What's the best dog food for a Great Dane with skin & food allergies?

Hello! I would recommend feeding a formulated hypoallergenic diet. The allergenic proteins in these foods are broken down into smaller molecules that can serve nutritional purposes but not stimulate the allergic part of the immune system. Royal Canin, Purina, and Hill's are three brands that I know of that make truly hypoallergenic foods. Make sure that when you buy this food, you don't use the same dog food container- if so, all the old allergens from the previous kibble in the container will get on the new food. Be sure to wash the food and water bowls during the diet change as well. Exposure to food allergens can cause skin irritation for 8 weeks after eating it. If Oliver's skin problems are more due to food allergies than environmental allergies (like pollens and grasses), he will need to eat only the hypoallergenic diet for a full 8 weeks with no outside table scraps or treats to truly start seeing the change in his skin. Hopefully by 12 weeks, he will have vast improvement. I recommend taking once a week pictures and notes and monitoring progress over time- it really helps to see how far you have come when the process takes a long time! I hope this answer is helpful! 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)

Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It looks like Hoss has a possible bacterial infection of his skin. This can be caused by an underlying skin allergy. He will need to see your vet to get prescribed oral antibiotics to help this resolve. So schedule an appt soon. Best of luck and I hope things resolve soon! Take care.

A skin sensitive diet such as royal canin skin support or a hydrolyzed diet such as royal canin hypoallergenic would be worthwhile, a 6-8 week trial would be recommended to assess the response from any new diet

Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Once it is established that food allergy is present, you can either feed him with hypoallergenic diet or exclusion ones (based on one source of carbohydrates and one of proteins). This food should be given at least for 6 weeks before appreciating results. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Allergy is one of the top differential diagnois. Other possible differntials are pyodermitis (bacterial infection of the skin), superficial trauma, skin inflammation due to eccesive licking, presence of parassites. Others less probable causes are neoplastic and fungal diseases. I would recommend to try to prevent licking (with an elizabethan collar) of the affected area and a check up with your local vet if the lesion won't improve in the next 36-48 hrs.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. If a hydrolyzed diet was not used, I would switch to a food such as Hills Z/D or Royal Canin Ultamino and feed for 4-6 weeks. If there is no improvement, you may need to consider drug therapy such as cytopoint, apoquel, atopica, etc. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.