10 Best Dog Food For Greyhounds: Healthy & Balanced Diet Options

Looking for the best dog food for Greyhounds? We got you covered, read on.

Greyhounds are sweet-tempered and have been objects of fascination among the nobility and the art world. Their speed comes from their aerodynamic bodies and shock absorbing feet, plus the leanness of their “S” curve.

They’re excellent with families and overall very calm dogs that get along well if you’re active and even if you aren’t.

They have a life expectancy of about ten to 13 years and often require higher amounts of protein and calories than other dogs.

They also some exercise to help with boredom but should never be off-leash in areas where they aren’t fenced in because the need to chase pray is often too much to bear, and they can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.

OUR TOP 3 PICKS FOR DOG FOODS FOR GREYHOUNDS

Best Dog Food for Greyhounds

We’ve put together our top recommendations for best dog foods for Greyhounds. We’ve tried to consider the overall benefit of each food and recommend foods for all stages of life. Adult Greyhounds do best on heavy meat formulas, so we’ve started with those.

Be sure to check with your veterinarian for the best nutrition practices for your Greyhound and to get any final specific needs taken care of. Let’s take a look at our list.

 

1. Ollie Fresh Pet Food

Ollie is a pet food company that was founded in 2016 by Gabby Slome, Alex Douzet, and Randy Jimenez. This New York-based pet food company set out to turn the pet food industry on its head by offering fresh, custom meals for dogs similar to meal-prep services like Maple and Sprig for humans.

If your dog's ready for some sheep thrills, we suggest this meal centered around lamb and butternut squash. Perfect for pups with allergies, this feast also contains nutrient-dense cranberries and kale.

They carefully source their ingredients from reputable farms in the U.S and Australia. Each partner must go through an extensive certification process to become a supplier. All of their food is made only with whole, human-grade ingredients.

First Five Ingredients (Lamb recipe):

• Lamb
• Lamb liver
• Butternut squash
• Lamb Liver
• Chickpeas

Ollie’s fresh food is made and hand-packed in the USA. They are partners with a veterinary nutritionists and other pet health experts to formulate their nutritionally-balanced recipes in accordance with AAFCO standards. All of their food is cooked in small batches in their USDA-regulated kitchen.

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2. American Journey Salmon & Brown Rice Recipe (Large Breed)

American Journey’s formula uses deboned salmon as the first ingredient for controlled weight and lean protein. It uses fruits and veggies for antioxidants and vitamins. It uses minerals such as calcium to build strong bones that can support the weight of your full grown Greyhounds.

It’s made with ingredients that fuel your pet’s everyday adventures—starting with real, deboned salmon to promote lean muscles. To support your large dog’s bone health, American Journey Large Breed has controlled levels of minerals like calcium and phosphorus.

Brown rice and barley provide complex carbohydrates that release slowly and don't cause energy spikes. There are no corn, soy, or wheat fillers and no poultry by-product meals. Essential fatty acids round everything out to support coat and skin health.

This delicious recipe delivers several other powerful nutrients like antioxidants for immune system support, DHA for brain and vision development, carefully balanced omegas for skin and coat health, and natural fibers to support good digestion.

First Five Ingredients:

• Deboned Salmon
• Menhaden Fish Meal
• Brown Rice
• Peas
• Pea Protein

American Journey is owned by online pet product and food retailer, Chewy.com. It’s Chewy’s house brand and is made right here in the U.S. All meals are designed to cater to the specific and various needs of pups of varying life stages.

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3. Taste Of The Wild Pacific Stream Formula

Taste of the Wild has produced a brilliant dog food formula that we are not sure can be beaten at this price point. Using novel proteins including real smoked salmon, this dog food takes its inspiration from the ancestral diet of prehistoric canines.

Formulated with novel proteins including real smoked salmon, this grain-free recipe includes peas and sweet potatoes that deliver the highly-digestible energy your active pup needs, along with natural antioxidant support from real fruits and vegetables and dried chicory root for prebiotic support and healthy digestion.

It contains 25% protein and 15% fat. These numbers are brilliant and far above average. A high amount of protein and fat will do wonders for supporting the growth and maintenance of your dog's muscles and bones. High-fat content is also necessary for your dog to maintain a healthy immune system.

It is worth pointing out, however, that some of the protein in this formula is vegetable-based, with pea protein and potato protein featuring on the ingredients list. Vegetable proteins are harder for your dog's stomach to break down, but it shouldn't be too much of a concern if your dog does not have any digestive problems.

First Five Ingredients:

• Salmon
• Ocean Fish Meal
• Sweet Potatoes
• Potatoes
• Peas

Each Taste of the Wild recipe is intended to provide the complete nutrition our pet needs in the way that nature intended — always real meat first. And not just any protein.

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4. Nom Nom Pet Food Delivery

If you’ve got space in your budget to go raw but don’t want to do it yourself, Nom Nom’s recipes are designed to give your Greyhound quality ingredients in their natural state.

It uses ground turkey for quality protein plus brown rice for complex carbohydrates. There are no potatoes, corn, gluten, or other common allergens found in other foods.

The protein and fat levels are awesome, and you have a choice of delivery services from one week to every month. It’s an investment, with one week’s worth of food costing about the same as a regular bag of dog food, but for pet owners at their wit’s end with allergies, picky eaters, or weight issues, this may be a good solution.

First Five Ingredients:

• Ground Turkey
• Brown rice
• Carrots
• Spinach
• Egg

The company began with a veterinarian and a plan. Each week the company makes gently-cooked food with restaurant quality ingredients and packages the servings up to precise portions. The meals are delivered just days after preparation, so refrigeration or freezing will be required.

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5. Spot & Tango Fresh Pet Food

Spot & Tango is a new fresh dog food delivery service that is based in New York that provides human-grade food direct to your door on a regular basis. They create a customized, pre-portioned meal plan based on your dog's age, weight, breed, and health goals.

All ingredients used in the formulas are feed grade. There’s no mysterious meat mashups that often get tossed into your typical kibble.

Each recipe is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO dog food nutrient profiles for all life stages, which means it is appropriate to feed to both puppies and adult dogs.

First Five Ingredients (Turkey Red Quinoa Recipe):

• Turkey
• Red Quinoa
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Peas

Using their very own recipes created by Vet nutritionists, Spot & Tango takes locally sourced lean proteins, fresh vegetables and fruits, and high-quality carbohydrates and cooks up a batch of homemade food in their USDA-certified kitchens just for your dog.

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6. Merrick Backcountry Raw Infused Great Plains Red Recipe

Merrick’s Backcountry formula is a meat-heavy food that should do well with Greyhounds and their protein requirements. It doesn’t have any of the usual suspects for allergies or food additives, so your Greyhound should be able to maintain a healthy weight without trying too hard or cutting out too much food.

It’s a combination of high-quality kibble with freeze-dried bits of raw meat, plus sweet potatoes and fruits and vegetables for antioxidants and supplements for things like joint health (glucosamine and chondroitin).

First Five Ingredients:

• Deboned Beef
• Lamb Meal
• Salmon Meal
• Sweet Potatoes
• Potatoes

Merrick manufactures all their food in a local factory in Texas where every ingredient is quality controlled and responsibly sourced. They don’t use any 4-D meats (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying), and the formulations of their foods are excellent quality. Their foods do contain potatoes, so use your best judgment according to the studies.

 

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Greyhound Puppy Food

Puppies have slightly different nutritional requirements than adult dogs. Their dietary needs are continually changing because of the rate of growth, but they will need higher amounts of protein and slightly higher caloric intake.

It’s essential that all calories come from nutrient-dense sources to prevent your puppy from growing too rapidly and putting strain on the skeleton and muscle structure.

7. Nutro Wholesome Essentials Puppy Formula

Our first puppy food is a dry food using whole chicken with brown rice for complex carbohydrates. It uses specific levels of protein and fats to support growing puppies and their energy levels without causing rapid growth.

It uses no fillers and no artificial ingredients. Whole proteins help your puppy maintain a healthy metabolism while phosphorus and calcium build bones and maintain the coat. It’s suitable for all breeds of puppy large and small.

First Five Ingredients:

• Chicken
• Whole Brown Rice
• Chicken Meal
• Split Peas
• Chicken Fat

Nutro has been making pet food since 1926 and uses only wholesome quality ingredients sourced specifically for better pet nutrition. Their food uses no fillers or preservatives and have produced some pioneering pet foods over the years.

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8. Nulo Freestyle Turkey, Cod & Sweet Potato Recipe

If your puppy will only eat wet food, Nulo’s Freestyle option could be a great one. It uses turkey and cod for complete proteins plus sweet potato for complex carbohydrates. It contains no corn or soy, and it’s wheat free. It’s a low glycemic wet food, so it will contribute to your puppy’s energy without causing energy crashes.

It contains verified levels of DHA from salmon oil to support cognitive development, and nutrient-dense ingredients such as cranberries and blueberries support a healthy coat and immune system.

First Five Ingredients:

• Turkey
• Turkey Broth
• Salmon Broth
• Turkey Liver
• Cod

Nulo is a US based pet food company that uses ingredients sourced and manufactured in the United States. Its wet food is suitable as a primary source of your puppy’s diet or as a topper for dry kibble.

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Best Senior Greyhound Diets

Seniors also have changing needs. As your senior dog gets older, it becomes much more important for food to have nutrient dense formulas that won’t cause weight gain and will support aging joints and bones. Older dogs may also be pickier, so the taste has to be good too.

9. Solid Gold Young At Heart Chicken, Sweet Potato & Spinach Senior Recipe

Solid Gold’s senior dog food uses whole proteins, spinach, and sweet potato for a blend of appropriate nutrition including antioxidants and complex carbohydrates. The formula is highly digestible and suitable for sensitive stomachs commonly associated with aging.

It’s made in the US and uses no artificial colors or flavors. It’s corn, soy, gluten, and wheat free so you shouldn’t have to worry about common allergies associated with those.

It’s nutrient dense, so if your senior is on a weight control plan, it can get all the appropriate nutritional needs without adding in a bunch of extra calories.

First Five Ingredients:

• Chicken
• Chicken Meal
• Sweet Potatoes
• Chickpeas
• Peas

Solid Gold is a US based pet food company that both sources ingredients and manufactures food in the United States. The company was started in the 70s by a woman who wanted to give her own dogs a nutritious start in life.

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10. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Senior Chicken Recipe

This grain-free senior food should keep your dog from gaining too much weight as activity levels slow down. It contains no grains that could upset the delicate energetic balance of your senior, and it's formulated to meet your senior’s changing nutrition needs.

The company doesn’t use any type of artificial color, preservative, or flavors. It provides antioxidants from fruits and veggies plus sweet potatoes for slow release carbohydrates that won’t overload your dog’s system. It’s suitable for all your size breeds and breed types.

First Five Ingredients:

• Deboned Chicken
• Chicken Meal
• Peas
• Pea Protein
• Pea Starch

Blue Buffalo is a small US-based company dedicated to providing food that mimics the ancestral diet of dogs. Their foods contain no fillers, artificial flavors or colors, and no artificial preservatives. They still manage to be very affordable despite the quality ingredients and meat-heavy formulas.

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Why Quality Food Matters for Your Greyhound Dog

Greyhounds are svelte dogs and prone to joint problems if they gain too much weight. Because they’re so fast, this might lead owners to keep them indoors for longer periods of time just to be safe, making the weight issue worse.

Quality food will have higher amounts of protein and calories, but those calories will be delivered in ways that help keep your Greyhound's muscle mass and fat ration perfectly balanced.

Some dogs may also have skin issues and allergies. Quality foods do not contain fillers that can make your Greyhound’s skin itchy and raw. Even if you’re on a budget, you may end up with a few more trips to the vet if your cheap dog food doesn’t quite manage the nutrition quality your Greyhound needs.

3 Common Health Issues

Greyhounds are susceptible to a few health issues, but these three are some you should be watching for.

Bloat – Greyhounds are particularly susceptible to a dangerous condition called Bloat. This isn’t like typical human bloat. Instead, the stomach fills up with air and twists, making a painful condition that’s almost always fatal if it isn’t caught and corrected early.

Bigger dogs and dogs with the unique body type of Greyhounds are at significant risk, so it’s important that the food they eat be healthy with dense nutrition so that you don’t have to feed them as much of it. Also, taking steps to ensure that your Greyhounds eat slowly can also help stave off the issue.

Musculoskeletal Issues – Many Greyhounds are adopted from the race track. Because of the rigorous physical requirements of racing, many develop hip and joint issues or osteoarthritis in their older age.

Even if your Greyhound isn’t a former racing dog, it can still develop the same bone structure issues because of how a Greyhound is built. Quality dog foods often contain supplements to help prevent or ease the effects of these problems.

Glucosamine plus Chondroitin are two very common supplements in dog foods that help support healthy joints and joint tissue. Calcium supplementation also helps build strong bones.

Proper protein content builds the type o muscle Greyhounds will need to prevent straining joints and bones in their older age. Plus, it can maintain proper weight so that the skeletal structure isn’t strained.

Skin Allergies – Greyhounds are also prone to chronic skin allergies. Their coat offers little protection from environmental triggers, so you may battle that for the rest of your Greyhound’s life. If you add food allergies on top of environmental triggers, you may be set for a whole host of issues.

Foods without fillers and additives made from meat by-products, corn, soy, and other types of gluten can help alleviate your Greyhound’s sensitivities while still providing the proper amount of nutrition.

If you’re still having issues even after using a sensitive food, you may want to check with your veterinarian to see if deeper allergies are present. Other common, but less diagnosed allergies are chicken or fish.

What to Look For

The average Greyhound needs about 1750 calories per day for a 70-pound dog, but that could change if your Greyhound is less active or significantly smaller. If your dog is a puppy, it will need a minimum of 22 percent protein while adult dogs need a minimum of 20 percent.

Fat is essential, but it should be high quality and from a whole source such as fish. Adult dogs need up to five percent protein while puppies may need as high as eight. Greyhounds really thrive on high meat-based diets because of these protein and fat requirements, leading many owners to feed a raw food diet. You should always check with your veterinarian before you begin something as complicated as that.

Ingredients to Avoid

Meat byproducts can cause some significant allergies and don’t really offer much in the way of quality protein. They’re inserted to help your dog feel full and reduce cost, but many times they provide empty calories that just add up to extra weight.

Corn and soy are common additives in cheap dog foods for the same reason, but these are frequently the cause of allergies and skin irritations. Dogs do not regularly consume that kind of ingredient in the wild and consuming it in dog food can lead to improper amounts of calories versus actual nutrients. It can also cause severe itchy skin in many dogs.

Things like regular potatoes and legumes can cause allergies if not adequately monitored. Early reports of dogs experiencing a condition called “canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)” found that dogs in which this condition was not usually common regularly ate food full of legumes and potatoes.

Researchers are still searching for the underlying cause, but until studies are more conclusive. We don’t think it’s necessary to cut out those ingredients completely, but make sure you aren’t feeding your dog potatoes in large quantities.

Beneful by Purina is a budget dog food brand guilty of filling the ingredients list with all our top offenders. Other brands include Kibbles n Bits, which lists corn as the first ingredient across most of their offerings and Ol Roy which also contains all of our top offenders.

Greyhound Feeding Chart

You should always feed on a schedule and portion size that your veterinarian approves of and it’s helpful to read individual portion sizes based on the recommendations from the food company itself. That said, here is a basic primer to give you an idea of your Greyhound’s needs.

The Greyhound Pets of America organization recommends daily feeding as follows:

• Puppies: seek veterinarian advice because of a puppy’s rapidly changing body composition
• Adults (under 60 pounds): Three cups per day of high-quality kibble
• Adults (over 60 pounds): Four cups of high-quality kibble. If your dog has weight issues, feeding recommendations may vary according to the advice of your veterinarian.
• Seniors: Continue feeding as you’ve done in the past with the blessing of your veterinarian. If circumstances change, you may need to readjust amounts with your vet’s help.

 

Final Thoughts

Your Greyhound is a unique dog that needs specific requirements to keep healthy and fit. Most Greyhounds are good with families and wonderfully well-behaved pets to curl up with in the evenings.

The biggest thing to remember about your Greyhound is that it will never be able to be an off-leash dog because the chase instinct is too strong. Greyhounds can reach up to 40 miles per hour, so ignore that warning at your own risk.

If you’ve gotten your Greyhound from a racing lifestyle, you may want to pay extra attention to the way your dog’s bones age because of stress from an early racing lifestyle. Follow along with your veterinarian so that any issues can be diagnosed and caught early.

It’s always easier to prevent a situation than to reverse it, and for some of these racing dogs, too much damage has already been done by the time they get to you.