Food recommendations for Labrador?

[highlo]

My Labrador has been on the same food since a puppy (Royal Canin dry kibble) and is now 5yo.
Last 6 months or so she's had softer stools (not diarreah) and has needed anal glands emptied twice as a result.

Vet recommended drying a different type of food to see if it could "firm things up"

She was going to email me some suggestions. She never did so I could call and ask but in the meantime, anyone else got any recommendations?

We have a lab and she has Butternut boxes - it is pricy but it's human grade food so bound to be better than dry. That being said we do mix in some dry once or twice a week to help clean the teeth. She loves it and picks it over most other things, which for a lab who loves eating everything, says something!

Mine has Wainwright’s grain-free trays. He refuses kibble but will eat the cats’ dry food given the chance!

There’s a website called All About Dog Food which has the nutritional details for many different brands of dog food and a rating of them, along with price per portion.
High cereal foods can often cause issues and these tend to have a lower rating.

Something like Millie’s Wolfheart, Eden or Natural Choice are my go-to kibble food. High meat content, and then veg / fruit / sweet potato.

Mine was on Simpsons - they deliver . If I fed them anything else they'd be runny.

I have been through so many with my two but somebody on here recommend Ci dog food. It’s bloody brilliant stuff! Firm poo and lots of different flavours to choose from. They deliver and usually dispatch the same day.

Their customer service is super helpful and they’ll send you some samples for DDog to try beforehand if you ask. We have the Tickety Boo range.

https://cifood.co.uk/

I use Jolleyes life stage salmon and white fish - great poos.

We use a mix of either Butternut Box or Different Dog with Jollyes Lifestage Salmon with Trout.

Ours was on Millies Wolfheart and had firm stools (we used countryside/salmon and veg varieties as he was sensitive to chicken and white fish). It is a grain free so likely you will feed less. If stools are still soft reduce the amount you feed and monitor their weight as it can sometimes happen when they mature they need less food and this causes soft stools.

Our boy had to be PTS a few months back 😢 and I passed on a nearly full bag to my niece for her dogs to use up and she has switched to it now as it made such a massive difference to their.....output.

Thanks everyone! Loads of options to look into 😃

That's really useful. Thanks!

Sorry to hear that @Blanketpolicy

Ours is raw fed, it's the only thing that stops his poos being runny. We thought he was sensitive to poultry and cheese but it was the kibble. He's much happier on raw and it seems to suit him.

My dog is on Royal Canine hypoallergenic food, recommended by vet for his sensitive tummy and works well.

My Lab had horrendous poo on Royal Canin. It's quite a low grade food, I found out subsequently, even though the breeder had been feeding the litter on it. He is also sensitive to chicken so is on salmon and rice kibble produced by Pero but marketed under a different label.

Forthglade dog dinners for us. Game changer.

It really is trial and error for every dog. My lab is on a grain free kibble similar to the Tickity Boo range from cifood, this works very well for him. My previous labs were on Dr John's Gold kibble and again, this worked well for them. My vets dog can only stomach chappie kibble apparently.

Forthglade wet and Millie's wolfheart dry for us. Clean pick up each time now whereas before it was "variable"

We feed our labs essentials

https://www.essentialfoodsgb.co.uk/working-dog-essential-superior-living-10kg.html

Our lab is fed raw food. Makes poop much firmer (and smaller quantities, so much easier to scoop up). From what I understand the fact that it’s so firm on raw helps to keep the anal glands drained. The only downside is the space it can take up in your freezer.