Chow Chow dull coat — is diet the cause?

A dull coat on a Chow Chow is one of the first signs that something in the diet isn't quite right — that thick double coat needs a lot of nutritional support to stay dense and glossy, and it's often one of the first things to suffer when fat quality or protein is off. Before I point you anywhere, tell me a bit more: what are you currently feeding, roughly how much, and has anything else changed recently — energy levels, skin condition, shedding more than usual?

That's a pretty telling picture. Most supermarket dry foods use rendered fats and lower-quality protein sources — they meet minimum nutritional standards, but they don't deliver the omega-3 fatty acids and amino acid profile that a Chow Chow's coat genuinely needs. The flakiness near the base of the coat is a classic sign of insufficient dietary fat quality, not quantity. The coat looks fed, but it isn't nourished. Has he ever had any digestive sensitivity — loose stools, gassiness — or is his digestion fairly settled on what he's eating now?

Yes, and it doesn't have to be expensive. The one I'd point you to is Forthglade Cold Pressed Salmon with Brown Rice. Cold-pressed processing keeps the natural oils in the salmon intact — that's your omega-3 source, and it's the direct route to improving coat condition. It uses a single animal protein, which also suits breeds like Chows that can have subtle sensitivities you've never identified because you've never isolated the protein. For a 28kg dog you'd feed around 280–300g per day, which works out reasonably economical. Most owners with double-coated breeds see a visible difference in coat texture within six to eight weeks of switching. It's widely available on Amazon UK and straightforward to transition onto — just mix it in gradually over a week.

Let the food do the work first — always. Adding a fish oil supplement on top of a poor base diet treats a symptom without fixing the cause, and you end up spending more without understanding what's actually helping. Give the Forthglade eight weeks consistently, keep everything else the same, and then reassess. If the coat is improving — which I'd expect it to — you have your answer and you've kept it simple. If there's no change after eight weeks, that's the point to consider whether there's something else going on worth a vet conversation, but I'd be surprised. Diet is almost always the culprit when a Chow Chow's coat goes flat like this.

Good plan. Stick to the eight weeks, don't chop and change, and you should see results. The Forthglade Cold Pressed Salmon is a solid, honest food — not the flashiest marketing but the ingredients are genuinely good for what your dog needs right now. Good luck with him.