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Skin allergies are the most common type of allergies in dogs, and when they’re not caused by something external like flea bites, they’re often caused by a food sensitivity. Hence, if your dog comes down with a case of skin allergies, it helps to rethink the type of food you’re feeding to your dog.
Poor diet is bound to cause a wide range of problems, including food allergies. You may want to consider trying raw dog food recipes for skin allergies for a time, as it has been reported by many dog owners to have been effective at clearing out their dog’s food allergies.
Why Do Dogs Develop Food-Related Skin Allergies?
When thinking of homemade dog food recipes for dogs with skin allergies, it’s important to consider what induces allergic reactions in the first place. These are the things you need to avoid when making your recipes. In most dog food delivery services that offer both raw and fresh pet food, allergies are taken into account when customizing a meal for pets.
The most common allergens in food that affect dogs are the different proteins [1] you can find in ordinary dog food ingredients. Wheat and dairy are the usual culprits, but they can also be allergic to soy, eggs, and even meat like chicken and beef.
Although by all accounts your recipe scheme of ground beef, ground chicken, and ground turkey mixed with assorted fruits and veggies may add up to a balanced diet, by some anomaly your dog could still end up allergic to one of the wholesome ingredients you used.
Using a wide range of ingredients can make it difficult to pin down what’s causing allergic reactions in your dog. In this case, you can try an elimination diet to weed out specific ingredients and find out if they’re the cause.
If your dog is experiencing itchy skin, hives, or other forms of discomfort because of skin issues, it’s best to keep your homemade dog food recipes hypoallergenic. Below are a few simple homemade dog food recipes that can help your dog avoid allergic reactions. You can always gently cook the ingredients to turn raw meals into fresh dog food. Read our raw vs fresh dog food to check other differences?
Ground Lamb
Oftentimes, food allergies to things as seemingly innocuous as beef are caused by an immune overreaction to a previously consumed type of protein, for whatever reason. In that case, the simplest thing you can do is to swap out the offending meat with another.
In the case of beef, one great substitute is lamb. Lamb and beef are highly similar in calorie and nutrient content, but lamb is ultimately higher in fatty acids such as omega-3 and CLA, making it better for their hearts and brains. Here’s a great lamb-based homemade dog food recipe you can try:
Ingredients
- Ground lamb: 2 lbs
- Lamb organs (lung, heart, liver, esophagus, trachea): 1 lb
- Lamb neck, chopped: 1 lb
- Sunflower oil: 1 tbsp
Preparation
Grind or chop the organ meat and mix all ingredients evenly. Make sure you get an even mix of lamb organs so no single organ makes up more than 10 percent of the meal. The lamb neck is there to provide raw meaty bones, which are great for balancing your dog’s calcium and phosphorus intake.
Much as with all recipes on this list, it’s best to get all of the ingredients as fresh as possible to avoid contamination. This recipe stands on its own, but it’s recommended that you serve your dog a variety of dishes, with a good number of them including fruits and veggies. You can mix this one with a few greens to round out the nutrient profile if you’d like.
Fresh Fish and Garlic
Fish is often considered to be great for giving dogs healthy skin and lush shiny coats. This same reason is why they’re usually recommended for dogs suffering from skin allergies. Oily fish in particular is very rich in omega-3
This may seem counter-intuitive to pet owners who have fed fish like mackerel or sardines to their dogs, only to seem them break out in a rash. But there are plenty of other oily fish out there if your dog doesn’t agree with the more common types of fish. Tuna, salmon, and herring in particular are great, and they’re the centerpiece of this dog food recipe.
Ingredients
- Herring, tuna, or salmon: 3 lbs
- Cod liver oil: 1 tbsp
- Ground turkey or ground beef organ mix: 2 lb
- Minced garlic: 1-2 cloves
- Mixed vegetables (carrots, brussels sprouts, or celery ideal): 1 lb
- Duck neck: 1 lb
Preparation
Chop the vegetables and organs into bite-sized pieces or puree them all together. Throw in whole fish and duck neck, and rub all of the food with minced garlic and cod liver oil.
If your dog isn’t used to eating whole fish, you may want to debone them before mixing in with the rest of the ingredients. If don’t have duck neck and decide to debone the fish, add about 3 tbsp of bone meal to provide calcium. Makes a 4-5 day supply for the average dog.
Rabbit and Vegetables Mix
If it so happens that your dog is allergic to the protein that comes from common meat such as chicken or beef, rabbit can serve as a great alternative protein source.
Rabbit meat is generally regarded as a hypoallergenic type of meat. It’s got a good amount of lean protein, allowing you to easily substitute it for chicken or turkey meat in your dog’s food. Plus, it has higher amounts of selenium and iron compared to chicken. These essential minerals both help inflammation subside.
Rabbit recipes are lower in calories and fat, and higher in protein, making them great for keeping up your dog’s protein intake while tempering their calorie consumption. Here’s what you need for a simple mix of rabbit and vegetables:
Ingredients
- Rabbit meat and organs, chopped (if bone-in), cubed, or ground: 4 lbs
- Bone meal (if not bone-in): 4 tbsp
- Spinach or dandelion greens: 1 oz
- Broccoli: 8 oz
- Mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries ideal): 6 oz
Preparation
Puree or chop non-meat ingredients in a food processor and mix with meat. Sprinkle with bone meal if not using bone-in meat, and portion according to your feeding plan. Makes about 5 pounds or a 3-day supply for a 50-pound dog.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a raw diet help dogs with skin allergies?
Raw food is as natural as you can get when it comes to dog food outside of letting your dog hunt and kill its own food. Hence, it cuts out all of the artificial ingredients that come with commercial dog food or even homemade cooked food.
What raw meat is best for dogs with allergies?
That depends on what exactly is causing their allergies. But if they’re allergic to a particular type of meat, giving them a protein that they haven’t eaten before is a good start.
Novel meats such as rabbit, venison, and bison can be great substitutes for the usual selection of chicken, beef, and pork. Fish is also great to consider as they are high in omega-3 fatty acids and other important nutrients.
What food is best for dogs with skin allergies?
When dealing with skin allergies, you need to cut out the ingredient that’s causing the allergic reaction, and incorporate ingredients that help deal with inflammation. It may also help to steer clear of starches such as sweet potatoes and brown rice.
What foods help dogs with itchy skin?
In general, you want to get ingredients that are anti-inflammatory. This means foods that are rich in iron, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids, like turkey liver and grass-fed beef kidney.
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