Recommendation wanted: Low fat food for a dog

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Our dog has slightly elevated cholesterol. Thyroid function has been tested and is normal. He is active and is not overweight. Consequently, we are looking for low-fat dog food to try and keep it under control.

He eats semi-dry food and we would prefer that or dry rather than cans.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good solution? Ideally, it should be widely available.

We have a visit to the vet soon and we know they sell Lily's Kitchen which has a low-fat "Shepherd's Pie" variety. And they also sell Royal Canin. Taste is important. When we adopted him 4 years ago, we tried everything and it was a constant battle for 4 months, until his deceased owner's lawyer called us to give us more information about him. It turns out he was fed Frolic and steak (talk about two ends of the spectrum!). He still eats Frolic and we haven't tried to switch and upset him since then. But now may be the time... (He only gets steak now to distract him while his nails are getting cut...).

Thanks!

2

How low fat does the food need to be?

Magnusson Meat and Biscuit Light, at 8% fat, has been a staple among the Muttley Crew for years. It’s a simple baked food, easily digestible.

https://www.meiko.ch/de/magnusson-me…-221400-1.html

Their other varieties, Organic Chicken, Grain free, and regular M/B are ca 12% fat.

Magnusson (all dry varieties) is available from Zooplus, but only in the 14kg bags. It’s available from Meiko in the 4 kg and 14kg bags.

Mine love it, but if your guy has been on habfeucht food he might not be happy with a simple dry kibble.

(FYI, their new wet food, which is in a ‘Wurstli’ package, not canned, so maybe an option, is fairly low fat, 12-14%.

https://www.meiko.ch/de/hunde/hundef…html?marke=491 )
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Escapure Wild is a dry food that my guys loved, and at 10% fat perhaps low enough for your guy. However, it disappeared from the pet food retailers for several years, leaving me frantically searching for an alternative. It’s back now via Galaxus… but buying pet food from a non-pet retailer always makes me nervous. And who knows if Galaxus will keep it in their range long term.

https://www.escapure.de/shop/produkt…-trockenfutter

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Speaking of food in a ‘Wurstli’ packaging, Edelbeiss Sensidog makes a Pferd and potato, Strauss and potato, chicken and potato - only 2% fat:
https://www.meiko.ch/de/catalogsearc…lt/?q=Sensidog
The Wurst-like consistency might appeal to your guy. Or, it makes a good training treat, even though it is a complete food.

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ZiwiPeak might be another option. No, it’s not low fat, but it is sometimes recommended for dogs battling high cholesterol because the source protein is grass fed. You might ask your vet if this would be appropriate, or not.

It’s an air-dried product, so a bit harder than semi dry but not a kibble. Your guy might like the taste and texture better. ZiwiPeak is expensive, but you feed a smaller amount. It is available at ZooPlus. You can read more about ZiwiPeak products here:

https://www.ziwipets.com/

I use it for training treats, and for whenever one is going through a fussy phase or battling inappetence.

Hope your pup finds a suitable food - I know how frustrating the search can be!

3

We use Josera Light & Vital

https://www.zooplus.ch/shop/hunde/hu…light&i=1&ro=2

4

A recommendation from the Hundeshule this morning: Anifit Nature

https://www.anifit.ch/shop/catalog/t…ry-nature-rind

9.5% Fat, fiber 4.5 % which is a bit higher than others. A question for the vet, but with people the goal is not only low fat but also higher fiber content. Don’t know if it is the same for critters, or not.

Anifit offers a small sample size, so at least you could try without too much investment or leftovers if your guy isn’t happy with it.

(I have a cupboard of ‘rejects’, things I had tried in desperation with poor Heffalump. I hate that so many foods can only be bought in larger quantities, such a waste once you find that the dog won’t eat it.)

Anifit also makes a semi-dry, but the fat content is higher.

I’ve not fed this myself, this is a recommendation from a colleague.

Have you tried any of the ‘veterinary/prescription’ foods? Specific Vet, Purina Vet, Hills Vet, Royal Canin Vet, Concept For Life Vet - all have a low fat option.

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FYI Out of curiosity I started reading various 'Hundefutter Ratgeber' sites, and it seems that the Josera Island Monkey mentioned comes up often on lists of low fat product recommendations.

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I was also going to reccomned Josera. Been recommended to us by several vets and breeders and price seems pretty good. Would give it a try.

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That's an excellent point. Thanks for mentioning it. Some brands offer money-back guarantees if the dog doesn't like it.

When we first got Watson and he wasn't eating, we tried everything. His stomach was very upset (which may also have been stress-related, given his circumstances). We tried Hills i/d and he just wouldn't eat it. We were so relieved when the lawyer looking after his previous owner's estate sent us as much information as she had (including receipts for dog food). As soon as we got the food he had been used to (Frolic), all the issues disappeared.

He has been with us for 4 years now and is very settled, so maybe a change of food will not be quite as traumatic.

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Thanks. Josera came up in quite a few searches, so definitely worth investigating further!

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As I was scouring t’internet (for a product that I desperately need but seems to be no longer deliverable to Switzerland - why does this keep happening?) I came across this:

https://www.tierbedarf-discount.ch/k…490.html?c=303

A semi-dry low (ish) fat food, Kyli Soft Fresh Beef adult low

At 11% fat, it’s not all that low fat - but lower than Frolic and most other Halbfeucht varieties.

I don’t know the brand or the retailer - so take this as just info, found on the way to searching for something else.

10

I am sorry to hear about the troubles with your doggo, my dog used to suffer from IBD and was super allergic to most kinds of meat.

I’d suggest to go to the website www.vet-concept.ch to find a meal for him.

They have a lot of options, and I was able to find the right food for him through them.

Best of luck

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My daughters dog suffered from pancreatitis and allergies and in the end they found a food that was delivered to them in Geneva from Austria - if you like I can ask her the name as I can't recall it.

Sadly our hearts are broken as we lost him 3 months ago but I know that the food made a huge difference to him

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I'm so sorry, Smackerjack.

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Going through my cupboard of ‘trial foods’, another possibility:

Real Nature Beef/Duck cold pressed, either regular or senior. Available at Fressnapf.

https://shop.fressnapf.ch/de/hund/hu…g-1347539.html

https://shop.fressnapf.ch/de/hund/hu…g-1347601.html

Regular is 8% fat, 4% fiber, Senior is 9.5% fat, 6.6% fiber.

I’ve fed this off and on over the years as training rewards. Most of mine loved it, the reason it’s in the ‘unused’ cupboard now is that poor old Heffalump can’t seem to remember how to chew, so he’s on soup-like meals now. It’s a fairly hard kibble, perhaps that might be an issue if your guy is used to semi-dry.

14
Sorry to hear that Smackerjack. We have an appointment with the vet tomorrow and will run some food types by her and see what she says. Kyli Soft looks like a favourite as it is semi-dry and he prefers that.

In my research I also came across Qualipet's Harmony Dog Deluxe Beef which is supposedly only 7% fat (and the Senior version only 4%). It's also semi dry. Does anyone have any experience with that?

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I don't know the Harmony products, but I took a peek at the ingredients - looks good. Beef over 60% - and at only 7 % or 4% fat that's a lot lower than other Halbfeucht foods.

The only question I would have is why is the beef version so much lower fat than the chicken, lamb, Wild, and even horse Harmony products? If you go to a bricks and mortar Qualipet, maybe just check the bag to double verify.

Since you can buy a small 1.5kg bag, certainly worth a try. And it's on sale...

16
Interesting question, but looking at the Kyli the Chicken is 14.5% fat and the beef 11%, so there is a difference there also. Maybe the parts they use are less fatty in the beef products.

But definitely worth checking those Harmony fat values in real life to make sure it's not a typo on the website! Wouldn't be the first time...

17
Interesting point!

Out of curiosity, I randomly checked several brands, and yes, in some the beef versions are indeed lowest fat version. Which surprised me, because my default assumption was that beef would be higher than horse or venison, sometimes even pork.

Reminds me of the old adage about assumptions.

And a good reminder to keep reading the labels, even on brands/products one has used for years.

Ya learn somethin' every day...

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Hope a good solution is found for your pup, Snoopy and Mrs D!

18
only imagining how a commercial meat processing operation for animal food works and thinking of the creature, beef in one vat, chicken into another etc. it seems chicken being used for animal food includes higher percentages of the skin (fat)