This year, Forthglade are celebrating 50 years in the dog food industry. The Devon-based brand have been creating natural and nutritious recipes using high-quality ingredients since 1971.
To mark their half-century, Forthglade have released a brand new limited edition birthday recipe: sardines and haddock with potato and broccoli, made with fish straight from the shores of Devon.
The brand uses natural ingredients and is free from junk and fillers, meaning I can buy my dogs’ dinner with confidence they’re eating healthy, balanced, complete meals. Their grain-free recipes are sold in Sainsbury’s, so we’ve been using them to top Phoebe and Frank’s dry meals. I picked up every flavour stocked in our local branch, which was five of their several delicious recipes, which would cover The Scamps’ meals for 12 days.
We add around a tenth of a tray to each of Phoebe and Frank’s meals. The trays keep in the fridge for 48 hours once open, which means we can get five meals out of them – which is amazing value for money when they’re about £1.40 each. If they were exclusively fed these Forthglade wet trays, each dog would require a tray and a half per day based on their weight. Because we feed a mix of wet and dry, we balance their meals so as they don’t put on weight.
The Forthglade recipes are packed with fibre-rich vegetables like sweet potato and butternut squash, which have been gently steamed to retain nutrients, making them a brilliant addition to their diets. They also contain 75% meat, which gets a paws up from both us humans and the pooches.
The Sardines and Haddock recipe, created for the Forthglade 50th Birthday, contains 49% sardines, 26% haddock, as well as potato, broccoli, minerals, dried seaweed and herbs like chamomile, parsley and rosemary. It offers a great source of protein, nutrients and natural oils, and because it’s grain-free, it’s great for dogs with sensitive bellies like Phoebe.
As well as the limited edition recipe, Forthglade are marking their birthday with a new charity campaign ‘50 for 50’, where 50 charities will receive a total of 50,000 meals.
Other Forthglade flavours Phoebe and Frank have enjoyed recently include the Duck with potato and vegetables, which is carbohydrate rich with 75% duck, ideal for if they’ve got a busy day ahead to ensure they’re full of energy. They’ve also loved Turkey with sweet potato and vegetables, Lamb with butternut squash and vegetables, as well as Salmon with potato and vegetables. Fish flavoured treats and recipes are a real treat for Phoebe and Frank, so the Salmon, and the Sardines and Haddock recipes definitely floated their boat.
What I love from a dog-mum perspective is that you really can see the vegetables in the recipe, which looks like a high-quality pate. I know that if this was served on a plate in a restaurant, diners would have no qualms about spreading it on some sourdough. I also like that there are variations of each recipe – some with sweet potato, others with brown rice, so you can tailor your dogs own menu to their needs. It’s a really affordable recipe, and the trays are generous – it’s easily four meals each for Phoebe and Frank, but we can often stretch them to five each. In Sainsbury’s there are also smaller trays which would be better for smaller breeds to ensure there’s no waste. They store really well in the fridge in terms of size, because they stack well – but also, even when they’re open you don’t get that ‘dog food smell’ every time you go to grab the milk or a chocolate bar.
If you’re looking for junk-free, healthy meals for your pet, or just want to add something exciting to their kibble as a tasty topper, we’d definitely recommend Forthglade.