Recommend me some dog food for our new dog?

[RiderGirl]

We are getting a new dog later this week, he's a nearly 2 year old scruffy terrier type (poss patterdale x).

I'd like some recommendations for food as our knowledge is probably a bit outdated/non existent. We had our previous dog for 17 years, we lost her last spring, and I'm embarrassed to say that we fed her almost exclusively on supermarket dried food of various brands, topped with the odd tin, and regular bits and bobs of leftovers from us (she was very partial to a bit of roast dinner). Obviously this probably wasn't ideal, but as she made it to 17 years in very good health it clearly wasn't harming her either!

However, we'd like to do a bit better this time round and would like some recommendations for good quality dog food, that also doesn't cost the absolute earth. New dog is currently fed exclusively on Forthglade apparently due to some allergies, which we are more than happy to continue with but is this regarded as a decent food?

https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory

You can use this website which will tell you the best food nutritionally. You can filter by different types of food (raw, dry, wet).

There are just so many options, it's a minefield 😪

I feed raw but do appreciate it's not for everyone as you need to make sure you have enough freezer space and are on top of taking it out each day, it is expensive compared to dry food. And a lot of vets don't like raw.

I also have Forthglade trays for when he goes to daycare and I occasionally forget to get the raw out of the freezer and he does well on these and is rated highly on that website.

I'm not an expert but am on some Facebook dog groups and a lot of people are saying that cold pressed is the best dry food now if you want to go that route (I think Forthglade dry is cold pressed?)

Good luck

Honestly, if a dog is happy on food - even if it's not the best in terms of nutrition - I wouldn't muck around with it.

You had your old dog for 17 years OP - and she clearly absolutely flourished on what you gave her.

Yes, feeding a dog decent food is important. But giving a dog what works best for them is most important.

It's a new dog @LandSharksAnonymous The OP is not mucking about with his food but starting afresh.

Forthglade is considered decent food @RiderGirl but loads of others too. All about good food website - as posted by pp - is really useful.

@redboxer321 I know that - but OP has said that the new dog is currently on specific food due to allergies, so personally I wouldn't change the food if the new dog is happy.

@LandSharksAnonymous My mistake and apologies.
You're quite right, best to keep him on the Forthglade.

Thank you all, especially @Hellohah for that, we'd be happy to keep him on the Forthglade but I did read somewhere that grain free isn't good for heart health (and then fell down a rabbit hole with it!) and just wanted to research best options. I like to keep things as simple as possible, but he's a dear little chap and we really want to look after his digestive health.

We use Butternut, and we're pleased to hear our vet does too. Our dog has some allergies and this brand suits her.

butternutbox.com/

I'd stick with the forthglade if he's happy on that. The grain free heart link has mostly been debunked I think.

We feed some forthglade wet food and can often pick it up with 30% off. I've found their customer service to be really good (I had a couple of trays in a box of 18 arrive damaged and got an entire new box) and you can buy from a lot of supermarkets and pet shops rather than online if urgent.

After going through months 6-10 with a fussy pup we've settled on Forthglade and it works well for us.

We feed ours raw and get it delivered.

https://www.naturaw.co.uk/

If he’s happy on forthglade I’d stick with it for a few months at least before introducing new food. We feed cold pressed dry food ( and a little bit of wet) and usually use Markus muhle or lukillus via zooplus. We were advised years and years ago to use cold pressed and stuck with it. In an emergency we have some Arden grange around in case a delivery is delayed. But I wouldn’t mess with anything until the dog is settled and happy. Our son uses forthglade for his puppy and he is happy on that. Our old dog ate the same until he needed a low fat diet due to pancreatitis and we switched to supermarket food ( advised by vet) and he lived to 15 and a half!

Raw. Especially if allergies as it's much easier to know what's in it! We use DAF.