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Best food for senior dog with bad teeth, arthritis, and itchy skin?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Female | spayed | 14 years and 10 months old | 10 lbs

My dog is 14 with bad teeth, arthritis and itchy skin and I’m looking for new grain free food that will not hurt her teeth. She is on galiprant and benidryl.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

Published on November 25th, 2018

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Please keep in mind that she may be itchy because of allergies. Grain free food has nothing to do with being hypoallergenic helping with allergies and actually has not been really shown to have any benefit over food that contains grain. There have been reports that have linked grain free foods with heart disease. I would consider feeding her a canned or wet diet which may be easier to eat for her. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. You could add joint supplement such as Dasuquin or Cosequin to help with joint health.

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!

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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