Feeding a German Shepherd and Whippet together

A German Shepherd and a Whippet on one food budget — that's a genuinely tricky one, because you've got two dogs with very different metabolisms and body compositions. The Shepherd is a larger, heavier-framed working breed prone to joint issues and sometimes a sensitive gut; the Whippet is lean, fast-burning, and can drop condition quickly if the food isn't calorie-dense enough. The right food for both exists, but portion control becomes just as important as the food itself. To give you a useful answer: are either of them on anything specific right now, and are there any health issues — digestive problems, allergies, joint stiffness — I should factor in?

That's helpful. The loose stools on the Shepherd are worth paying attention to — it's often a sign the food has too many fillers, low-quality protein sources, or grains they're not handling well. Before I suggest anything, do you know what the current Shepherd food is? Specifically whether it's grain-inclusive or grain-free, and what the main protein source is? That'll tell me whether you're likely dealing with an ingredient sensitivity or just a quality issue.

Good — chicken tolerance on both dogs makes this easier. The supermarket grain-inclusive food is almost certainly the issue for the Shepherd. Those tend to use low meat inclusion, bulked out with cereals and fillers that sensitive stomachs don't handle well, even if the label says 'chicken and rice.' You're not looking for grain-free necessarily — you're looking for higher meat inclusion and cleaner ingredients. One food I'd point you towards for both dogs is Canagan Free-Run Chicken dry food. It's around 35% chicken, grain-free, no cheap fillers, and the energy density is good enough that the Whippet won't struggle to maintain condition on it. For the Shepherd, the cleaner protein source and absence of wheat and soy is very likely to settle the loose stools. The key difference will just be portions — the Whippet will need slightly more per kilo of body weight than the Shepherd to stay in condition. Canagan publishes feeding guides by weight and activity level, which makes that straightforward to calibrate.

It's more per bag than supermarket food, yes — but because the inclusion rates are higher, you feed less of it, so the per-day cost closes up considerably. A 12kg bag on Amazon UK typically runs around £55–£60 and will last a two-dog household like yours a reasonable stretch if you're feeding to the guide rather than guessing portions. You'd be replacing two separate products with one, which also simplifies things. The honest answer is it probably costs a little more than the supermarket food but less than the combination you're running now. And if it resolves the Shepherd's digestive issues, you're also saving on the unpredictability of vet trips for something that's almost certainly diet-related.

Don't switch straight over — especially with the Shepherd's sensitive stomach. Do a 7–10 day transition: start with about 25% new food mixed into the current food, increase to 50% after three or four days, then 75%, then full switch. The Whippet will likely tolerate a faster switch but there's no reason not to do both dogs at the same pace. If the loose stools on the Shepherd haven't improved within two to three weeks of being fully on the new food, it's worth a vet check to rule out anything underlying — but in my experience, a clean switch like this resolves it more often than not.