dog Cancer Series
https://thetruthaboutpetcancer.com/?a_aid=59a70dc65e0b5&a_bid=77d01024
I’m not sure why others can’t post it. Sorry.
Testing another approach…
thetruthaboutpetcancer dot com
Just a test because I’m the curious type…
https://thetruthaboutpetcancer.com
Here I’ll show you pictures I don’t think I can post more then 1 at a time wooo time for two seperate posts! Never mind I totally can post two! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd57ee085092e5cc5718c5c1ece3135812dfe92be26d9360cfd688dad43594d9.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/224dd0052ce9ba032b126fdf170aac33ed831dcb6fa4faae5245fd5e2cae90b7.jpg
It’s possible that you’ve slipped down a notch in the disqus ‘reputation’ system if you’ve been banging heads with DFA people or others who use disqus. Plenty of these petty internet types will flag your stuff as spam to get their revenge in those cases, particularly on those commenting platforms which make it easy to misuse the spam reporting mechanism without consequence. Here’s an upvote just to counter any ‘spam’ flags, because I’m awesome :p
You are thank you! and yes I know it’s all my fault I had a lot of fun posting 500 spam comments on DFA but now I’m paying for that fun with annoyance.
Veronika, you are showing up as “Low Rep” on Disqus :/
I’ve added you as a “Trusted User” so you should be able to post freely on here as well as links. I’ve done the same for Alan and Susan as well.
Thank you! I find it quiet wrong what they classed me as, I think it should of been strictly DFA ban not every single website type of deal. I don’t think it was fair at all to punish me beyond what I did at DFA it felt last night as if all my freedom had been taken away and one things for sure never going to spam anyone ever again the consequences are not worth it, in my own way I won against them anyways but yeah in the long run of winning and loosing I would have been on the loosing team if I didn’t have you to help me so again thanks.
It was detected as spam wow so I’m not just banned from posting links on dfa but other websites also? man that’s not cool!
Just a name or keywords I can search by would work. I’ll figure out the rest.
I wonder if a picture is possible, I mean it’s not like it can see the name. No idea why the name would be bad, https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c6ebf83966ccdb48c6f973e33ba8ca287516905dbb7927de43cde83d33f7e66.jpg I haven’t used it anywhere before.
I can’t even do it on here it’s detecting it as spam wtf? I’m not even putting a link up I’m writing it down as you would when you can’t post a link, I think my spamming of dfa has caused an IP block of links not just account based.
If nothing comes through I’ll have to get Susan to message you.
On the radio about Baxters…
https://www.7ad.com.au/martin-agatyn/martins-interviews/74023-supermarket-dog-food-poisoning-fear
Good it needs as much publicity as possible and hopefully Woolworths will get with the program and remove the food, screw testing it just dump it in the trash where it belongs.
Well I mean test it anyways but yeah it should just be trashed instead.
well today I took my dog to the vet and before those who say its not the dog food be aware that Charlie has only been on Baxters a couple of months as was until then a healthy happy dog . As you can see by the picture his fur is falling out. Not only that he is suffering bloat and was eating more than normal of Baxters dog food, Since taking him off of Baxters his fur is coming back slowly but the blood test taken today will tell me more https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b780169fd46a81d11740baf23160f9def13334ed6dfeaf9edbd81c9c7dec3552.jpg
Hi Dorothy, this could possibly be caused by an allergy. Wheat (especially inc. by-products) would be a likely culprit, but other ingredients could be an issue.
It would be interesting to know the thoughts of your vet once the test results come in, so keep us posted. That main thing is Charlie’s on the road to recovery.
I trust you and I know it’s the food, just wish more people would take it seriously, a lot of people on Facebook not believing it, in fact I’m not even on that Facebook part anymore sick and tired of reading about how their dogs are still in the food and that it hasn’t “done” anything yet.
I asked a bunch of people would they risk their own health in such a way but no one ever responded, clearly they don’t care about their pets as much as they think.
he was always healthy before eating Baxters more the fool for those that keep feeding them and believing nothing will come of it. They don’t even give you the courtesy of a return call when you ring to complain. Yep they say someone will call you back. All I can say is Lord help them if the tests come back with bad results as I wont rest until I stop them distributing that rubbish
Good on ya! we need more people like you or they won’t remove it, they need as many complaints as possible, force them to do something.
It’s no wonder people buy this actually I mean they make it sound so healthy lol.
Seems their taking cues from Mars and Purina, unless they work with them I mean it’s not unlikely these days.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f03fc01eb2ad03836d59e0cfdd2b0c01932a37556f4ff94fc9f22b4efb13348.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8a3fbff89895200eb0285fe98505eeb292adf2260baf5d2e3eda4caa0f4c915.jpg
Ok, so I’ve been working on a new website… I’d appreciate your feedback Alan and Veronika – http://www.howtofeedadog.com/
I want it to be an easily readable quick guide to get people thinking. That’s the idea, anyway.
One pot of coffee later and another look at the new site, two random brainfarts popped up. I don’t know if it would fit with the overall tone of the site content as it currently feels more ‘informative’ than specific instructions, but if there was one short punchy message I’d like to pass on to interested people it would be “read the ingredients!”. A lot of the worst commercial foods become self-evident at this point even to the non-enthusiast, likewise a “raw” refrigerated product with a use-by date 3 months away probably should ring alarm bells and trigger a closer examination. And if it’s appropriate to pad out the message further, you could add some bullet points covering some of the most popular trickery found in ingredient lists (water content before cooking, use of the word byproduct,
slime skimmed off the top of a vat of boiling rotted corpsesnatural flavours etc.)The other suggestion was to carry across the same ‘About me’ material from this page. You just know that it’s only a matter of time until someone comes along who finds it all a bit too confronting to see their cheapo choices called out on a website, and launches into the usual “WHO R U! WHAT QALIFICASHUNS DO U HAV???? MUH DAWG EATS BAXTASPALCHUMPYPREMIUM AND HE IS NOT DED I KNO HE LIKES IT TOO COS HE EATS THE WHOLE BOWL IT HAS A PIC OF A VET ON THE BAG 2 UR RONG U SUK!!!!”
Couldn’t have said the last part better myself, 6 years have not been kind with this type of stuff, you see it everywhere and it’s so sad and frustrating at the same time.
Omgness I did not see this! by sheer luck I managed to see it so much fail, I’m checking it out right now I’ll edit this post when I’m done.
Looks good, short articles and straight to the point. Reading the Rawesome page I was going to suggest a particularly good graphic chart that comes the closest I’ve seen to summing up raw feeding on a single page (the creator sells it in poster form), but it might be redundant since you’re already linking to the raw community people who have similar stuff. I’ll browse through the site a few more times in the coming days, maybe something will spring to mind when just the right amount of coffee has been consumed.
Thanks Alan, I really want it to be easy to read and to the point, but it’s harder than it sounds! I procrastinate too much, and it never sounds right when I read it back :/
Claire, do you mean “How does Cassie *know* it *could* be deadly?
That doesn’t make sense.
Hi I give my 2 yr old staffy the Baxter choc treats n also the Baxter Doggy biscuits in the box for his treats n he seems fine but I don’t feed him any form of can dog food nor the dog rolls n he only gets fresh chicken breast steak chicken hearts n quality bones n Good O’s for his dry food other then that his healthy
Ive just recently (last week) bought the baxter dog roll .. is this going to harm my dogs ???
I don’t know what the supermarket rolls cost, but if you like the roll style of food and have access to a pet supply store, take a look at the alternatives. Ecopet, Tuckertime and Prime all produce decent quality rolls that are probably streets ahead of any supermarket junk, and at $3-$4/kg it’s not exactly expensive.
Prime is really good I remember most of the ingredient lists of each food, I looked it up for you the roll is $6.30 for 3kg, the Baxter one.
Yikes that is scary cheap. Which just leaves me with more questions than answers tbh. I mean if Joe or Jenny Sixpack are strolling down the supermarket aisle and see a “dog food” that is pretty much cheaper than bags of basmati rice in the adjacent aisle, even if they don’t bother looking at the ingredients (Joe and Jenny are very busy individuals who ain’t got time fo’ dat), do alarm bells not ring on some level?
Yeah the Prime seems decent, and reasonable value if you stick to the basic chicken/beef mixes and avoid the boutique single protein versions. I understand that this steam cooking method involves some pretty high temperatures and a bit of processing so it’s obviously not ideal, but when compared with the supermarket offerings it’s like lamb chops & veg versus a chiko roll. It’s worth adding that for those people who will spend a few extra dollars, the Vets All Natural people are now offering some high quality rolls based on Kangaroo protein and offal that hasn’t been cooked at the traditionally high roll temperatures, but is still packaged in a convenient roll style.
Hmm I hadn’t realised they took such measures with the food, I guess I should remember the lamb roll I got one time it did look quiet cooked.
Vets all natural is going places with their food good places.
I wonder the same like how can you think 3kg for $6 is normal? check the price of a full meal for yourself it’s nowhere near that cheap obviously, not even McDonald’s would be $6 for 3kg.
Just thinking about it like that you can see that the food is obviously trash and belongs nowhere else.
Yep I do like to keep an eye on the Vets All Natural people, because if there are any renegades in this pet food business, it feels like it might be them (at this point in time anyway). Oddly I also encountered a fresh raw mixture also linked to them, but they were operating under a different name with VAN in the fine print, which seems like a strange branding move. Maybe it’s just early days.
Wouldn’t VAN typically stand for vets all natural short hand? They have a raw76 that looks not bad, but Susan said lentils are not great for dogs because their hard to digest, but all their foods have lentils I think and they are very big on alfalfa but I heard it can make it so your dogs body doesn’t utilise vitamins and minerals very well, so instead of thinking your giving your dog let’s say 100% of their daily vitamin c they get maybe 5/10% but I’m not 100% sure if the websites I checked that with were telling the truth or not I mean it’s hard to tell with so much lies floating around.
One thing I do know their treats have alfalfa sticking out and they give Angel severe tummy pain so maybe it’s not so great.
Meals for mutts also uses a lot of alfalfa which is fine if dogs were horses but their not, I think their over using it a bit, like tapioca.
Yes, VAN was my shorthand, not theirs. Off the top of my head I can’t recall the name of the mixture but it wasn’t their RAW76 BARF style stuff, this was a more basic ‘muscle meat + offal’ type of thing. Might have a photo stashed away in the phone if you’re interested, though as I recall there was nothing special about it in raw mix terms.
They have like a kangaroo only mix but nothing else that I can see yet, their probably going to make more formulas in the future, almost every brand does.
You could show it to me if you have it.
I also checked out the entire range of Baxters earlier, I hadn’t realised they had puppy food and the unecessary puppy milk, just like us they don’t actually need it past a certain age, if vitamins and minerals are a problem then it’s the breeders problem, the mum was likely fed incorrectly and the puppies suffered as a result.
Of course puppy mills fit into that also.
There’s much better treats out there like Ziwipeak now extending their main food ingredients into the treats, of course people want long lasting big packets for cheap prices and you won’t find that with good food.
At least not in Australia, America actually has some options.
I’ve read that fake calcium as opposed to calcium inside of veggies and sauerkraut will give you osteo instead of fixing it.
Well this stuff seems like a natural match for puppy mills and the people you usually find behind them. Ugh
This pic doesn’t tell a story much beyond the label colour the VAN fringe people were using, but here you go. I wasn’t pulling your chain.
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All the VAN products are indeed accounted for on their website, that kinda looks like prime but it’s not and yes I’m aware I need to go to sleep haha it’s 3:30 am and I’ve totally gone down the insane road of staying up tonight.
The mince is just the 100% roo product, nothing but roo meat based on their website, likely cheaper then buying roo mince for humans.
(Checked the price uhhh not really)…
It might, would you take the risk with your own health?
I feed my dog Baxter Meaty rings because it is the only dog food my dog will eat. The Vet told me he is a very healthy dog for his age.
I wouldn’t feed a food to my dogs with the main ingredient being cereal by-products and inclusive of “humectants” and food colourings. Acidified salt….? Um, no.
I’ve been going crazy on Facebook with some of the replies, lots of people not caring, I reply with the same set of words but written a little differently each time so it doesn’t seem copy pasted which it’s not.
Why take the risk? would you take the same risk with your own health?
I’m hoping for some replies because I am legitametly wondering what these people will say or come up with to make me go away.
I know.
If you asked anyone “What would a dog eat in the wild?”… you wouldn’t expect anyone to answer “Kibble”.
One lady commented how Woolworths Select was affecting her dogs, so she tried ALDI Julius and they developed sores. Next she gave them Schmakos and they had seizures.
Also… what really frustrates me is comments like “My dog was so sick eating Baxters so he’s now back on My Dog”.
Usually those people are the ones not checking ingredients lists and simply buying the pretty packaging and talk of health benefits that won’t happen on foods such as those anyways.
I replied to someone on Facebook about what mindset some vets and people even, need to think that kibble and/or vaccinations in toxic doses are not life threatening over time, I mean some kibbles are okay long term, we see dogs living all their lives on them after all, but on the other hand what we don’t see is how the dog or cat looks on the inside, did they really die as healthy as it would seem.
My answer was $$$ and I said I knew that already, I was wondering more about how that person thinks, like you say keto can kill cancer, these vets don’t believe in raw for dogs, so even with the evidence what it going on in their heads.
The people saying they’ve tried every food are also lying, it’s unlikely that if you pay $6 for dog food that you’ve tried every brand.
The ones going from 1 bad to the next and calling each a step up are also horribly misinformed and anyone who calls Royal ultra premium I’m sorry but it’s not, not when it contains corn, wheat, rice and soy and non specific animal meats.
Price of food these days for pets doesn’t mean s**t because you’ve got a lot of overpriced junk foods coming out, that are not worth the $30 per bag for 1 meat protein that’s not even a meal and tonnes of ingredient splitting.
Most are vegetarian foods with a small amount of meat added to seem appealing to the average buyer.
The only are you sure? have you tried every brand on this website? if not then you don’t know for sure and your taking a big risk for big heartache later on, I’ve had so much pain and continue to have so much pain in my life I wouldn’t take the risk but that’s me.
Woolworths owns this brand and it is also happening with Woolworths essentials dog food!
On Sunday my dog spent the night at the vets with a liver infection caused by bacteria in his food!
The poor thing was so sick! Limp and lifeless, drooling, foaming from the mouth and heavy breathing! If we would of left him any longer he would of died!
We are waiting to hear from Woolworths with an explanation!
Cassie have you heard from them yet as I put in a complaint about Baxters have photos to back it up and everything and have not heard a word back from them
No we have not! And we arnt happy, they said they would call within 3 days and it’s now been 8 days!
Will be sending them the bill and a letter of complaint
Denial will be their response, they clearly don’t understand dog nutrition they are only in it for the money and shouldn’t sell dog food.
I’m sorry to hear that Cassie. Please keep us informed of Woolworth’s response.
Please give this food ZERO stars and advise against buying this food at all.
Unfortunately the rating system only allows for a minimum of half a star :/
For those wonderful foods somewhere on the “life threatening” spectrum, it might be time for something other than stars 🙁
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6039dd63e560bd2c62dd89c2875b992a0a70bf29035bed839fa1dd344ae0e58a.jpg
I really like Alan.. hahha
I have no words!
🙂
I got my pups back from my now ex and wondered why one of my girls seemed sick.
Looked at food, was Baxter’s. I hadn’t heard of it before.
It was all that was in the house so gave them another meal. She seemed reluctant to eat.
Became quite lethargic and slept on and off for a day.
She had gone off food all together for that day too.
That night she threw up.
It was nasty.
Googled the food and was sent here.
Wish I’d seen it before!
Now my baby is back to her over exuberant self.
Been eating some gentle home made food while her tummy recovers fully.
This stuff is bad!!!
I wish everyone knew and that everyone would stop taking chances and just get their dogs off this food, just because nothing has happened yet doesn’t mean s**t, their putting their dear pets at risk simply to save money.
I always ask these people would they put their own health at risk if their food had a warning, but I never get a reply.
I brought some of this for our dogs they hated it and I had to go buy another brand. I thought I was giving the fussy little buggers something a bit more healthier and they refused to eat it. After reading this I am glad that they refused to eat it.
Gotta read the ingredients there is just no other way to tell quality, that and research the ingredients as some look healthy but are actually full of junk.
I really have been bad that way in not reading the list of ingredients. I am sure I am not the only one guilty of this though. I think I will have to do so in the future though. I have ageing dogs and I have to buy them food that isn’t too hard. I do occasionally make them up a big pot of homemade with vegies that they love. They do love their leftovers too.
You poisoned my dog with your rubbish product made him very sick I thought he was going to die. You should be paying my vet bill
You mean Woolworths should be paying your bill right? this is a review website nothing more no one here makes dog food or owns any companies who make dog foods. We are all just ordinary people who care about the foods you give your pets, that’s why we warn you if you care.
I have been feeding my 20month old Dingo Baxters meaty rings on and off for the last 6 months or so but the last 4 weeks she has had diarrhea on and off and for the last 3 days heaps. Have taken her off it now due to being alerted to this. This product needs to be recalled before anymore dogs/puppies get sick or die. I am still monitoring my puppy for more side affects.
Ok so, I have read all of this, and I can understand your concern, however my dog has been fed Baxters foods since it got released in Townsville stores a little under a year ago and not once has she suffered from any of those side affects. She is heavily diabetic however that was a pre-existing condition from 2013 and we weren’t able to find a good product capable to her liking. So we did our own research, compared exactly what was in the dog foods on the shops to what the vetinary clinics recommend and to be honest the only difference between baxters dog food and any other brand really would be the colouring or preservatives. The rest were exactly the same. So I don’t believe baxters food will harm my pupperino so I will continue to buy it as I have not had a single problem since.
I’m curious to know, which products were you comparing Baxters against?
I had compared it too the Woolworths brand dog food -chicken and Veges and Apollo dog food – gourmet beef.
Whoa, slow your roll big spender..
Just trying to get an affordable safe product for my pupperino
I’d like to get into this and just say if your dog is heavily diabetic consider what diabetics need to change in their diets to live happy healthy lives.
With dogs the key to almost curing diabetes because dog diabetes I’ve read can’t be cured was raw food, the more cereals you feed the more carbs your feeding and your feeding the diabetes and it’s always really bad.
When in discussions about it on the other pet food website I was told that anything under 20% carbs was also good and foods with chickpeas instead of the usual carb source were best.
Here in Australia that’s a bit hard there’s really not very many cheaper food sources of that, I’m actually thinking about it and wondering if there’s any at all.
You’ve got Earthborn the one with the highest protein has the lowest carbs, but man it’s pricy.
All the freeze dried foods are low carb as they don’t need starch binders.
Ziwipeak again pricy.
K9 Natural pricy.
Balanced Life is a new freeze dried food the cheapest one so far, the 1kg bag that makes 4kg of food is only $36-37 compared to other foods of the same kind that are $56 and up.
Baxters isn’t an affordable safe product it’s a very affordable very unsafe product, if there’s a warning on the food it’s there for a reason and because it’s full of cereal your pet will have diabetes at its worst for the rest of his life, he could live a dream or a reality your choice.
Just like cancer it’s now treatable in dogs and now I don’t mean the conventional money wasting treatments that don’t actually work, I mean Ketogenic diets are now curing dog and cat cancer, their trying them on humans and same thing it’s curing them.
Same with joint problems as well though, their not a lost cause but everyone seems to think they are, there is many a choice to fix it, can’t really cure it though always have to feed the food or add the extras to food.
Fish oils, turmeric paste, glucosamine, chondroitin, abalone, shark cartlidge, green lipped mussels, MSM.
See lots of choice, dogs don’t have to suffer I just wonder why it’s so hard to see for dogs, like you know what helps with your joints why do you think your dogs joints can’t be helped as well?
Odd world.
Jokes aside, please consider a better quality of food for pupperino. The supermarket is a minefield where you might dodge most of the garbage to get to something like Farmers Market or Applaws, but if you have access to the online stores then a supermarket really is doing things the hard way. With a bit of effort you can pick up something basic like Blackhawk on special online for a reasonable price, and generally speaking, it’s better than any supermarket options. The key word here is Effort, and this is where many fall over.
Dogs diabetic though so kibble shouldn’t even be on the radar, but that’s where things get tricky because some people just don’t have the funds for such a change and the dogs and cats continue to live poorly because of it.
Same with cancer and joint problems though.
You’re right, I shouldn’t be mentioning any one-size-fits-most products in a discussion about a dog with specific needs. In fact I’ll go back and fix that in a sec.
They’re all Woolworths home brands Nick.
Exactly, they’re all the same and there is no bad reviews on the other brands.
I have been feeding my 4 healthy dogs Baxterz for about 6 months and was wondering why they are all sick ! Now i know why ! My 13 year old staffy has lumps on her body her nose is loosing skin and bleeding she constantly itches as she was born with sarcoptic mite . This food has made it so much worse. My other 3 are all itching themselves and trying to eat the dirt out of my potplants .. so glad someone posted about this the other day. The wet food as in dog roll meat smells like dead animals and my staffy wont have a bar of it now i know why ! My poor babies have been suffering in silence im so bloody angry !!!
Hi Tina,
go supermarket to the Baby Section & get some “Sudocrem” start applying the Sudocrem to her dry nose & any other red itchy spots on your Staffy body, the Sudocrem is excellent for skin problems, go to local pet shop or vet & get some “Malaseb” Medicated Shampoo & bath her weekly the Malaseb is excellent for itchy skin, it kills any bacteria & yeast on the skin & paws & like Alan said get a grain free kibble with no chicken, Staffy’s are known to have food sensitivities, “Meals For Mutts” is excellent for dogs with skin problems very high in Omega 3 Meals For Mutts has their new CN Holistic Hypoallergenic Cool Fish formula or CN Turkey formula it is expensive $35 for 2.5kg BUT its cheaper then the vet diets & has better ingredients.. or get the suprmarket get VIP Natural Goodness Grainfree Wild Game dry kibble its normally on special Coles then the next week Woolworths has it on special…
Sorry to hear that.
Tina would be able to message me or Petfood reviews? Thanks Cush Allison
My staffy got lumps as well after eating this almost like an extra nipple oh my goodness
As Alan had said, a grain free may really help. Staffies are very prone to allergies.
I hope a diet change shows a positive improvement. Please keep us informed.
The various mites that cause mange are pretty much endemic to all dogs so I wouldn’t worry about being born with them, but it’s only really when the condition of the dog deteriorates that the mites get a foothold and you see the awful effects. Well on the upside you’ve spotted what is almost certainly the problem they all have in common before anyone kicked the bucket, please please please put them on a quality (and varied) diet for a few months at least to get the poor buggers back on their feet. Since you have a staffy I’d suggest it be a grain-free diet as well as it’s probably safer to just assume a grain allergy (which may or may not be the case) than fool around testing the theory with dogs already in poor condition 🙁
I think to many of us think lots of
things are ok for our pet and humans as we cant see what there doing to our inside or our pets insides. I myself have just had one of my dogs put down due to becoming sick, and not knowing why. but after reading this and watching some of these symptoms happen to my beautiful boy. I have no doubt it was the dog food, as I seen my other dog go down on her back legs a few time for no reason. I will be taking this 10kg bag back to Woolworths and informing why.
Yeah that’s a big problem, just because they look good from a standpoint and their playing doesn’t mean they feel good, some dogs are exceptional at hiding their grief you might not even find out at all from them, they’ll just be dead with no way to tell you how they actually felt.
You look at people can you tell whose sick and whose not? same difference.
You wouldn’t think I had a nerve problem because you can’t see it, I feel it daily but you can’t tell that either because I don’t show it.
Hi I dont believe this warning about Baxters Dog food. I have been feeding my dog BAXTER for months and there is nothing wrong with my dog she is healthy as ever. Some of those symptoms that I have read point to Parvo. They should take their dogs to the vets to be checked before making accusations like that and scaring people. Where’s your EVIDENCE to back your claims????
Like I said to my daughter take her pups to vets get them checked for parvo as I bet the mother has PARVO as I know the person that has 2 Adult dogs I dont believe his dogs would be vaccinated considering his bitch has been OVERBRED and her tits are hanging down to the ground.
To all that is commenting to my comment about Baxter Dry food All I am hearing is ‘blahblahblah’.
Whatever floats your boats biggest load of rubbish I have heard in all my life. My dog is 10 years old she been eating Baxter Dry food for almost a year now and she is still alive and very HEALTHY plus she gets raw chicken carcass, pasta, rice ohh and bread
It is NOT Parvo LOL, you can not mistake Parvo!!!! My dog became violently ill on the Baxters treats…It is likely the Potassium levels (which causes cardiac arrest, diarrohea & vomiting) is the culprit, but there are other nasties in it, so who knows. But it was Baxters that caused my dog to be ill, and there is absoluetly no doubt at all about that 😉 Those dogs that arent getting an instant reactions will likely have long term issues like auto immune disease, cancers etc down the track
Precisely. Equating this with something as brutally obvious (and easily diagnosed) as parvo is just ridiculous.
We put our dog on Baxter and he started getting itchy, had a pussy face and that was the only thing we had changed with him. I work at a vet clinic and he is vaccinated. We took him to the vets and he was put on medication twice to stop it but it still came back. We took him off the food and within a few weeks he was fine again. It doesn’t sound like parvo, it sounds like an infection. It cause itchiness and can cause harm to the dogs vital systems. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone as I have seen the outcomes. There has been numerous cases caused by this food
Skin problems are virtually always caused by cereals, dogs are not meant to eat it
True to a point but my 6 years of research on canine nutrition was all internet based just have to find the right websites, giving an example taking a nutrition course right now would be a waste of time and money the only thing I’d get out of it was papers so I could apply for a job that’s it, I know everything in that course.
They learn mostly online these days the books and stuff are all for online downloading, there’s hardly any courses that aren’t online now and a lot of the books they use to learn are actually copied onto the web for anyone who wants to read them.
This food at $6 for 3kg can’t be quality at that price, they don’t make it cheap because they have good hearts, they make it cheap because it’s that cheap to make.
Royal Canin overprices for trash ingredients so at least these guys are honest that their food is trash by making it cheap.
Consider the next bag you buy! It could be deadly! We had been feeding my dog Woolworths food for years! And on the weekend he almost died!
I do that’s why I don’t buy supermarket trash the food I buy costs around $35 for a 2kg bag, the bag lasts me upwards of 6 months that’s how small of an amount I use when it comes to kibble.
I buy Ziwipeak 1kg bags cost $60, K9 Natural tripe is $15 I think for 500g, a 70g bag of supernaturals treats is $15 and kangaroo jerky is $20 for a 500g bag as you can see I don’t settle for cheap trash.
I also get FrontierPets new company freeze dried $16 for 1.2kg of food, I go all out or I go home, I research every brand and it’s ingredient thoroughly before buying.
I will also gladly spend $50+ on a box of treats as long as their Australian made and very good quality, like supernaturals are.
Wow, when you said you don’t use much do you have one small dog? I have two large dogs so use 5 cups a day between them-this amount has been found to be what they need after gaining too much weight on 8 cups a day (feeding them like pups) and losing too much any less this. The Coprice is $40 for 20kg and has been great for them, I’ll never go supermarket brands again!! They’ve been vomiting up bile the past couple of days. Off to the vet at Woolworths expense!
While driving toward a 4 day holiday I’ve been reading some dog food stuff, I was actually going to leave it at what I wrote without checking the trashier brands and I still won’t check them because I know from some other research I’ve done for the friend and over the years that the smallest amount to feed was always around 260 grams/2 cups based on Meals for Mutts.
While checking something on MfM I bumped into their feeding calculator and one of their foods has the lowest I’ve seen for a kibble ever at 180 grams for 30kg dogs, that’s like 1 cup and 50 grams however you calculate that. Didn’t realise their foods were this nutrient dense.
Says a 50kg dog gets 240 grams, so that’s like the same as the brands I mentioned even more so for some of them and that was 25-30kg.
Downside is it’s as pricey as Ivory Coat with the 2kg costing $31 and 20kg bags costing upwards of $120-144.
But it’s kinda worth the cost for the amount you feed.
But Coprice ingredient wise is a supermarket brand lol, did you look at the review for it? it’s that cheap because it’s trash not because they do it out of the kindness of their hearts, 6 years of ongoing research has proved so many lies in our world, the pet food world, goodness should of seen what I watched last night on YouTube RSPCA approved slaughter wow liars to the very end there’s nothing humane about torture.
What’s the weight of the dogs when I have time I’ll check the feeding guides of a few foods to see if anything is better, it’s great that they did so well on it for so long but the truth is coming out about what kibble really does and feeding 1 star brands are costing the lives of peoples pets.
If a $100 brand were to use half of what you use let’s say then the food would cost more upfront but typically only cost like $50 in terms of usage, well I think that’s how you calculate it, because if you use half the dosage because the food is digested better then wouldn’t you half the price of it in a way, because say it lasts 2 months and the new one lasts 4 months or something like that.
Two chihuahuas is what I have and thankfully because I don’t pay the electricity or internet or TV I have money, if I did pay that I’d actually be wondering how much I’d have left, I did a calculation one time that came out at around $150 savings but that was a rough estimate as I wouldn’t know 100% how much money I’d actually have to begin with. I’m not even sure if that was with or without food either and I’m insulin resistant so my foods more expensive, not the nerve pain wine though I buy casks of 4 litres like $15 heh. They don’t taste that great but they don’t have to they do the job of ridding me of all my pain for a few hours.
But yeah gimme the weight of the dogs and I’ll go check it out, I had a lot of fun doing it last time for the friend that I want to change foods for.
Hi Bridget, feel free to research. There’s plenty of information readily available.
Cereal by-products would be a good starting point. By-products of cereal are what remains after the grains, seeds, oils, and sugars are extracted. Given the composition of cereal, what does that leave you with and would you deem it healthy and species appropriate for an essentially carnivorous animal?
Facebook is not a reliable form of “research” lol more of a slander and public pitchforking bandwagon.
That’s why you should only follow those you know are trying to help pets and not those out for money or who enjoy lying to people and those people believing in lies, it’s hard to find but 6 years later I’ve found the right people.
I have feed my dog baxter dog food loves it and hehas the biscuits he loves the biscuits and has had no bad effects at all i have tried every brand of dog biscuits and only likes baxter he is a shitzue x pomer he is i think he is about about 8 years old he is a very happy dog 🙂
Consider the next bag you buy! It could be deadly!
Its the only food putting weight on our dog atm. I am yet to see any of the mentioned effects
Hi Fiona, given the food is low in fats the weight gain will be from cereal and cereal grain carbohydrates which really isn’t a good thing. Is your dog underweight?
Not per say just wasn’t where id like him to be. 2mths of baxters and hes lookin healthier
Regardless of any current scandals or clusters of deaths and illnesses, how does any sentient being who loves their pet, read that list of ingredients and conclude ‘yep, sounds good’. I mean it’s clearly meat-flavoured chicken feed on the best of days. I must be missing something here.
Wow Alan you totally went beast mode your usually so different in your wording :p more gentle haha, anyways yeah I dunno but it happens with every food, I’ve even read moist and meaty comments stating how much they love the ingredients in the food pshaha. It’s all just sugar, sugar and more sugar, preservatives and extreme carb loads with ethoxyquin. I’m sure it’s all good though …
Ah well I just bang my helmet on the keyboard and random stuff comes out. But more seriously, it’s been a mind-numbing experience following this saga. Earlier yesterday I made the mistake of logging into facebook and while I was there I took a look at the PFR page, specifically the comments under the Baxters post. I swear if I see another person taking this news as some sort of personal insult and willing to gamble with their pets health just to prove a point, I may just lose the will to live.
Yeah, Facebook is uhh either full of really wonderful stuff or is a crock of s**t that day haha, some of the comments do indeed make you wanna strangle people for ever even suggesting such things or thinking that simply because nothing is wrong right now that it will never be and their right sometimes but not a lot of the time.
If there’s actual warnings though that’s when things get sad, the warning is there for a reason, if your food had a warning would you eat it? No! so why continue to feed it to your beloved pets, maybe they don’t mean as much to you as you would like to believe.
You’d never put yourself or your kids in harms way, but the way your going about it seems like hell yeah you would, because it’s cheap.
Save the guilt and pain and buy better food not hard! just gotta want to do it.
I completely agree Alan.
With respect Fiona, I’ve just finished speaking with yet another pet owner who’s dog lost the ability to use her hind legs, suffered high temps, fever, and is slowly recovering with the help of antibiotics and steroids (at a cost of $1000). It’s the 6th discussion of this type I’ve had today (not to mention the many reports on the Facebook page and Woolworths page).
People say “my dog ate the food and wasn’t sick so it must be good”, or “my dogs loves it (because he eats it)”. Even what you’ve said Fiona, it’s caused your dog to gain weight and “look healthy”. All it takes is some thought. If a person is anorexic and you feed them McDonalds every day they’ll gain weight and “look” healthier. But health doesn’t work like that. You can’t feed a dog cereal by-products (the waste from grains!) and expect them to be healthy.
It just takes thought…
just because their dog lost the use of its back legs, doesn’t mean it was from the food, one of mine lost her back legs and has been eating this food with no issues at all, she is currently in the vets from a paralysis tick, which was not visible for sometime, we eventually found it embedded in her skin
Don’t know why you would take the risk, would you do this with yourself also if the food had a warning?
Well i spoke to my local vet today and they have heard nothing in regards to this and have had no dogs come on with said symptoms. I told them of the ingredients and was told that they don’t have an issue with it. But then again its not something they stock either
Fiona, please don’t be offended by my replies. Sadly pet nutrition is widely overlooked and little consideration is given to what millions feed their much loved pets. In my younger years I was guilty of the same. We know human nutrition is vital to our health, so why can’t people translate that to our pets? Isn’t nutrition important to them too? If something is known to be bad for us, why would we assume it’s good for our dogs?
I’m surprised your vet thinks cereal by-products are species appropriate.
Actually no, I’m not surprised. It would be nice to see veterinary courses invest more in pet nutrition, what with nutrition being fundamental to the health of a living being.
Well of course they have no problem with the ingredients they get their nutrition course that only lasts 2 hours by the way from the big pet food brands, as in Mars, Purina.
It took me 6 years to learn what I know, what the frick can you learn in 2 hours?
If you go on like product reviews and into Coles or Woolies you’ll notice a lot of people having trouble with online ordering, some of the stuff written there is crazy.
Like being unable to switch out an item that’s right there in front of you, because reasons.
my dog eat everything but she didnt like the caned dog food from Aldi.
Im thinking that if this Baxters dog food is so shit, then why has it not been taken off the market,
just asking
Trudy
It’s sold in the millions. Very profitable.
It’s time for Woolworths to remove this crap from their store.
Would show they actually care if they did, I guess we will wait and see what happens.
My 13 yo poodle liked to eat Goodos but I changed to Baxters Meaty Rings several months ago. She kept eating them just like the Goodos but after a month or two, she got sick and could not walk, passing away several days later. The vet said it was possible she had a stroke. I still have one poodle left, and they rarely go near the meaty rings, so i have thrown them out.
That’s a good idea don’t ever go near that brand even with a 90 foot pole, there’s plenty of healthy still cheap options just gotta do some research which is totally worth the time for the health of your pets and it’s super fun to learn new things.
$6 for 3kg at the Woolworths I just went to, with a price like that you can’t expect quality.
My lab eats everything. But won’t touch your dog food!!!
Lots and lots of reports of Baxters making dogs sick, unable to walk, and I’ve heard three reports of puppies dying after eating Baxters.
It’s shit!!!
There’s a ringing endorsement that ought to be printed on the packaging. “Baxters dog food – so nasty even a Lab won’t touch it”
We have a Labrador too (she’s a guide dog.) She was unable to work for a week after eating Baxters.
Glad to have read this. I am currently using stay loyal (online only I believe.) if you have a comment on Stay Loyal I would love to hear your thoughts. They only have dry food but I have a Holistic Pet Food store not far from us (they also deliver) so loads of fresh meat (chicken, kangaroo, fish, turkey, beef and bones.) for my gorgeous border collie.
Hi
I have a Labrador and he has a rash under his armpit could this be from baxtas dry food???
You could try Applaws if your shop still has it, it’s usually always on special and contains what I mentioned, hoping that the uk formula has the same ingredients list, they do use more meat then the Aus one.
Rashes and hot spots in dogs are usually grain allergies maybe try a grain free food with fish for the extra anti inflammatories.
Besides this food is really bad your better off with something else.
Anything by Purina or Mars is also utter crap though so steer away from those too.
Does anyone know if perhaps Baxter’s is from the same factory as Chum? One Dog severely ill vomiting and the runs…. vet stop. Was away for a few days and was going to throw the Chum out. Second dog ate a small amount from the bag and the same happened vomiting and the runs. Wrote to Chum who were very unhelpful. Asked for all the dog food back to be tested. They refused to show me results of the tests? Said no one had complained nothing wrong and wouldn’t even refund me for the food sent back? I did keep some though and have been trying to have it tested somewhere?
Pedigree was like that one time, they had several complaints in the USA, but people commenting were saying that they were lying and telling them that it was odd as they have had no complaints, oh really? So those thousands of comments on your Facebook page showing sick dogs at vet offices was no complaints huh?
Pretty sure Purina was and continues to do it also.
Hi Veronika, I believe Chum is from the same Company ‘Mars’. That is worrying that Pedigree (a Mars Company also) had the same issues. It cost me a fortune and as I had to bath the dogs because they had the runs that bad, my older girl and I slipped in the bath. She hurt her leg and is now on constant medication (wasn’t on anything before). Usually I take them to the groomers to get bathed but couldn’t put them in the car in the state they were in.
It’s likely it is, a very good thing to do now would be to give food with anti inflammatories.
So fish oil, green lipped mussel is amazing, turmeric paste and coconut oil are all very good for joint health.
Heal the damage quicker and hope for a full recovery.
I used to think those brands were good to be honest but 6 years of research and wanting a future career as a holistic vet had taught me otherwise, it’s better to spend more and have a healthy bouncy dog rather then an unhealthy one and continue to feed the cheapest.
With the amount you need to feed FrontierPets is extremely cost effective, I have been unable to find any food that gets anywhere close.
I also advocate Blackhawk because it’s price per 100g is similar to Optimum and Applaws is good, I’ve checked Farmers Market but it’s actually much pricier so I won’t be telling people to use it anymore.
Hi Veronika, thank you for that. I wouldn’t normally feed them Chum. Always feed them Supercoat (but looking at that review may need to change). Am in an isolated area so feeding them other food is difficult to get. I have 2 Old English Sheepdogs so some of the foods are a little out of my price range, however my dogs are everything to me. One is 10 in September the other will be 11. Have always feed them sardines (recommended by my breeder) but not lately. Will add some of your recommendations to their diet and start mixing some real meat etc. also. 🙂
Sounds like a good plan and yeah Supercoat ain’t bad it’s certainly not the worst I’ve seen that title belongs to Moist and Meaty full of cancer and diabetes with rotting teeth from all that sugar.
I guess if you want you can come by pet food reviews anytime and just tell us how your pups are doing.
Sardines are indeed awesome for dogs, cheap and very nutritious I personally almost puked at the flavour haha.
Way too fishy for me as I’m not a fish person at all.
Best of luck 😀
Thanks Veronika 🙂
If you prefer to feed a supermarket brand look at Farmers Market or Applaws; much higher quality (the former is a bit more economical). 🙂
I always use Supercoat and they like it, but ran out and as I am in a remote area and normally buy bulk when in town, I just brought something to get me through a day or two. Now looking at the Supercoat ratings… not sure on that either? Thinking the only way to go is make your own. Bit like human food….
Go to trade butchers. Get fresh meat, offal, bones, and boil some veggies from the garden to go with the meal. Lastly, several quality dog biscuits.
I tried my dogs on Baxter for 2 days and my Pomeranian got sick with bloody diarrhea and needed to go to the vet.
Is this the same for Baxters rolled dog foods too. Our dog was thriving before on the select dog roll and it has now changed to Baxters. I am concerned after reading this article. Any help is greatly appreciated.
The rolls are very different in terms of both ingredients and cooking method. But since the recent reports of illness appear to involve (at least) canned and dry products, why take the chance? Even on its best day this stuff is woeful.
This is very interesting. I have been giving my dog dry ‘Baxters’ and he has ended up at the vet. My dog was struck down and couldn’t walk. The vet has been treating him as having had a stroke. After an initial steroid injection he has been on cortisone tabs. He has been back on ‘LuckyDog’ and is making good progress. Still cannot jump up into the ute but he can now jump up on the bed again.
Have bought the dry biscuits for our dog – who is normally healthy – he has had diarrhea for some time plus he has been sneezing for quite a long time. He really refuses to eat the stuff only eating a few morsels when he’s super hungry, he obviously know better than I do that this stuff is crap. Have sent a complaint to Woolworths but I’m not holding my breath for any positive response!
Making matters worse is that there seems to be something going on lately, with serious illnesses being observed in dogs eating this product. It’s just another reason to stay well away from such garbage disguised as food.
Actually just piled the last of the bags biscuits into a dog bowl, and so happy to see it go… I’ve been trying to look up some info about it because my dog farts everytime he eats them.. and all day too.. (These arent average dog farts, these are everyone clear the room’ kind) and looking abit online, shows that it can be a veryyyy bad sign in a dog… So i really am concerned if this isnt affecting them more ‘dangerously’, then we think. I hope more propper investigation can be done by someone regarding them, because its worrying.
Unless they change the ingredients the farting won’t stop, he’s obviously reacting to something, why not just try something else and check the ingredient list fully to ensure that the new something doesn’t have any of the old somethings.
Maybe supercoat grain free even, had my friend try it due to budget as her dog farts a lot and she said it stopped the farts, so might be worth a try.
When we first got our Bull Arab-cross, this was the food we gave him first. It was a bit hard to tell how much he liked it at first because he was going to the toilet quite regularly when he was a baby so we did not know its affect on stool. However, we saw nothing untoward with this brand. We have not bought it that much since then because we tend to buy our dog food in bulk or we just happen to get it from places where Baxters is not sold. However, we would have no issues getting it again so we can test it out and see how he reacts now he is older.
Just bought a can of this as I just had a operation and ran out of good dog food well never again you can’t contact the company directly and I’m absolutely disgusted to find mold in it.. funny enough I can’t attach a photo but let me tell you its horrid this company should be ashamed in themselves. DO NOT BUY BAXTERS DOG FOOD!
Thanks for the heads up.
Hi Kahla, the company is Woolworths so you need to go to them direct.
It’s known as a “phantom brand” ~ a homebrand made to look like a better quality commercial brand. Somewhat deceiving.
Some info here – https://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/blog/phantom-brands-adding-glam-to-homebrands/
Your recent reviews are amazing! Very funny, but totally and utterly true.
This looks very similar to Apollo, anyone not reading the ingredients list will think one or the other is better based on price, when in reality that’s not the case as their almost identical twins.
Is Apollo bad for them too ?
I’d also like to mention that the prices are for the maximum bags, the smaller bags will obviously be more expensive, so if you have smaller dogs foods like farmers market and applaws will likely be much cheaper.
I will have to check feeding amounts and prices tmoz I’ve already stayed up way too late.
I’m the first one to have taken an image of that food and it’s also a Phantom brand so yeah it’s bad.
Blackhawk is priced really well on pet circle I think it might be worth looking into, it’s 0.48c per 100g compared to Optimum whose very similar to Apollo which is at its cheapest 0.42c per 100g, so there’s really not much of a difference but you’ll see a big difference in your dog that’s for sure.
I had to do the maths for a friend after she said she couldn’t afford the food, as you can see based on the maths it’s only a saving of 0.6c per 100g which is nothing let’s be honest.
Also based on Apollo you need to feed about 400g to a 25kg dog compared to 250g for Blackhawk.
Thanks for answering, where do you find blackhawk, I’ve never heard of it
This might help – http://sniffout.com.au/Search?q=black+hawk+dog+20+kg
Currently $89.95 for 20kg at Jumbo Pets.
Re Blackhawk: I subscribe to the emails and watch for specials between Pet Circle, Pet Barn and My Pet Warehouse. Sometimes I do the rounds of other sites but these 3 run their specials regularly enough. I also get vouchers, which can be $20 off, because “they haven’t seen me for a while”, or based on my order amount. I always buy 20kg bags and usually 2 at a time, especially when I can get them for $4 – $4.50/kg on sale. Free postage. Best special buy was $59/20kg, other times $77, $86-87/20kg. 🙂
I’ve found PETStock to be really good too. Regular offers and delivery always seems to be quick and efficient.
Just had a look @ Jumbo Pets – they charge $36.60 postage to my location, ouch!
I’ve been all over the Facebook part of my page stating that you can buy 20kg of Advance for $104.95, because suddenly corn costs that much haha.
Anyways I’ve been trying to steer people away from it in favour of Blackhawk, I hope that some people took my info to heart, it really is much more worth it.
I know PetStock has it if you prefer local if there’s any nearby, but the price is going up and everyone is going to be forced to increase it soon, so I reckon sticking to online retailers would be the best way as your sometimes saving upwards of $10 per big bag.
So either Pet Circle or My Pet Warehouse, not sure whose cheaper these days, both websites are virtually the same some just have more food choices or choices like 1 can instead of a whole case, which for me is good.
I guess depending on the hike of the price it may fall into the same pricing as other foods in the cheaper category and thus making other foods more appealing as well.
That and it could cause people currently feeding it to drop from the brand completely which would be kinda sad especially if they decided to go the real cheap route, they would sure notice a difference in their dogs.
Not to put words in Veronikas mouth, but pretty much any pet supply outlet carries Blackhawk. You’d almost have to be trying to avoid it.
That’s fine I wake up late and go to bed either early or late and I don’t really check my disqus before bed as I’m checking it several times throughout the day anyways, don’t be afraid to step on my toes it’s welcome in fact haha.
I would call Apollo below average quality/less desirable composition.
Thank you 🙂