It’s no secret that feeding a large-breed dog a quality diet can get expensive. And if your dog has a sensitive stomach or allergies that require a more specialized food, then that price is only going to go up. Or maybe not…

I recently found out about Wholesomes Dog Food Sensitive Skin & Stomach line, which includes a large breed option. This quality kibble features meat-first recipes with ancient grains that are free from legumes and fillers, all at a price that you might find hard to believe.

With the help of my parents’ giant Labradors, I tested out three of Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach options. Keep reading to find out if this affordable kibble is the right choice for your sensitive pup.

At a Glance: The Products We Received

I received three Sensitive Skin & Stomach diets and two brand-new Sensitive Skin & Stomach treat options to test out. The recipes I got to try are:

Why Feeding a Dog with a Sensitive Stomach Can Be Tricky (and Expensive)

Dogs with sensitive stomachs often suffer from unfortunate symptoms that can be just as distressing to you as they are to your pup. Gassiness, loose stools, itchy and inflamed skin, vomiting, and frequent ear infections are all signs of a dog with a sensitive gut.

Finding a food that is gentle enough for your sensitive dog can be a trick. Many common ingredients in kibble are difficult to digest, including corn, wheat, soy, overly processed meats, and rendered fats. And if your dog has sensitivities or allergies to other ingredients, such as chicken or beef, then it can be nearly impossible to find something they can eat.

Making this problem even more difficult is the fact that foods for sensitive pups tend to be more expensive. There are two reasons for this. One, all those hard-to-digest foods and common allergens referenced above are cheap, so avoiding them means using more expensive ingredients. Second, sensitive stomach foods are “niche” products aimed at specific consumers and are priced to match.

If you have a large breed dog, the extra cost of a sensitive stomach diet hits even harder, but even owners of medium and small dogs are likely to feel this extra expense. This leaves many owners choosing between their wallet and a gassy, itchy, unhappy pup.

About Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach Dog Food Line

Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach dog food and treats are different. They are made with carefully curated recipes to avoid ingredients that commonly trigger stomach issues. But they are priced low enough that you’d never guess they are specialty “niche” diets.

Most impressive of all? These meat-first recipes are made with quality ingredients, don’t contain fillers, legumes, or other questionable additives, and are made in US kitchens from meat sourced in the USA, New Zealand, and Australia.

Who Makes Wholesomes and Where Is It Produced?

The Wholesomes brand is owned by Midwestern Pet Foods, which also owns Earthborn Holistic, Ultimates, and a handful of other performance-focused dog foods. All of their foods are made in their US-based kitchens. The company operates out of Evansville, Indiana, and has been in business since 1926.

Which Type of Dog Is Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach Best Suited For?

This line from Wholesomes is made for puppies, dogs, and seniors with sensitive stomachs. The gentle ingredients are easy to digest and can help dogs who suffer from gastrointestinal issues, as well as those with skin issues associated with gut inflammation, such as itchiness, inflamed skin, and ear infections.

The Sensitive Skin & Stomach line features two standard kibble size recipes, a small dog option, and a large breed option. These all-life-stages diets are a great choice for puppies as well as adult dogs.

Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach Product Specs

Ingredients

Each Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach recipe contains the same core ingredients, all chosen because they are easy to digest and because they are less common allergens for canines.

All these recipes start with a quality meat ingredient, either salmon meal or lamb meal. After this, you will find a short list of ancient grains, including brown rice, oatmeal, and pearled barley. Each recipe also includes white fish meal for added protein, fat, and fatty acids.

All these recipes use canola oil as their main source of fat, and rely on simple vitamin and mineral additives to round out the nutrition profile. They also include taurine to ensure your dog receives enough of this vital amino acid for heart and muscle health.

What these recipes don’t include is just as important as what they do. You won’t find any corn, wheat, or soy in these dog foods. The animal ingredients are also limited, utilizing either fish or lamb, making it easier to find an option if your dog has protein allergies.

The protein content of these recipes sits around 25% with a fat content of about 13%. This puts them right on average with your typical quality kibble diet.

Pricing

These diets are higher quality than most kibble you’ll find in the pet aisle and are made with care to support sensitive dogs. And yet, they are priced much more comparably to your standard commercial kibble.

Truly, compared to the leading sensitive stomach diet (which cannot compete in terms of ingredient quality), this food is a steal. It costs about half as much as the closest competitors—even the large breed formula!

Keeping prices affordable has always been one of the main focuses of Midwestern Dog Foods, and they certainly hit that goal with this line.

Where to Buy

You can buy Wholesomes dog food online at Chewy, Amazon, and Tractor Supply. You can also buy it locally at Tractor Supply and many independent pet stores.

Wholesome does not sell directly on its website or have a subscription program.

Sensitive Stomach Treats

In addition to the Wholesomes line of Sensitive Skin & Stomach diets, the company now offers two sensitive stomach treat options.

The salmon-flavored option comes in small, oven-baked squares and features salmon as the second ingredient after wheat. The lamb flavor comes in larger oven-baked biscuits that are perfect for medium and large breeds.

Both of these recipes contain wheat, so they aren’t a great option for gluten-sensitive pups, but otherwise, the ingredients are very clean and simple. The salmon option, for instance, contains only wheat, salmon, canola oil, pumpkin, sweet potato, oatmeal, natural flavors, and rosemary extract.

Our Experience with Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach Food and Treats

To test this special line of dog food, I enlisted the help of my parents’ dogs, two Labs with sensitive stomachs and big appetites.

Bo, a white Lab, is three years old and prone to runny stools. Burley, a chocolate Lab, is five years old and prone to gassiness, upset tummies, and ear infections. Both are big boys—over eighty pounds—and eat a lot! So finding affordable food is a must.

Two of the recipes I received were the standard kibble size, which is still appropriate for dogs of this size. The third option was Wholesomes large breed formula, which has larger kibble and a little more protein than the standard salmon recipe.

During our photo shoot (which the dogs would call a “taste testing”), all three recipes were a big hit. But for the sake of the real test, I used the large breed recipe to transition them onto.

As with all sensitive dogs, it is a good idea to switch over to new food slowly, replacing a little more each meal until they are eating only the new diet.

Both dogs handled this transition well, were just as happy to eat the new food as their typical diet, and had no digestive problems through the transition or afterward.

While Bo and Burley aren’t my dogs, I like to think of them as my big, hairy brothers, and I am picky about what they eat. I felt more than safe feeding them these Wholesomes diets. For a kibble, the ingredients are impressively clean and simple, and provide the right nutrition. I also really appreciate that, despite the affordable price tag, the meat used comes from respectable producers in the US, Australia, and New Zealand.

Because these are big boys, I was also very relieved to see that no legumes are used in any of these recipes. Peas, garbanzo beans, and lentils have been correlated to non-genetic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs, a condition more common in large breeds.

As for the treats, I left the large lamb treats for the boys and brought the smaller salmon treats back to my dogs. Because my dogs are older and have health issues, I am very strict about what I feed them. But these treats are so clean and simple that I have no problem offering them on occasion.

Another thing I love about these treats is how large the bags are. So many dog treat products come in ridiculously tiny bags or boxes. Not these. Each bag is 3 pounds and contains many (a hundred?) biscuits.

Overall, I highly recommend Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach line to any owner looking for a quality kibble for their sensitive pup, especially if they are hoping to save a sizable amount of money.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What makes this a sensitive stomach food?

A combination of digestibility, the inclusion of stomach-friendly ingredients, and the exclusion of common allergens and inflammatory ingredients makes this line a great option for dogs with sensitive stomachs and skin.

Where is this food sourced from?

Low-quality meats and other less reputable producers are common in affordable foods, but this is not the case with Wholesomes. The meat in these diets comes primarily from the US, with lamb sourced from New Zealand and Australia.

Conclusion

Whether you have a big dog with a sensitive stomach or a smaller companion struggling with skin issues, Wholesomes Sensitive Skin & Stomach line is a wonderful choice. Not only is this food made with quality ingredients, plenty of meat, and healthy ancient grains, but it is impressively affordable. And for those very good, sensitive boys and girls, the new Sensitive Skin & Stomach biscuits are a great choice as well.