What's the best hypoallergenic food for my French Bulldog's 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! :)

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.

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Gus. Blue Buffalo is terrible, I'm not surprised he did not like it. I'd have him seen by a vet for this issue. The cause of his skin problem needs to be diagnosed so it can be treated correctly. Once the cause of the skin problems are diagnosed, the vet can discuss the appropriate diet for him. I hope this helps.

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.

Thanks for usingPetCoach! I would love to help you with this. I prefer easily digestible items like boiled chicken, turkey and fat free ham as the protein and white rice as a carbohydrate. You can always add in a bit of cooked pumpkin as well. If you decide to feed him mostly this, it would be recommended to add a multivitamin. There is a very good source out there. It is a book written by Dr. Patricia Schenk and it is titled home cooked diets for dogs and cats. This will include detailed information if you would like to add more variety to his diet especially if planning to feed him solely this. Good luck and have a great night.

Allergies are a common problem in this breed. It can be from food or the environment. You have several options left to try though. You can change the food to a hypoallergenic form such as royal canin rabbit and potato or a food that is similar to contain a single protein and single carbohydrate. Because it responds well to steroids, that strongly suggest there is an environmental component also. They medicine similar to cortisone but without the side effects called Apoquel that is worth looking into. It helps with inflammation and scratching. These can all be combined with the antihistamine you currently give. I would also recommend a medicated shampoo bath weekly to help with the skin. They do make allergy testing in the form a blood sample or more accurate with a skin test to find out exactly what the cause is. this is more expensive, but a specific vaccine can be made specially tailored to him based on the results to desensitize him to the allergens. You have several options to explore to help keep him comforatble

Hello again. It is always hard to say for sure if Lou will tolerate this food as each dog's digestive tract is unique and can be sensitive to many different diets. However, Purina pro plan is a great diet and a good choice for Lou as he recovers. The Purina company has veterinarians on their team to ensure that all of their foods are nutritionally complete and balanced. I would recommend slowly transitioning him from the royal canin to the purina diet over 3-5 days. Hope this helps, glad to hear Lou is feeling better!