Can homemade food meet nutrient needs for allergic Shih Tzu's skin?

Home prepared diets can be very difficult to balance long term and I strongly recommend a consult with a specialist nutritionist such as through tuft clinical nutrition unit in order to ensure he is receiving all of the trace elements, vitamins, minerals and energy he requires. In food sensitivities, a hydrolyzed diet such as royal canin hypoallergenic can be very effective also. Chicken and rice is a very bland and effective diet in the short to medium term but would need supplemental feeding in the long term

Food allergies are due to certain proteins and they are usually animal proteins (beef, pork, dairy, etc.). Allergies or adversities to wheat/corn/soy are very rare and not worth eliminating unless you know for sure that he is allergic to them. To find the actual protein Jake is allergic to, you have to do an elimination trial. If there was not an elimination trial done, then you would be only guessing at the source of the allergies. One way I often bypass the elimination trial is by recommending a hydrolysed protein diet such as Hill's i/d. In these diets, the proteins are broken down, so there is minimal chance of them causing an allergy. This would have to be prescribed by a veterinarian though. It's actually best to consult with your vet before pursuing a diet change, because they can help to ensure the right diagnosis is made and that you are not doing anything that may be potentially harmful for Jake. The proposed ingredients for your treats are not known (do not have sufficient scientific evidence) to be helpful for allergies, but are not toxic, so you can feed them. I would just account for the calories and feed less of his normal food. Below are a couple of links to articles that may be helpful for you and Jake. I hope that helps and Jake gets better soon. https://www.petcoach.co/article/4-great-strategies-for-relieving-your-dog-s-allergies/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/skin-allergies-vs-food-allergies/

Good for you for committing to make Sweetpea's food in order to help manage her food allergies! It can be tricky to assure that home cooked diets for dogs are properly balanced with all necessary vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. I always recommend utilizing recipes formulated by veterinary nutritionists, such as those available on www.balanceit.com. These recipes can be tailored for dogs with food allergies to avoid certain ingredients (or even just use the ingredients currently being used), but will also have the vitamin and mineral supplements available to assure that the diet is balanced. I hope this helps and that all goes well for Sweetpea!

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 am happy you were able to figure out what was causing Zoeys issues. Typically with food allergies we recommend a hypoallergenic diet that is a prescription food. I am not sure the RC diet she is currently taking is over the counter or prescription. Most of the time dogs are allergic to the protein source like beef or chicken. If the RC food is prescription I would recommend talking to your vet about possible Hills or Purina which also has prescription foods. If your RC diet is over the counter you can try and switch foods but I would watch close for the protein source and realize it is possible the new food might cause problems if it was contaminated when made. I hope that helps

If you are looking at formulating your own homemade diet there is a great resource for that that I recommend to clients that cook for their pets. The website is www . Balanceit.com Here you can use a tool called the free autobalancer and input the ingredients you wish to use. It will tell you if your diet is sufficient or not. Also, you will need to add a vitamin and mineral supplement to the food and this website sells the powdered supplement to mix in with the food. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions or are having difficulties using that website. Have a great weekend!

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.