This is a specific conversation about Puppy food — getting the foundations right — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Fish-based foods are brilliant for lots of dogs, but they're one of the more common culprits for strong body odour — and on a Vizsla, who you're going to have very close contact with, that's genuinely miserable to live with. The good news is this is very fixable with a protein switch, and at 11 months your pup still has a bit of time left on puppy food before moving to adult. Before I point you in a direction — what were they eating before the fish food, if anything, and have you noticed any other symptoms like loose stools or itchy skin, or was it purely the smell?
Before the fish food we had them on a chicken-based kibble from the vet, which was fine but we wanted something better quality. No itching or loose stools at all, literally just the smell — it was overpowering, especially after walks. She's a girl by the way, 11 months, so nearly at adult stage.
inparticular.ai
That's really helpful — and honestly reassuring. If it's purely smell with no digestive or skin issues, this isn't an intolerance situation, it's just that fish protein produces certain compounds during digestion that some dogs excrete through their skin very noticeably. Vizslas in particular seem to amplify it. The fact she was fine on chicken tells us exactly where to go. One thing I want to check: at 11 months, a female Vizsla is close to her adult size but not quite there — large breeds need to stay on puppy food until 12 months minimum. Is she still growing, or does she look fully grown to you?
She still looks like she has a little filling out to do, and the vet said to keep her on puppy food until at least 12 months. So we've got about a month left of puppy food really.
inparticular.ai
Perfect — so you want something that'll see her through that last month well, with no fishy smell and good quality ingredients. My clear recommendation is Acana Puppy & Junior. It's a high-protein, grain-free kibble with free-run chicken and turkey as the primary proteins — no fish whatsoever in this variant. The ingredient quality is genuinely excellent: around 60% poultry ingredients, named fats, and a proper nutrient profile designed for growing dogs. It's widely available on Amazon UK in a 2kg or 6kg bag. Because she was fine on chicken before, the transition should be smooth — just mix it in over 5–7 days to be safe. After a week or two on it, the smell should be completely gone. When she hits 12 months, Acana also does an adult range with the same formulation philosophy, so it's an easy brand to stay with.
That sounds really good. Is there anything I need to watch for during the switch, given she's nearly fully grown?
inparticular.ai
Not much to worry about — she's past the most sensitive growth phase, so her digestive system is fairly robust now. The main thing is just not switching cold turkey, even though she tolerates food changes reasonably well. Go 25% new food for two days, then 50%, then 75%, then full — that five to seven day window gives her gut bacteria time to adjust. Watch her stools just to confirm everything's settled, and check the feeding guide on the bag because Acana is quite calorie-dense so you might feed slightly less volume than you're used to. But honestly, given she had zero issues except the smell, I'd expect a very clean transition.
Brilliant, thank you. That's exactly what I needed — clear and straightforward.
