Beagles are active dogs that enjoy regular activity – but Beagles can be prone to weigh gain and obesity.
They’re a small hound dog that were used as detection and hunting dogs in the 19th century.
The Beagle was first exported to the United States of Americain the 1840s before the American Kennel Club granted the breed status in 1885.
These alert dogs require quite a lot of exercise to keep them mentally and physically stimulated.
Just like any dog, Beagles require a balanced and healthy diet to give them the possible chance of a happy and long life by your side.
If you have a Beagle, you may be accustomed to feeding your canine companion more traditional types of dog food.
However, you may be thinking about adopting a fresh approach to your Beagle’s meals, especially if your Beagle is overweight and need to shed some pounds.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at the best dog food for overweight Beagles or picky Beagles in the UK right now.
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Why Fresh Dog Food For Beagles?
The Beagle is a member of the Hound family (Photo: Adobe Stock)
Beagles are a popular dog breed due to their friendly personalities, big brown puppy dog eyes and charismatic bark. Like all types of dog, purebred or mixed, they need a complete diet to ensure they’re getting all the necessary minerals and vitamins.
You may be used to feeding your Beagle dry food such as kibble or wet food but your dog may have experienced some health issues and forced you to think twice about what goes into your dog’s food.
Beagles are one dog breed that are prone to weight gain and if you don’t keep a close eye on your four-legged friend’s diet, you could easily end up with an overweight dog.
According to a study by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), 1 in 14 dogs in the UK is overweight and at risk arthritis, breathing problems, heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer.
The Beagle was one of the 18 breeds that the above study found to be most at risk of gaining weight and suffering a subsequent health problem that could affect their life expectancy.
Hence why we believe it’s so important to feed your dog balanced and complete meals that are made using fresh and healthy ingredients but tailored to your dog and perfectly portioned.
How Fresh Dog Food Works
You’re probably thinking this sounds great but how much does it cost? Well I’ve used our imaginary Beagle called “Snoopy” to give you a rough idea of how much a dog food delivery company subscription will cost.
We signed up Snoopy, who is a three-year old Beagle who is 13 inches tall and weigh 30 pounds. These fresh dog food companies will ask Beagle owners to fill out a questionnaire to get a clear understanding of your dog and their physical traits.
You can also add whether your dog, or Snoopy in this case, is a picky eater, struggles with a sensitive stomach or is allergic to a particular food.
Based upon the information we provided, Snoopy’s owner can expect to pay around £30 a week for fresh, healthy meals delivered to their doorstep.
You’ll get to enjoy having your meals shipped direct to your home and you can usually recyclable most of the packaging to do your bit for the environment – too.
Reasons to try dog food delivery companies
Nom Nom offer four different recipes (Photo: Nom Nom)
We’ve touched upon the basics where dog food delivery companies are concerned but let’s look in a little more detail about the potential perks of signing up to one of these meal plans.
• Freshly prepared meals – The meals provided by these companies use the freshest ingredients. The underlying philosophy of dog food delivery companies appears to be if it’s not good enough for human consumption, we shouldn’t expect our dogs to eat it.
• Customised to your dog – When you start the sign up process, you will be asked to enter key information about your dog such as age, weight, activity level, body type and allergies. If your Beagle is overweight, they’ll customize their meals accordingly.
• Variety of recipes – In my experience with fussy dogs, I know how it feels to have pups who can quickly become bored with their meals. While my Klee Kai haven’t turned their nose up at these meals yet, I avail of the variety of recipes on offer to keep them guessing.
• Formulated by experts – This all sounds great but do these meals have the input of experts? In our research, all the dog food delivery companies we reviewed use veterinary nutritionists to help formulate their meals.
• Portion control – It would be counter intuitive to feed your dog too much of their new healthy meals and create a weight problem! The good news is the meals are usually pre portioned. So you won’t have to worry about overfeeding your pet.
• Motivated dogs at meal time – If you’ve ever experienced your dogs being picky at mealtime, then you’ll be able to relate to the feeling of relief and satisfaction seeing your canine companion showing a passionate interest in their meals.
• Efficient and reliable deliveries – You’re relying on these dog food delivery companies to be efficient, punctual and reliable. We haven’t had a bad experience so far. The deliveries arrive on the day they’re scheduled.
• Flexible subscription plans – You could be worried about being tied into a long-term meal plan. Most of the dog food delivery companies provide the option to pause or end your subscription at any given time.
Best Dog Food For Beagles UK 2023
Beagle with blue tan and white coat (Photo: Adobe Stock)
Now that we know a little bit more about dog food delivery companies in the UK and how they can help overweight or obese Beagles, let’s take a look at our top-five dog food picks in the UK right now.
1) Butternut Box
Website: butternutbox.com
Alaskan Klee Kai Copper with his Butternut Box recipes (Photo: @lifewithkleekai / Instagram)
Butternut Box is our top pick for Beagles owners who are looking to find a dog food company who can help their Beagle to lose some weight. Butternut Box only use fresh ingredients in their recipes – 60% human-quality meat and 40% fresh vegetables plus some lentils. At the time of writing, Butternut Box are already feeding over 170,000 dogs in the UK. Once you fill our their questionnaire so they can learn about your overweight or fussy Beagle, they’ll recommend a meal plan. However, you can still select from their 10 recipes if you feel there’s one in particular that your Beagle will love. Butternut Box have an average rating of 4.8 stars based upon over 12,000 reviews on Trustpilot. Butternut Box represent great value as they offer balanced and complete high-quality dog food at an affordable price. You can check out our full review of Butternut Box here.
We have an exclusive offer for helloBARK! readers who are thinking about signing up to Butternut Box. You can get 50% off your first Butternut Box order and 50% off your second Butternut Box order by clicking here.
2) Different Dog
Website: differentdog.com
Copper and Different Dog’s Health+ range (Photo: lifewithkleekai / Instagram)
If you have a slightly bigger budget and you want a slightly more premium option for your Beagle, you may fancy giving Different Dog a try. They’ve got a huge selection of recipes as well as a Health+ range. Just like Butternut Box, you start by filling out their questionnaire so Different Dog can understand if your Beagle needs to lose weight or your Beagle is a particularly picky eater. Different Dog will cook your Beagle’s meals at their kitchen, with their chefs preparing your Beagle’s fresh food at low temperatures. Different Dog are more premium than Butternut Box and their food does cost a little more but if you have the budget, they’re worth a try! You can read our full Different Dog review here.
If you would like to purchase Different Dog, you can get a 35% discount off your first 2 boxes by entering the HELLOBARKCC35 coupon code at checkout. To place your first order, click here.
3) Pure Pet Food
Website: purepetfood.com
Alaskan Klee Kai with their Pure Pet Food (Photo: www.hellobark.com)
For Beagle owners who have limited space in their fridge or freezer for Butternut Box or Different Dog, Pure Pet Food provide a dry food format. Although their dog food is classified as dry food, it’s actually air-dried dog food. They only use high-quality ingredients in their recipes so you can have peace of mind your Beagle is eating fresh, natural ingredients in their quest to shed a few kilograms. Your Beagle’s food will still be tailored to their needs as Pure require Beagle owners to fill out a sign-up questionnaire. However, you can store your Pure Pet Food in the cupboard before taking it out and mixing the air-dried food with water to prepare your Beagle’s meals. I feed fresh dog meals to my mini huskies but they did try and like Pure Pet Food but fresh dog food is their personal preference. You can read our Pure Pet Food review here.
4) Bella & Duke
Website: www.bellaandduke.com
Copper with his Bella and Duke delivery (Photo: lifewithkleekai)
If you fancy switching your Beagle to a raw-dog food diet then Bella & Duke would be our top pick. Their website explains that they like to stay at the cutting edge of pet nutrition. They’ve got a range of tasty recipes that are made up of high quality cuts of meat and bones, as well as oils, antioxidants, herbs, season vegetables, fruits and berries. You can have complete confidence in their ingredients seeing as Bella & Duke source all their meat, fruit and vegetables from within the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Raw dog food diets do come with their risks and you can learn more about that in our dedicated Bella & Duke review.
5) Tails
Website: Tails.com
Copper and Skye with their Tails dog food (Photo: @lifewithkleekai / Instagram)
For Beagle owners who aren’t convinced by fresh dog meals, air-dried dog food or raw dog food, we’ve got a kibble option that is fresher and healthier than the dog food you’ll find on the supermarket shelf. Tails are one of the leading providers of healthy kibble and wet food in the UK. As I mentioned in the previous section, I personally prefer fresh dog food. But Tails still use high quality ingredients in their recipes. Tails write on their website that everything they make is developed by vets and nutritionists to give your Beagle all the necessary nutritional benefits from their dry food. You can check out our Tails review in full here.
Our readers can get 75% off their first order of Tails when they click this link.
Anything else to consider?
We suggest speaking to your vet before you switch your Beagle to a new diet. If you decide to go ahead and sign up to a dog food delivery company, they’ll usually provide a guideline to gradually introduce their new food into their diet. If you switch too fast, you could cause a tummy upset or diarrhea.
This article does not constitute expert advice and we recommend contacting your vet if you have any concerns or issues.
You can also reach out to the company you’re thinking about subscribing to as they’ll usually have experts on hand to offer advice.
In conclusion
Beagles sits down after run with owner (Photo: Adobe Stock)
We’ve reached the end of our feature on the best dog food for Beagles.
I truly believe in the merits of dog food delivery companies given the impact they’ve had on the lives of my dogs.
Whether you’ve got picky pups, an overweight senior dog or you’ve altered you’re thinking around dog food, these dog food delivery companies can provide a healthy approach.
They use quality ingredients to create their recipes, which are formulated by vets. The hassle and stress of worrying about preparing meals for your dog is gone.
Using pre portioned packaging or customised scoopers and containers, you can start to get a handle on your dog’s weight problem, whether they need to eat more or less.
