The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier is a people loving, playful and friendly purebred dog. The Wheaten is generally a healthy dog but can at times suffer from gastrointestinal diseases.
And his food should address to prevent this and ensure proper growth and development.
Below we'll explain what makes a good dog food for these happy pups, and share a couple of our favorites food options to ensure they live a long and healthy life.
Our Top Picks
Best Overall Dog Food For Wheatens
Ollie
Best Mainstream Kibble for Wheatens
Wellness CORE Original
Most affordable Food for Wheatens
American Journey All Life Stages
Best Dog Food for Wheatens with a Sensitive Stomach
PetKind Tripe Dry Single Animal Protein
Best Dog Food for Picky Wheatens
PureVitaโข All Life Stages
Wheaten Terrier Quick Breed Overview
The Wheaten Terrier is a medium size dog that is considered agile, strong and well coordinated. Loves children and they make great watch dogs. In general they get along well with other dogs. Though active and strong like other terrier breeds, Wheaten Terriers are known for being gentler, and cuddlier than their relatives.
Wheaten Terriers are athletic and should get a good daily dose of exercise to stay happy and healthy, making them the perfect choice for active families and singles.
Wheaten Terriers came to the United States from Ireland and is considered one of the oldest Irish dog breeds. They became famous for being working dogs used for guarding, hunting, and herding. These days the breed does well at obedience, agility, and tracking competitions.
In terms of activities the Wheaten requires moderate exercise. Daily walks or play time in the yard will do. H๏ปฟ๏ปฟ๏ปฟ๏ปฟealthwise, the Wheaton is prone to protein wasting disease and can develop flea allergies. Here's a few more notable breed details to note about the Wheaten.
What to feed and how much to feed a Wheaten Terrier?
To get all the nutrients that they need to support their energetic lifestyles, Wheaten Terriers should be fed a diet of high-quality dry dog food or a homemade diet. When looking for a good dog food brand, owners should focus on finding a blend with ingredients designed to improve dogsโ skin and coat.
A few highly recommended dog food blends that Wheaten Terrier owners may want to consider are Wellness CORE grain-free, Pure Vita, Earthborn Holistic, Castor & Pullox Organix and Orijen Regional Red Grain Free.
These hypoallergenic recipes include a lot of natural ingredients, added antioxidants for immune support, and healthy oils for skin and coat health.
These brands focus on putting dogsโ nutrition first and owners can see the difference when they switch their dogs from cheaper brands to these specially designed formulas.
Like most medium sized dogs, owners typically feed their Wheaten Terriers twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening is a routine that dogs usually do well on. Other breeds of terriers are grazers, so it might be okay to let your Wheaten Terrier eat smaller meals throughout the day if they donโt overeat.
Owners should always make sure that their Wheaten Terriers have clean, fresh water available. If they have any questions about how to make sure they are feeding their dogs right, owners should feel free to consult with their vet.
When deciding how much to feed any dog, owners should consult the instructions on their dog food and consider their dogโs breed size, weight, and age. Every dog is different, and owners can adjust their dogโs diet based on their activity levels.
Since Wheaten Terriers suffer from issues like hip dysplasia, it is important that owners make sure they get enough exercise and arenโt overfed. Being overweight makes health issues like hip dysplasia a lot worse for dogs.
Wheaten Health Issues and Dietary Solutions
Protein Wasting Diseases (PLN and PLE)
Symptoms caused by the loss of proteins from the gastrointestinal tract or kidneys. A few symptoms of these diseases are vomiting, weight loss, and increased water consumption.
Renal Dysplasia
Abnormal kidney development that can lead to early kidney failure. Some symptoms of RD are increased urination, vomiting, and reduced appetite. According to a recent article published by PetCareRx, dogs already affected by Renal Dysplasia can hugely benefit from a diet that is low in salt and can metabolize easy.
Hip dysplasia
An inherited disorder that results in improper development of the hip joints and loss of functioning in the hip joints. This disease is common in large dogs and can be reduced by watching a dogโs weight. Ingredients like glucosamine and chondroitin along with a healthy diet can help promote a dogโs joint health.
Progressive Renal Atrophy
Progressive Renal Atrophy affects dogs between 1 and 8 years of age. This is a degenerative disease that results in blindness, and doesnโt show a lot of the symptoms like redness that are typical with other eye problems.
Owners might notice a shift in their dogโs behavior like not wanting to go down stairs or losing their way in the dark.
Ingredients like carrots, broccoli, and sweet potatoes are good for dogโs eye health, so owners can try to include those in their dogsโ diet to keep their eyes healthy for a long time.
Best Dog Foods for Wheaten Terriers
Ollie Slow Cooked Beef with Sweet Potatoes
Most dogs love the taste of a beef dog food, but for it to be a healthy choice it needs to be lean beef, which is just what Ollie's beef recipe dog provides, along with other high quality food sources of essential vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients that keep larger pups healthy and feeling full!
First Five Ingredients: Beef, peas, sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots.
This is the pinnacle of dog food, albeit a more expensive food choice for your pooch. The first five listed ingredients are a testament to what this premium human grade dog food offers.
Lean beef is an excellent source of healthy, easily digested protein and when combined with sweet potatoes, which offer lots of natural vitamin A and vitamin C, along with being a great source of easily digestible fiber.
Ollie prides itself on offering a near human grade dog food suitable for all breeds, and all of their recipes are grain free, and make use of no artificial coloring or unnecessary extras. The fact that the food is shipped right to your door on a preselected schedule makes it even easier to feed your pup high quality food at every meal.
If you're looking for improved allergies, perfect poops and bone strength for your Wheatens this is a great choice. iPupster readers can avail of 50% off their first order!
Wellness CORE Original Formula
A 100 percent grain free protein focused nutrition formula that is all natural and made in the U.S.A. Available in 4-lb, 12-lb and 26 lb bags.
First Five Ingredients: Deboned Turkey, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Peas.
Wellness CORE Grain-Free Original Deboned Turkey, Turkey Meal & Chicken Meal Recipe is a grain-free dry dog food blend that focuses on giving dogs everything they need to fulfill their complete nutritional needs. This formula is made in the USA using only premium, natural ingredients like turkey, chicken, real vegetables, vitamins, and minerals, with 421 kcal/cup and 100% gluten-free.
The recipe is fortified with all the important ingredients dogs need to give them energy, support a healthy immune system. Wellness CORE also helps dogs maintain a healthy digestive system, skin, coat, eyes, teeth, and gums. This formula offers 34% crude protein and 16% fat, plus it is designed to support your dogโs lean muscle mass.
Wheaten dog owners love this dog food because it's a great choice for dogs who need to watch their weight.
Some owners have noticed that switching to this brand can help dogs with digestive issues caused by beet pulp, a stool hardening ingredient found in many premium dog foods. Wellness CORE is also known to reduce skin irritations and give dogs more energy throughout the day without having to eat as much.
If your Wheaten pup canโt eat some of the ingredients in this food, Wellness has a number of other formulas with some novel proteins.
American Journey All Life Stages Food
This grain free dry dog food formula offers all the benefits of a high quality protein like lamb without additional fillers or artificial ingredients, as well as the many benefits of natural Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
First Five Listed Ingredients: Deboned Lamb, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Peas, Chickpeas.
Active dogs like terriers benefit from getting extra protein from their food from leaner meat sources that will help prevent the additional weight gain that slows some dogs down in later life (and can cause all kinds of health problems.)
Lamb is a lean meat that is packed with not just protein, but also essential minerals like iron and zinc and a large quantity of vitamins. In addition to featuring lamb as its primary protein providing ingredient, white meat chicken and turkey meal also adds additional protein and nutrients as well as extra taste.
To help maintain good digestive health, this dog food includes fiber rich chickpeas, which are also another great source of vitamins and minerals. This may not always be the best choice for dogs with a very sensitive stomach though, as both peas and chickpeas, which feature high on the ingredient list, contain low levels of saponins, natural compounds found in all legumes that can cause stomach upsets in some pups.
PetKind Tripe Dry Single Animal Protein
While you might not like the idea of eating tripe, dogs have no such qualms and the lamb tripe - and other high quality ingredients - included in this dog food offer excellent nutritional benefits without unnecessary fillers.
First Five Listed Ingredients: Lamb tripe, lamb, lamb meal, red lentils, chick pea.
Tripe is the digestible muscle lining of a farm animal's stomach, including those of pigs, sheep, and cows. Tripe is one of the healthiest ways to eat meat, even if it may not sound like the most attractive portion of the animal to eat.
Lamb is already considered one of the healthiest ways for dogs to get the lean protein they need, and as lamb tripe is low in calories - lower than other similar meats and also high in vitamin B12, iron and calcium the fact that lamb products make up the first three ingredients of this dog food can only be a good thing!
In addition to lots of lamb, this formula also contains other nutritious fruits and vegetables like cranberries, carrots, blueberries and bananas and is a grain free choice, which is great news for wheaten terriers that don't do well with them. Plus lamb is a safer choice to chicken or other poultry that can trigger allergies in sensitive pups and it's also a smaller sized kibble which is easier to digest.
Pure Vita All Life Stages
A holistic blend packed with vitamins and minerals, nourishing and finger-licking proteins even the most finicky dog won't turn down. Available in 5-lb, 15-lb and 25 lb bags.
First Five Ingredients: Salmon, salmon meal, peas, sweet potato, pea flour.
PureVitaโข Salmon Formula Grain Free Dry Food made by NutriSourceยฎ offers dogs an easy to digest kibble especially formulated for complete nutrition for dogs of all life stages. This grain-free formula is great for dogs with allergies or sensitivities combining tasty salmon with wholesome sweet potatoes and is fortified with Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids for healthy eyes, teeth, skin, and coat.
Pure Vita is also rich in antioxidants to help dogs maintain a healthy immune system and L-Carnitine for muscle and heart health. A few of the main ingredients in this recipe are salmon, peas, sweet potato, cranberries, and blueberries. It's free of poultry which can be a common allergen with Wheatens. This recipe offers crude proteins of 26% which is above average, crude fats of 15% which is near-average of what is recommended and carbs of 35% which is below-average when compared to a typical dry dog food. The calorie count is 438 kcal per cup.
This highly rated blend is a first choice for dog owners who want to give their dogs healthy, natural food without any surprise ingredients. Owners love Pure Vita Grain Free Dog Food because picky eaters enjoy it, it is easy to digest, and doesnโt cause allergic reactions like other dog food brands that contain ingredients like grain, corn, and soy.
It's formulated by (AAFCO) Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages so can be fed to an adult, puppy or senior dog, including all life stages including growth of large size dogs (70 lbs. or more as an adult). Available in: 5 lb., 15 lb. & 25 lb. bags and there are approx. 20, 61 and 102 cups of food in each respectively.
Overall this recipe is an excellent choice of hypoallergenic dog food for your soft-coated Wheaten.
Nutramax Dasuquin Soft Chews
As they age, lots of dogs, Wheaten terriers included, have a tendency to develop joint weakness and/or pain and general joint stiffness. Supplements that contain Glucosamine and Chondroitin are believed to be very helpful in helping to prevent and alleviate joint problems, and offering them in a tasty treat can be a great way to give your pup the help he needs easily.
First Five Ingredients: Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Sodium Chondroitin Sulfate, Avocado/Soybean Unsaponifiables, Boswellia Serrate Extract, Green Tea Extract.
These soft chews provide pet parents with a simple way to offer a high quality - but nonprescription - Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplement for their aging joints that, according to pet parents that have made use of them, seem to be as tasty and appreciated as they are helpful.
It's believed by some scientists and nutritionists that Glucosamine and Chondroitin shield chondrocytes, which support cartilage structure maintenance. These supplements have the potential, in theory, to lessen discomfort while also slowing joint cartilage degeneration.
The formal research into this in both humans and dogs has shown mixed results, but many pet parents who have tried feeding these easy to digest chews to their dogs feel that they have helped with their joint pain and mobility issues, sometimes significantly.
True Chews Premium Morsels
The one thing that many Wheaten Terriers often have in common is that they are rather picky eaters, even when it comes to treats. By making use of tasty - and healthy - steak, these chewy treats may actually appeal to even the fussiest of pups, making rewarding your active terrier fun and easy for you both.
First Five Ingredients: Beef (includes Sirloin Steak), Potatoes, Vegetable Glycerin, Citrus Fiber, Natural Flavors.
If you take a look at the ingredients listed for these treats, you'll see that they are delightfully free of artificial colors and any grain at all, making them an excellent choice not just for fussy eaters but those with sensitive stomachs as well.
Steak is, as we all know, one of the leanest ways to consume red meat, and these treats offer soft, easy to chew morsels that pack all the nutritional value of lean red meat - including the protein and iron - while being relatively low in calories at just 18 calories per chew.
Final Verdict
Whether your Wheaten is the picture of health or she struggles from several different health problems, you should be able to find a food to suit her among those listed above.
Just be sure to take her specific needs into account before making your selection.
