My dog was diagnosed with skin allergies. What is the best food for dogs who have this skin condition?
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at
1:02 am
My dog was diagnosed with severe skin allergies, the vet prescribed several medications and special food for her, but it’s all way to expensive. The vet was charging me about $300 dollars for everything. With a two year old at home there is no way i can afford this. Does anyone know of any home remedies I can do for my Peke and does anyone recommend a special food brand?
It depends on what the allergy is, but the most typical is grains, followed by beef/cattle. Our rottweiler had skin allergies, and we started by eliminating beef food and treats (because that was easiest.) There was no effect. So we switched to a 100% grain-free food, and she only gets a small amount of treats with small quanities of grain in them. Her skin condition has cleared up entirely.
I can’t remember the brand we use, but we get it from Costco, it comes in something like a 30-lb bag for about $30, all-blue bag. Just find something that’s labeled 100% grain-free and try that, and remember treats have grain also.
you need to stay away from foods with wheat, corn, and other junky fillers (anything you see on a grocery store’s shelves). Science Diet, Eukanuba, Iams, and Royal Canin are NOT nearly as good as they are hyped up to be, and far too expensive for their quality as you are mostly just buying it for the big name. You may want to try a grain free food as well since those can be better for skin allergies. Go to the pet store (preferably smaller ones since they usually have better varieties of GOOD quality kibble) and look for brands with no junky fillers such as:
Wellness
Eagle Holistic
Earth Born
Legacy
Innova
Solid Gold
Natural Balance
Taste of the Wild (grain free)
Merrick Before Grain (grain free)
Nature’s Variety – Instinct (grain free)
Blue Buffalo Blue Wilderness (grain free)
Canidae
Orijin
Evolve
Also maybe try some salmon oil and put it on whichever food you choose for a natural omega 3 and 6 supplement (excellent for the skin). Directions on how much to use will be on the label.
good luck!
there are things you can do. First of all never ever give dogs corn, wheat and soy or any treats with these things in them. Food allergies, if that is what it is can cause dogs to itch intensively to the extent of pulling out hair.
Now as for where the dog spends his time is another, does he sleep on a floor you use chemicals on such as a carpet cleaner? Do you wash or clean the area he sleeps on such as a bed or blanket and is it washed in mild soap and rinsed in plain water?
Also does he roll in the grass?
These are somethings that can cause alot of allergies in dogs.
I would suggest if you feed your dog with any ingredients that have corn, corn gluten, wheat, soy or wheat flour, this is adding to the source of allergies. I would look at the food and snacks you feed him first.
There are better foods out there for your dog, and it can cost about $35 to $40 per 30lb bag if this is the cause and you will be giving your dog better food, and better quality than the grocery store brands which contain corn, and wheat. These are no good for dogs and should be fed to cattle.
Go to your local pet store and ask for products with no corn, wheat, or soy and you will find very good quality food. It may cost alot but for you less visits to the vet. And your dogs skin and hair will look better and no scratching. Also sprinkle a little garlic on the food to devert fleas, fleas hate the taste of garlic when they bit a dog…fleas will not touch your dog, and I know I have used it for years and have 6 dogs living in my house and no fleas.
Good luck
fish and potato diet is the best for dogs with skin allergies, the first poster is recommended a food called natures domain which is a good food. http://www.naturesdomainpetfood.com/about-natures-domain
You also may want to try to save up for an allergy test and immune treatment.
What you can do is give some supplements to help boost the immune system, getting her on a better food is step one, you can give neem oil, and omega fatty acids.
WHAT is she allergic TO????
If it is fleas, or whatever you are using to kill her fleas, food has nothing to do with it.
I refuse to give my dogs kibbles. The escalation in bloat parallels the rise in kibbles from virtually-unknown to virtually universal. I don’t have a research report on the rise in allergies, but am convinced that they, too, have risen at the same speed as the spread of kibbles.
Grains have the worst reputation for causing allergies – especially steam-extruded kibbles.
The natural diet of canids is raw animal protein – birds, eggs, fish (but not those needles, please), insects, mammals, reptiles.
With such a small breed you ought to be able to afford to pay supermarket prices for a while, finding out how your pet reacts to a diet of just beef for a week, just lamb for a week, just poultry for a week. The meat with the best reputation for being low-allergenic is kangaroo. I have a feeling that pork is not recommended. The lambs’ briskets that form most of what my dogs get would be too big for a Peke, but my GSDs have lived on pongy raw shark for weeks, on venison throats, on bull-pestles – whatever was cheap.
Once you know what suits your dog, find an abattoir or meat processing plant, and bring home a freezer-load at a time – bulk off-cuts & giblets (don’t feed ONLY giblets! Note: Because of parasites such as hydatids, mammalian offals are best cooked rather than fed raw) are cheaper than “human” cuts.
If you know hunters, put out pleas for rabbits, hares, ducks (all 3 can be fed bone & all), venison off-cuts.
When we lived in the country, it was rare to have to buy dog food for longer than a month per year. The rest of the time we cut up dead cow, horse, sheep in the paddock and buried the hide & guts – a kind farmer would drag the carcass to be alongside his offal pit so we didn’t have to dig a hole. Boy my costs shot up when I moved into the city! So I got a cheap second deep freeze!
• To ask about Pekes, join some of the YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. Each group’s Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification. Most allow you to include photos in your messages.
• http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=allergies+dogs&sort=relevance will find you groups for owners of allergic pooches.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
“In GSDs” as of 1967
When looking for a food you want to stay away from by-products, ground yellow corn, and any artificial flavors or colors. Also switch up her main protein source. A lot of times it is the protein source that dogs are (or become) allergic too. So if she is on a chicken based food now switch to lamb, venison, or herring. I would try a venison based diet first. Nutro Natural Choice Venison Meal & Whole Brown Rice is an excellent food. No ground yellow corn, which is a filler and a big allergen among pups. No by-products, which can include heads, feet and intestines. And no artificial colors or flavors. Nutro also has the highest levels of essential fatty acids (Omega 3 & 6) to help promote healthy skin and coat and also reduce shedding. They are actually the only company that I know of the guarantees healthy skin & coat. And all of their foods are 100% guaranteed! So give it a few weeks, if you don’t notice a difference, return the food (with your receipt), and either get another formula or get your money back.
Hope this helps!
If you do not mind the idea of making food for your dog then you should look into PetMix. It is a dehydrated mix of fruit and veggies and nutrients that you just add meat and water to.
http://www.k9criticalcare.com/pages/PetMix-Homemade-Dog-Food-Recipe.html
Another great product is K9 AllerG. For dogs with really serious allergies a diet change may not be enough. http://www.k9criticalcare.com/categories/Skin-%26-Coat/
Some of those prescription vet foods are full or corn and sawdust and other hazardous fillers. There are some real high quality foods out there that will not come close to costing $300
a good one is wellnes Simple
food for dogs with allergies
its natural with no corn, by product and fillers
5 star rated brand
wellnesspetfood.com for more info and store locater
great customer service, call them to find out which one they have that r great for ur dog
and if u join the mailing club, they send out coupons every month
–also- try using Oatmeal Shampoos. great for soothing dogs with skin allergies–