This is a specific conversation about Senior dog food — what changes as they age — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Moving a dog off a homemade cooked diet onto commercial food is actually one of the trickier transitions to get right — their gut has been working with fresh whole ingredients, so the shift needs to be gradual and the food you land on needs to be genuinely good quality. Senior dogs typically need fewer calories, better digestibility, and more joint support, but how urgent that is depends a lot on breed and health. Springer Spaniels at 8 are entering their senior years but are often still pretty active. What's the dog currently eating on the homemade diet — is it a balanced recipe or more ad hoc? And are there any health conditions or weight concerns I should know about?
It's been pretty balanced — chicken, rice, veg, sometimes oily fish. He's a healthy weight, no major conditions, but he's starting to show some stiffness in his back legs after walks. I just don't have the time to keep cooking it properly.
inparticular.ai
That stiffness after walks is worth taking seriously — Springers are prone to hip and elbow issues as they age, so joint support should definitely be on your checklist for a new food. The good news is he's coming from a solid diet, which means his gut is in good shape. What you want to avoid is landing on a food that's heavily processed, high in fillers, or lacking in the omega-3s he's been getting from that oily fish. Is he currently on a normal meal schedule — twice a day? And roughly what size is he, so I can think about portion sizing?
Yes, twice a day. He's about 22kg, so pretty standard for the breed.
inparticular.ai
Perfect — that's a helpful weight to work with. For an 8-year-old Springer coming off a good homemade diet, I'd recommend Forthglade Complete Senior with Chicken, Brown Rice & Vegetables. It's a wet food, which matters here — the high moisture content is closer in texture to what his system is used to from cooked food, so the transition is much gentler on his gut than jumping straight to kibble. It has named meat as the first ingredient, added glucosamine and chondroitin for those joints, omega-3 from fish oil, and the calorie density is right for a senior dog. The recipe is clean and straightforward, which your dog's digestive system will appreciate after real food. Transition over about ten days — start with 20% new food mixed in, and build slowly. If you notice loose stools, just slow the switchover down rather than stopping.
That sounds good. Should I be worried about him missing out on anything he was getting from the homemade diet?
inparticular.ai
It's a fair concern, but a complete commercial food like Forthglade is formulated to meet FEDIAF nutritional guidelines, so all the essential vitamins and minerals are covered — that's actually one thing homemade diets sometimes fall short on unless you're being very precise. The main thing he might notice is less variety in flavour and texture, but Springers tend to adapt well. The one thing I'd keep an eye on is joint support — if the stiffness doesn't improve after a couple of months on the new food, it's worth adding a separate joint supplement or having the vet take a look. But the glucosamine in Forthglade is a solid starting point.
Great, I'll give it a try. How many trays a day would he need?
inparticular.ai
At 22kg, he'll need around 3 to 3.5 trays per day split across his two meals — the packaging gives a guide by weight, but that's roughly where you'll land. It's worth weighing him every few weeks for the first couple of months just to make sure he's holding his condition. Forthglade is available in multipack trays on Amazon UK, which works out more economical and means you're not running out constantly. Good luck with the switch — he sounds like a dog in good health, and this is a sensible move.
