Best food for a dog with Food Allergies?

Dog food and feeding General discussion
1

Hi
My fussy eating 3.5 year old Cavalier KC has developed food allergies over the past year. I suspect the usual suspects ie chicken, beef etc from my research into this. I have tried a variety of hypoallergenic diets over time but not seen any difference and her skin is worse, with excessive itching and licking now and shes losing clumps of hair on her chest down to her groin. The skin there is appearing red, broken in areas, and dry flaky in others. Speaking to my vet they are trying to force me to put her on purina pro ha but looking into that is apparently not nutritional either. I am reluctant to spend lots more money on food that she refuses to eat or that doesn’t help her symptoms.
I am trying an elimination diet based on my research (since blood tests are not 100% accurate), but that is also a grain free diet but, I am overwhelmed with what food to give her that she will eat and for her skin issues and allergies to improve.
I am not yet ready for raw food but have considered frozen types, but want to resolve the issues first.

Before I realised these types werent great, I have tried hypoallergenic Tails, butternut box and Arden Range with no positive results. I am about to cut out all treats that are not suitable too.

I really need help as its stressing me out and I dont always buy what vets tell me, when I questioned what the difference was in their food compared to what I have already tried, they couldnt say.

Please can someone point me to a complete food that cuts out the usual allergens in food that is grain free, yet their dog enjoys please. Thankyou

2

It is best to buy more expensive food because these foods are good, and I prefer to buy more expensive than cheap ones

3

Hello and welcome to the forum Sarah. We have a thread on skin problems here. Hopefully there might be something in there that is useful for you.

The first thing to do is to take your dog off any type of dry food. Raw is probably not a good idea until your dog’s general health improves. Fresh cooked food is suitable and you can home cook but it’s best to get some suitable recipes from a canine nutritionist. If you prefer to buy fresh cooked food your choices are limited. Different Dog is expensive but is worth exploring if you can afford it. The company has a vet on hand for one to one advice.

You say that you have started an elimination diet but don’t mention what form this is taking. My view is that to do this properly it is helpful to have the advice and support of a qualified canine nutritionist. It will cost but that is likely to be offset by improvement in the condition and lower vets bills as well as a healthier dog. Your vet may know of one but if not, we have a few names on here. Gerald Pepin (We Cook for Dogs), Alison Daniel (My Pet Nutritionist) are two. Both have useful blogs on their websites.

You have noted that certain protein sources are causing problems but dogs can be intolerant of other things too - legumes, peas, white potato are not unusual.