Best Dog Food For Skin Allergies In Puppies, Dogs and Seniors

Top 10 Best Dog Foods for Skin Allergies

Today we’ll take a look at a lot of options for the best dog foods for skin allergies, depending on your pup’s individual requirements. However, over all we are big fans of the following foods. You can find out more about them by scrolling down the page.

• Blue Wilderness Grain Free
• Blue Basics Limited Ingredient
• Hill’s Science Diet Sensitive Stomach and Skin
• Purina One Smartblend
• Taste of the Wild
• TruDog Real Meat
• Nutro Limited Ingredient
• Blue Buffalo Wilderness
• Purina Pro Plan Focus
• PS For Dogs

Signs of Skin Allergies in Dogs

Allergies in dogs are a real issue and can appear for a number of reasons. The allergen (the thing that causes the allergy) can vary from dog to dog. It can be something they eat, something they breathe in, or something that comes into direct contact with their skin. Allergic reactions, regardless of cause, are often most noticeable in the skin.

Your dog may have bald patches from scratching, or be visibly sore. Whatever the type of allergic reaction, food can play an important role.

Use The Best Dog Food For Skin Allergies With Vet Care

Allergies in dogs haven’t been the subject of as many studies as human allergies, but it seems they may be just as varied as ours. If you are worried that your dog is having an allergic reaction to something, don’t hesitate to contact your visit.

Your vet is the best person to talk to because they will be able to test your dog. Hopefully finding out just what he is allergic to. That way you can help him avoid it. Because, of course, the best way to prevent allergic reactions is to prevent exposure to allergens.

Can Dog Food Help with Skin Allergies?

Fortunately, numerous types of dog food for dogs with skin allergies exist. The best dog food for skin allergies related to food is therefore one that doesn’t include this food. Grain allergies, for example, are very common and easily treated with grain free food. Sadly it’s not always this easy, as sometimes your dog is allergic to things it just can’t avoid. Pollen and dust allergies aren’t solely human phenomena.

For a severely allergic dog a vet might prescribe antihistamines, but most of the time a change in diet can provide significant relief. Fatty acids like omega 3 and 6 have been proven to have a significant effect on skin allergy symptoms. By helping your dog to maintain healthy skin the chance of a secondary infection is significantly reduced.

In fact, these nutrients are often present in prescription dog food for skin allergies. Whether it’s the best grain free dog food for skin allergies or the best dry dog food for skin allergies, you should be able to find what you need in this article.

Best Wet Dog Food for Skin Allergies

In the wild, dogs, and their ancestors, wolves, subsist almost entirely on raw meat. Raw feeding comes the closest to providing dogs with their natural diet. We’ll talk more about raw feeding later, but it’s just not convenient for a lot of people.

Raw meat spoils quickly and takes up space in fridges and freezers that you’d probably rather was used for human food. For similar high protein diets, wet food can be a great alternative. Canned food usually contains more meat, and therefore more fat. This is important, as this is where the skin-healthy omega fatty acids are found.

Blue Wilderness High Protein Grain Free

Blue Wilderness’ Grain free wet dog food* would be great for any dog with a wheat allergy, or any dog with skin allergies. As we’d expect from a high protein canned dog food, there’s no grain. Added flaxseed also bolsters the quantity of omega fatty acids in your dogs diet. There’s also no soy, another common allergen in some dogs.

Blue Basics Limited Ingredient Diet

Blue basics grain free wet dog food* looks great too! This grain free food is already great for dogs allergic to wheat, but could be beneficial to other dogs with skin troubles. This food supplies an increased supplement of fatty acids, due to the inclusion of omega-rich fish oil.

Best Dry Dog Food for Skin Allergies

Sometimes whatever it is that’s causing your dogs dermatitis is unavoidable. A dog with pollen allergies or dust allergies might not be able to get away from these two things. With this in mind, the next three examples of dry dog food for skin allergies will help your dog’s skin to defend against nasty reactions and subsequent infections.

Avoderm Natural Dog Food

Avoderm Natural Dog Food * contains one ingredient you might not expect to find in dog food: the avocado. It might sound weird, but the reasoning is sound. Avocados are rich in Omega fatty acids, which as we’ve mentioned have real benefits for your dogs skin. Avocado oil is particularly rich in these nutrients. Other than this the food is pretty standard. The main ingredient is meat, which is great news.

Hill’s Science Diet Sensitive Stomach and Skin

Our next dry food is from the well established Hills’ Science diet* range. This food is specifically formulated for dogs with sensitive stomachs and skin. It claims to be easily digestible, and the good proportions of omega 6 should help your dogs skin ailments. By feeding your dog Hill’s Science Diet dog food, skin allergies symptoms could be significantly reduced.

Purina One Smartblend

Purina* are a well known and established company when it comes to food for all pets. The formula for this food isn’t as off-the-wall as Avoderm, but should still have similar benefits. The main ingredient is meat, which is really important. This food does however contain grains, so it won’t be healthy for a dog allergic to them. This food does have additional omega fatty acids, though. This means dogs allergic to other things may find some relief for their symptoms. As long as your dog isn’t allergic to grain, give this one a try!

Best Grain Free Dog Food for Skin Allergies

Grain intolerances are common in dogs, and they often manifest in the skin. Like us, dogs may break out in a rash after consuming a food they’re allergic to, although often it’s not as easy to spot. Here are our favourites of the best grain free dog food for skin allergies.

Taste of the Wild

Our next food rather ambitiously claims to offer a ‘taste sensation like no other’. Let’s see how Taste of the Wild* checks out. This food offers some real variety. The three most abundant ingredients are buffalo, lamb meal, and chicken meal, and the food goes on to include three more meat products.

This seems to have done mainly to bolster taste, and whether your dog appreciates it depends on her! It’s a grain free food, so it’s hypoallergenic for dogs with grain allergies. The high meat content is also very in line with what our dogs ancestors would have eaten in the wild. The meats in question will contain omega 3 and 6, but not as much as fat alone. This being said, just removing the grain will do a lot for an allergic dogs skin.

Best Raw Dog Food for Skin Allergies

Raw feeding diets are the closest to what dogs’ wild ancestors would have eaten. The high fat content of an all meat diet also means these diets are naturally rich in fatty acids. But, as we’ve mentioned, raw diets can be quite tricky. There are some products available that might make it easier however. Freeze drying gives meat a much longer shelf life than it would otherwise have.

TruDog Real Meat Organic Dog Food

Our first raw food is from TruDog*. Promising 99% meat, vital organs and meaty bone, it looks great! All you have to do with this food is add water. The ingredients are worthy of a grey wolf, so hopefully your dog will love them.

Limited Ingredient Dog Food for Skin Allergies

Sometimes, the best option is to bypass any potential triggers altogether by opting for food that has the lowest number of ingredients. Of course, you will need to know what allergies your dog has. Once you know this information however, you should feel safe as houses trying a limited ingredient dog food that is tasty and nutritious. Here are two of our favorites.

NUTRO Limited Ingredient Diet Adult Dry Dog Food

NUTRO’ limited ingredient dog food* is a dry food made up of two key, delicious ingredients. Lamb is the number one ingredient and makes up the bulk of the protein. Sweet potato is a healthy source of antioxidants, fiber and carbohydrates. It also comes chock full of essential vitamins and minerals. NUTROS’s limited ingredient range also comes in duck, venison and salmon versions. There are also variations for large and small dogs.

Best Dog Food for Skin Allergies in Puppies

It’s not only adult dogs who suffer from skin allergies. You might see your pup scratching excessively, particularly after a meal. This might be because of a food allergy. It’s important to reiterate that if you are worried about any irritation your pup or adult dog might have then don’t hesitate to contact your vet.

Here are three foods we found. They are specifically formulated for puppies and should pose less of a risk to your pup when it comes to flaring up an allergy. Again, this depends on what your pup is allergic to. Make sure you ask your vet to carry out the necessary allergen tests.

Blue Buffalo Wilderness

This red meat offering from Blue Buffalo* promises that real meat is its main ingredient. It’s a grain free option, free from wheat, corn and soy. We know that grains are a common allergen so we felt that this option might appeal to a range of dog owners.

NUTRO Grain Free Wet Dog Food

This grain free dog food* from Nutro comes in both adult and puppy varieties so make sure you select the correct product for your pup. This food is made of beef, peas and carrots. Again, this is another food that promises to be grain free. As an added bonus, Nutro claim that this product is made in a facility that is committed to zero waste to landfills.

Blue Buffalo Life Protection

Another offering from Blue Buffalo is this Life Protection Formula Puppy Dog Food*. Corn, wheat, corn and poultry free, this food could be great for your young and sensitive pup. There are two varieties, Chicken and Brown Rice or Lamb and Oatmeal. Make sure none of these ingredients will give your puppy a flare up and you might have found your perfect food.

Best Dog Food for Skin Allergies in Seniors

Some senior dogs have a harder time of it than others. For those dogs, they may need a little extra help with staving off some of the more annoying irritants that come with older age. To that end, we’ve put together some of our favorite foods that are suitable for senior dogs and their sensitive skin.

Purina Pro Plan FOCUS Sensitive Stomach

Purina Pro Plan FOCUS Sensitive Stomach* is geared towards adult dogs with sensitive stomachs. Made from salmon and rice, it contains no corn, wheat or soy and should be a lot easier going on your senior dog than other mainstream offerings. Added Omega 3 and 6 will boost the health of that older skin and fur.

PS For Dogs 100% Hypoallergenic Dog Food

The manufacturers of Ps For Dogs 100% Hypoallergenic Dog Food* are so confident in their product, they’ve promised a full refund if you aren’t happy with its performance! Potato and grain free, this food is made from 90% grass fed lamb meat and organs.

Wellness Simple Natural Grain Free Dry Food

This offering from Wellness* is made from salmon and potato. Limited ingredient dog foods can be great for dogs with skin allergies of all ages and senior dogs are no exception. This food is specifically formulated for dogs with sensitive skin

Best Dog Food for Skin Allergies

The best food for skin allergies can depend on what he’s allergic to. An easily remedied food allergy will require a different course of action to skin allergy caused by, let’s say, pollen.

A good dog food for skin allergies may be able to strike right at the source, but will always relieve the symptoms via nutrients like fatty acids. Whatever the cause of your dogs ailments, there is the best dog food for skin allergies affecting her is out there.

Hopefully this article helped you find just that! Have you tried any of the foods in this article? Are there any other foods that worked for you Let us know in the comments?

Affiliate link disclosure: Links in this article marked with an * are affiliate links, and we may receive a small commission if you purchase these products. However, we selected them for inclusion independently, and all of the views expressed in this article are our own.

References and Further Reading

• Diet and skin disease in dogs and cats T. D. G. Watson
• A randomized, controlled study to evaluate the steroid sparing effect of essential fatty acid supplementation in the treatment of canine atopic dermatitis B. K. Saevik, The norwegian school of veterinary science
• Food Allergy in dogs S. D. White
• Effects of blanching, freezing and freeze-drying on the fatty acid content of green beans M. Y. Gonzalez-Castro
• Fatty acid content and composition of english beef, lamb and pork at retail
• Responses of dogs with food allergies to single-ingredient dietary provocation