Rhodesian Ridgeback Food Sensitivity: No-Chicken Options

A Ridgeback with a chicken sensitivity — that rules out a huge chunk of the dog food market straight away, which makes finding something suitable genuinely tricky. How long have you known about the chicken issue, and are you currently managing it okay or still seeing symptoms like itching, loose stools, or gut upset?

You're absolutely right to be frustrated — 'no chicken' on the front of a bag often means nothing when chicken fat or chicken meal is still in the ingredients. For a dog with a true sensitivity you need a food where the entire recipe is built around a different protein from the ground up. What are you feeding him right now, and is he a good weight? Ridgebacks can be prone to carrying too much condition if the calorie density isn't right for their activity level.

Good to know — an active, healthy-weight adult Ridgeback is a relatively straightforward brief once you sort the protein. For a dog his size and build, I'd go with Forthglade Grain Free Adult Wet Dog Food in the Lamb with Brown Rice variety. It's a complete wet food, genuinely chicken-free throughout — no chicken fat, no chicken derivatives — and lamb is a well-tolerated novel protein for dogs who've been sensitised to chicken. Forthglade are transparent about their ingredients, the recipes are simple, and lamb provides the protein density a large active breed like a Ridgeback needs. It comes in 395g trays so you can portion it cleanly alongside a grain-free dry if you want to keep the mixed feeding approach. I'd pair it with something like Forthglade's own grain-free dry in the same lamb flavour so the protein source is consistent and you're not accidentally reintroducing chicken through the kibble.

The 'don't switch proteins' advice is really about not rotating randomly if you're trying to identify a sensitivity — you want to isolate one protein to see if it's causing issues. Since you've already established chicken is the problem and you're moving away from it intentionally, introducing lamb is the right move. Novel proteins are actually the standard recommendation for food-sensitive dogs precisely because they haven't been exposed to them enough to build a reaction. Just transition gradually over about ten days — mix the new food in increasing amounts with whatever he's on now — and you should be fine. Watch for any new symptoms in the first few weeks, but lamb reactions in dogs without a prior lamb history are uncommon.

Yes, it's well stocked on Amazon UK — search for Forthglade Grain Free Adult Lamb and you'll find multipacks of the 395g trays which work out better value than buying individually. Subscribe and Save brings the cost down further if you're happy to commit to a regular delivery, which for a Ridgeback eating decent portions makes sense. It's also worth checking the ingredients list yourself when it arrives just to confirm — but Forthglade have a good reputation for keeping their recipes clean and consistent.