My dog has food allergies. What dog food helps with bumps & spots?

There are several types of food allergy. If you have not had any luck with the brands you have tried, I recommend to try a prescription brand made by Royal Canin called Ultamino. The protein is broken down to the amino acid level, thus it will not trigger an immune response. Basically you need to feed this diet for 8 to 12 weeks. During this time she cannot eat anything else. No treats, no canned food, nothing. At the end of the 8 to 12 weeks, if her skin is all cleared up, then you know it is food. If her skin is not cleared up, then it is not likely food and you should look into other causes. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions!

Those spots on Brody could be several things including an allergic reaction (like hives), allergies to fleas, allergies to something in the environment, food allergy or skin mites (like scabies). Unfortunately, all these conditions look alike. Each one of these problems is detected and addressed differently and I recommend to discuss with your veterinarian which one to start hunting down first. Allergic reactions are treated with steroids and antihistamines. Parasites are often ruled out with an oral medication like Simparica. Food allergy is best ruled out with a diet trial using a hydrolyzed protein. Environmental allergies are a little more difficult to detect but a response to therapy or a blood test can give an indication. Once you figure out and address the underlying cause, the lesions should not come back. I recommend to call your veterinarian and have Brody examined again. When pets don't respond as expected to treatment, it can mean that the real diagnosis has not been discovered. For skin health in general, there are a couple things you can do at home and they can help but they may not address the underlying cause. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing his diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Also protect the area from trauma by having Brody wear an elizabethan collar at all times. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Dogs are omnivores and can get enough nutrition from a balanced commercial vegetarian food. If you would like to try a meat diet, you could consider a novel protein diet. A novel protein is one that Buddy hasn't eaten before. You could consider venison, bison, fish or duck. Natural Balance makes a number of limited ingredient diets that you could consider. https://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dog-formulas/special-category-limited-ingredient-diets Another option would be to try a hydrolyzed diet. Those would be prescription only and would be more expensive, but might be a good option as well. I am attaching a handout with more information about diet trials for food allergies below. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952600 Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Poor guy. It sounds like Bruce has skin allergies. Allergic dermatitis can be caused by something in his food or the environment, or both. THe top food allergens are chicken, beef, turkey and lamb, so these protein sources should be avoided. Its best to go with novel proteins such as rabbit, duck, kangaroo, etc. Here is a website link that talks about skin allergies more in detail. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951973 I would then consider starting a food trial with him with prescription foods from your vet. However, since a food trial can take 2-3 months to show improvement its best to take him to your vet to start allergy medication (i.e. Apoquel, Cytopoint) to help calm his skin down immediately while we try to implement long term management treatments. My top hypoallergenic foods are Royal Canin Rabbit and Potato, Royal Canin ultamino and Hll's Z/D ultra. Best of luck with Bruce and his itchy skin and eyes! Take care.

Hi there. Bumps on the skin are usually related to allergies to the protein in the food, we don't see many grain allergies in pets. I would suggest either the skin support diet from Royal Canin because it also has urinary support, OR their hypoallergenic food called hydrolyzed protein which has urinary support as well. I hope that helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

I would try hills z/d ultra or royal canin anallergenic (an even more restricted version). Ensure also she is not receiving any additional treats, flavored tablets, bones, table scraps or raiding any garbage bins. She may also require prescription medication to resolve the current flare up. A home prepared diet may be an option but would have to be formulated with the help of an expert nutritionalist and can only comprise of novel ingredients (foods she has never eaten before such as kangaroo/venison/sweet potato etc - these are very difficult to supplement sufficiently and are very expensive to maintain in the long term)

I'm not Dr. David, but I'm still happy to help recommend a few options for hypoallergenic diets for Jasper. :-) All truly hypoallergenic diets are prescription based and would need to be prescribed by Jasper's vet. Some of these options include Royal Canin Ultimano ( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=32052 ), Royal Canin HP ( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=32078 ), Purina HA, or Hill's Z/D ( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=31574 ). It can take a minimum of 6-8 weeks to determine if a diet change is effective and these diets must be fed exclusively (i.e. no other treats or table foods). Novel protein diets (one protein source/one carbohydrate source) can be helpful for some cases of food allergies and are available over the counter. Dick van Patten's Natural Balance Limited ingredient diet is one example ( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=30717 ). I hope this helps and that all goes well!