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

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Lino. I typically use a hydrolyzed prescription diet in the case of food allergies. Royal Canin options would be their Hydrolyzed or Ultimino formulas. Purina ProPlan Veterinary Diets HA is another great option. In these diets, the protein source is chopped into tiny pieces that are too small for the body's immune system to recognize and react to it. I have had great success with all three. I hope this information 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 using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Well, he is quite adorable that's for sure. The skin amd eye issues could be due to allergies. However, while general allergies can cause a cough, this would be a bit unusual and other possible causes of coughing like pneumonia, bronchitis, and heart failure should be investigated. The coughing could also be due to pneumonitis secondary to exposure to the cleaning products. I recommend that you have Pacino evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

I'm personally not a fan of Blue Buffalo. Their quality control is very poor because they don't own their own factories to make their food. They give the recipe to the factory who makes it for them. That means they aren't there to be sure the recipe is followed exactly. I would try Orijen or Acana. They own their own factories, so the quality control is very good.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! He is so handsome!!! In my opinion these are the Purina Pro Plan products for puppies, Hill's Science Diet puppy foods and the Royal Canin maxi puppy diet. They are all of great quality and also highly palatable making them perfect for your Frenchie. Good luck and have a great day!

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.