Dog food in the UK for a dog with serious food allergies

Hi Everyone,

Wondering if someone can give me some guidance on dog food in the UK...we are planning to move over sometime next year with our 6 year old Poodle/Yorkie mix who has pretty serious food allergies--even a little of something she's allergic to ends in pancreatitis, huge vet bills, and misery for our poor girl. We found out years ago through allergy tests that she is allergic to potatoes, corn, peas, pork, venison, and a handful of less common dog food ingredients. There are only a couple brands of food/treats here in the US that we have been able to find stocked at our local pet stores that she can have. We do make food at home for her but feel it's important she gets some kibble too since it would be nearly impossible for us to provide a fully balanced diet on homemade food alone. Does anyone else have a pet with food allergies? How difficult was it for you to find food in the UK? Are the labels straightforward/required to list all ingredients? Here she eats Natural Balance limited ingredient diet lamb & brown rice regular size dry food (as even the small dog size dry food in this same brand/type has added brewer's yeast, which she is also allergic to), has anyone found this specific brand available in the UK?

Thank you so much to anyone who has any info!!

Have a look at this website.

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/

Even if you do find the same brand of food, it's likely to be a different formulation due to EU regulations versus USA regulations.  That was a quick lesson I learned when I brought my cats over.  It took us a bit to find a food that didn't cause my siamese to vomit continuously.

I feed my dog raw food if you’d like any advice.

http://www.petsathome.com/

Can also check out what's available at Pets At Home just to give you an idea of what is easier to find for pets with allergies over here

Thanks guys! After reading through tons of ingredients lists, I found 3 dry foods she should be able to eat:

Nutro Natural Choice Adult Lamb & Rice
OptimaNova Adult Mobility Chicken & Rice
Yarrah Organic Sensitive with Chicken & Rice

And one add-meat-yourself dry mix:

Grau Excellence Premium Rice Mix w/ Veg

Has anyone bought any of these brands before? Any reviews?

Also, @eatoomey do you make your own raw food or purchase it? If you make it yourself, do you add anything like the above mix or supplements/vitamins?

@KFdancer, I saw another post from a while ago where you talked about the struggle to find the right food for your Siamese, that must have been terrible! It's so scary when your pets are sick because it isn't like they can tell you what's wrong or just how sick they are. Glad you found something that works!

@KFdancer, I saw another post from a while ago where you talked about the struggle to find the right food for your Siamese, that must have been terrible! It's so scary when your pets are sick because it isn't like they can tell you what's wrong or just how sick they are. Glad you found something that works!

Yeah it was tough because he was on Pro Plan in the USA and they sell it here.  It never occurred to me that it would be different.

Hiya. I feed my good-sized greyhound between 750g and 1 kg of raw meat and bones a day, whole, not minced. I buy frozen chicken pieces and fresh lambs liver and kidney from Tesco, and also feed her eggs regularly. If I’m being a good pet owner she also gets whole fish and lamb bones, heart and other organ meat.
But mostly she gets, say, the equivalent to half a chicken, plus a few kidneys and a slice or two of liver each day.
Her poops are so much more easy to clean up, she loves her food, and it just feels right.
I do have a grain free kibble I keep on hand for when we’ve run out or she’s feeling peckish.
Feeding her is one of my favourite times of day.

I feed my good-sized greyhound

  oh!  you have a greyhound! 
I had one too... he was the love of my life... he died in 2012.  If I am ever able to have another dog, it will be a sighthound of some sort; probably a greyhound, as I volunteer for the Scottish Greyhound Sanctuary.

Sorry... back to the topic of feeding...

@eatoomey Wow, that's dedication! She's a lucky pup! I wish we could feed ours like that, but her digestion is just too sensitive. I used to put organ meats in her homemade food, and I've tried branching out from just chicken but she always ends up getting sick sooner or later when the formula changes much. I think the idea of a raw diet is really fascinating too, but in practice I just wouldn't feel comfortable feeding her raw animal products in the US...it would be different if we could afford to get the really nice organic/grass fed/free range/wild caught meats for her but we can't even afford those for ourselves haha. She really loves fresh fruit and veggies and luckily they don't bother her so we always share whatever we have around that's fresh (as long as it's dog-safe!)

AliG, are you specifically looking for kibble? My dog was eating IandLoveandYou in the US and was eating their dehydrated raw food - it was the only food that helped him lose weight (literally, the only food). Before I moved, I did a lot of research and found a similar brand called Pure. It's not the same thing, but he doesn't seem to be gaining, so I think things are going well for us. They have several different formulations if that's something that you want to look into: https://purepetfood.co.uk/

@bisousdarling Thanks for the recommendation! They do have a couple options that she could eat. Is this brand one you've seen in stores at all or do you exclusively order online?

@AliG I've only ever bought it online, but it's because I'm not driving at the moment (never driven manual, have to learn!) and I don't want to pester my husband to drive me to 80 different pet stores to see if they have it 

@AliG I've only ever bought it online, but it's because I'm not driving at the moment (never driven manual, have to learn!) and I don't want to pester my husband to drive me to 80 different pet stores to see if they have it 

Hahaha I totally get that!! I need to learn on a manual as well, it sounds daunting!

Hahaha I totally get that!! I need to learn on a manual as well, it sounds daunting!

I highly recommend learning how to drive a manual before leaving the USA. 

I highly recommend learning how to drive a manual before leaving the USA. 

I dunno... I feel that I would have had a lot less problems learning to drive manual here if I hadn't known how in the US.