Dog food for Basset Hound with ear infections

Recurring ear infections in a Basset Hound almost always have a dietary thread worth pulling. The breed is already prone to them anatomically, but when they keep coming back, gut health and food sensitivities are usually part of the picture — which is exactly why your nutritionist is pointing in that direction. Choosing dog food is genuinely complicated: the right answer depends on age, size, breed, and health, and the most marketed or most expensive options are rarely the best fit. To point you somewhere useful: what are you currently feeding him, and has the vet or nutritionist flagged any specific ingredients to avoid — grains, chicken, dairy?

That's a reasonable starting point. Chicken and wheat are two of the more common dietary triggers for chronic inflammation in dogs, and in Bassets the inflammation often shows up first in those ears. A limited-ingredient, single-protein, grain-free food removes the most likely culprits in one move, which is exactly what a trial diet needs to do — you want to change as few variables as possible while changing the right ones. At 28kg he's a solid medium-to-large dog, so you also need something with decent calorie density so he's actually satisfied. What's his activity level like, and is his weight stable or has it been creeping up?

Good to know — that weight note matters for portion sizing. Given everything: a 3-year-old Basset with recurring ear infections, a gut-health trial underway, chicken and wheat in the current food, and a tendency toward easy weight gain, I'd recommend Forthglade Grain Free Dry Dog Food in the Turkey & Vegetable recipe. It's a single named protein (turkey, not chicken), genuinely grain-free with sweet potato as the carb base, and it includes natural prebiotics to support gut flora directly. The ingredient list is short and legible, which is what you want for a proper elimination-style trial. It's widely available on Amazon UK in larger bags, reasonably priced, and the turkey base is one of the less reactive proteins — so if he does have a chicken sensitivity, you're not accidentally replicating the problem. Give it a solid 8 weeks before judging the ear situation; gut-driven inflammation takes time to settle.

Slowly, always — especially when gut health is already a concern. A sudden switch can cause loose stools, which muddies the picture and makes it harder to tell whether the new food is actually working. Mix about 25% new food with 75% old for three or four days, then go 50/50 for another three or four days, then 75% new for a few more days, then full switch. If his stomach is sensitive, stretch each phase by a day or two. Once he's fully transitioned, keep a simple log of ear symptoms — frequency, severity, smell — so you have something concrete to report back to the nutritionist after the 8-week trial.

Good luck with it. Forthglade Turkey Grain Free is a solid, clean food and it's a genuine change from what he's been eating, which is exactly what you need for the trial to mean anything. If after 8 weeks the ears are no better, the next step is usually a hydrolysed protein food under vet guidance — but start here first. Hope he gets some relief.