Forthglade vs Lily's Kitchen: Which Dog Food Actually Wins?

Note: This article provides factual product comparisons and does not constitute veterinary advice. Consult your vet before making significant dietary changes.

Two British Brands, Very Different Positioning

Both Forthglade and Lily's Kitchen have built their reputations on natural, high-quality ingredients as an alternative to mainstream mass-market brands like Pedigree, Wagg, and Bakers. But they've arrived at that positioning from different directions and serve slightly different buyers.

Forthglade is a Devon-based family business that has been making natural pet food since 1971 — genuinely independent, with 50+ years of UK manufacturing. It's a brand that's earned its reputation quietly over decades rather than through marketing investment, and its cold-pressed dry food range is the product that genuinely outperforms its price point on independent nutritional analysis.

Lily's Kitchen is UK-made and UK-founded, but was acquired by Nestlé in 2020. That change of ownership hasn't visibly altered the product or the positioning, but it's worth knowing — a brand marketed as an independent, founder-led natural alternative is now a division of one of the world's largest food corporations. The product quality appears to have been maintained, but the ownership reality is different from what the branding implies.

On Dry Food: Forthglade Wins Clearly

Forthglade Cold-Pressed scores 73–75% on the All About Dog Food independent rating site at approximately £1.02 per day — ahead of pricier names including Lily's Kitchen on a cost-quality basis. Cold-pressed dry food preserves more of the natural nutrients from fresh meat than standard kibble extrusion, which involves higher temperatures that degrade some heat-sensitive nutrients. Forthglade's dry range is the clearest example in the UK market of a product that genuinely outperforms its price point on objective nutritional criteria.

Lily's Kitchen's dry range is good but doesn't have the same AADF score advantage relative to its price — at £4–7/day you're partly paying for brand positioning, packaging, and distribution infrastructure rather than solely for nutritional quality.

On Wet Food: A More Even Contest

Both brands produce high-quality wet complete food using named meat sources without artificial additives. Here the comparison is less clear-cut and comes down to specific product preferences.

Forthglade's wet food range scores consistently well on AADF and uses a natural production approach. At £2–4/day for a medium dog, it's significantly cheaper than Lily's Kitchen wet food at a comparable quality level — making it arguably the better value premium wet option.

Lily's Kitchen wet food has stronger retail presence (widely stocked in Sainsbury's alongside Pets at Home) and a packaging and branding presentation that many owners find more appealing. Its World Dishes Multipack contains 6 trays and covers multiple protein sources — convenient for rotating proteins to maintain palatability. The real differentiator is accessibility: Lily's Kitchen is easier to find in a standard supermarket shop, which matters for owners who want to buy dog food alongside their regular grocery run.

The Ownership Question

For owners who specifically value buying from a genuinely independent UK business, Forthglade is the honest choice. It remains family-owned, Devon-based, and has not been acquired by a multinational. For owners who don't place weight on brand ownership and make the decision purely on ingredient quality and convenience, both are legitimate and the choice narrows to format preference and where you typically shop.

Transition Advice If You're Switching Between Them

If you're moving a dog from one brand to the other, or introducing either brand for the first time, transition gradually over 7–10 days rather than switching food overnight — both Forthglade and Lily's Kitchen use different protein sources and formulations than most mass-market brands, and a sudden switch can cause temporary digestive upset even when moving between two high-quality foods. Start with roughly 25% new food mixed into 75% old, and shift the ratio every two to three days. This matters slightly more when moving to Forthglade's cold-pressed dry range specifically, since the texture and processing method differ meaningfully from standard extruded kibble, and some dogs take a few days to adjust their eating pace to the denser pellet.

Our Verdict

On dry food, Forthglade is the clearer winner — better independent nutritional rating at a meaningfully lower daily cost. On wet food, Forthglade is the better value, but Lily's Kitchen is the more accessible option for buyers who shop at supermarkets rather than specialist pet retailers.

If you feed both wet and dry, a sensible combination is Forthglade cold-pressed dry (better value, high AADF score) with Lily's Kitchen wet as a topper or occasional meal rotation (strong ingredient quality, easy to find). That hybrid captures the strengths of both brands without fully committing to either.

For the full dog food category comparison, see our Best Dog Food UK 2026 guide.