Itchy skin, infected ears, chewing on the feet \u2026 these common signs of dog allergies are one of the top reasons why dogs visit the vet. But while allergies can be a deep-seated immune issue, there are home remedies and simple nutritional fixes that can really help. Sometimes simple foods can change the way your dog\u2019s immune system works \u2026 and that\u2019s good news for itchy dogs.<\/p>\n
You may think your dog\u2019s scratching is because he has a food allergy. In fact, food allergies are quite rare in dogs \u2026 but that doesn\u2019t mean your dog\u2019s food doesn\u2019t affect his skin. Nutritional deficiencies can have a massive impact on your dog\u2019s skin and coat<\/strong>. This is especially true in puppies and seniors, but it applies to dogs of all ages. <\/p>\n If your dog doesn\u2019t get enough protein, it can impact his skin health. This can happen if the food itself is low in protein, or if the protein isn\u2019t very digestible. This is more of a risk for dogs eating kibble than raw foods \u2026 raw diets contain more protein and the protein is more digestible<\/strong>. Heating foods can also reduce digestibility. Most fresh foods are 95% to 100% digestible while kibble averages about 75% digestibility.<\/p>\n One way to find a kibble with good digestibility is to look for added amino acids. Animal proteins are more complete and offer a wider range of amino acids than plant proteins \u2026 which makes them more digestible. So kibbles that use a lot of plant proteins will often have added amino acids. These can include:<\/p>\n If you see added amino acids (they often start with L-), then it may be an indication that the protein in the food is not very digestible. Hypothetically, dog food with 20% protein could provide your dog with more amino acids than one with 30% protein so make sure the label has a lot of animal-based proteins and no added amino acids. <\/p>\n Zinc is an important trace mineral that plays a critical role in your dog\u2019s immune system. Some breeds of dogs, like Huskies and Malamutes, are prone to zinc deficiency, but it can occur in all breeds. Zinc deficiency is fairly common for two reasons:<\/p>\n Dogs with zinc deficiency can often have digestive or immune issues<\/strong>. But it can also cause crusty or thickened skin (especially over the joints and pads of the feet) and hair loss (typically around the eyes and muzzle). <\/p>\n Your vet can test your dog for zinc deficiency and it\u2019s easy to fix with proper nutrition. Meats and fish are rich in zinc<\/strong>, while processed foods will have less. Foods that are high in starch can also decrease the absorption of zinc because they\u2019re rich in an anti-nutrient called phytic acid.<\/p>\n Copper is another important trace mineral that can sometimes be deficient in dogs. Back in the 1980s, most dog foods had copper oxide added as part of their vitamin premix. But in 1997, AAFCO recommended that it be changed to copper sulfate because the bioavailability of copper oxide was low. Today, most commercial pet foods have enough copper<\/strong>. <\/p>\n But if your dog is eating a home-cooked or raw diet, or if you add a lot of treats to your dog\u2019s commercial diet, then copper deficiency can happen if there isn\u2019t enough organ meat added. This is especially true in poultry diets. <\/p>\n The signs of copper deficiency include a dry, dull coat with patches of hair loss<\/strong>. A telltale sign of copper deficiency is a change in coat color due to a loss of pigmentation. The top food sources of copper are beef liver, shellfish, mushrooms, and pumpkin seeds.<\/p>\n Fat is an important source of energy and an important part of every cell in your dog\u2019s body. The first fatty acid to be identified as essential was linoleic acid. Back in the 1970s, pet food packaging wasn\u2019t all that advanced and the bags of food became very greasy \u2026 so dog food back then was really low in linoleic acid (and fat in general). As a result, dogs eating those foods started to develop skin and coat issues. This is when scientists discovered that too little fat could cause skin issues. <\/p>\n Even today, many home-cooked or raw foods can be deficient in fat. This is especially true if feeding a low-fat protein like poultry or rabbit. Overall, fresh foods should contain about 10% to 20% fat<\/strong>. But it\u2019s not just the amount of fat that can cause skin issues \u2026<\/p>\n Most dietary fats can be divided into two types: omega-6 and omega-3. Omega-6 fats tend to increase inflammation in the body (with the exception of GLA), while omega-3 fats decrease inflammation. <\/p>\n Animals that eat grasses will have roughly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fats. But today\u2019s food animals are fed grains and feeds, which are very rich in omega-6 fats. Chicken legs can have as much as 30x more omega-6 than omega-3 fats. This sets your dog up for inflammatory skin conditions. The signs of inflamed skin are varied but can include a dry, dull coat, hair loss, overall itchiness, and dermatitis.<\/p>\n The best way to address fat imbalance is to add anti-inflammatory fats to your dog\u2019s diet<\/strong>. This can come from fish oil, but fish oil only contains one anti-inflammatory fat: EPA. Green-lipped mussel oil provides another anti-inflammatory fat, ETA, while ahiflower, hemp, and evening primrose oil are rich in an anti-inflammatory omega-6 fat, GLA. Safe-Sea is a sustainable source of all three fats. <\/p>\n Your dog\u2019s digestive tract is home to trillions of beneficial bacteria and microorganisms that help manufacture B vitamins and vitamin K, digestive enzymes, amino acids \u2026 and modulate his immune response. In fact, nearly 90% of your dog\u2019s immune cells and capacity live in his gut.<\/p>\n A healthy gut (and immune system) has large bacteria populations and diverse bacteria populations. But this can be threatened by:<\/p>\n The key to a healthy gut is a varied, fresh food diet<\/strong> \u2026 but it\u2019s also important to avoid these common gut stressors. If your dog is exposed to any of the above, then you might see the same inflammatory response that you would see with a diet that\u2019s too rich in omega-6 fats. Since the skin is the largest organ in the body, itchy skin can be the first sign of an unhealthy gut<\/strong> environment. The gut lining will also become inflamed if the bacterial populations are small or not diverse. This makes the gut more permeable, allowing allergens and toxins to trigger an even greater response in the skin.<\/p>\n If your dog\u2019s gut is stressed, probiotics can help<\/strong>. While they don\u2019t really colonize in the gut all that well, they can help:<\/p>\n One of the most important probiotics for inflamed guts is Pediococcus acidilactis<\/em>. It\u2019s been shown to directly reduce inflammation in the gut and reduce permeability. This means fewer allergens can exit the gut and this will help reduce inflammatory skin issues in your dog. <\/p>\n If your dog has itchy, inflamed skin, here is a simple nutritional approach that can make a dramatic difference for a majority of dogs. You only need to do this for 30 days but you\u2019ll likely see results in two weeks.<\/p>\n For 30 days, increase the amount of fats your dog gets, most importantly omega-3 fats. This includes:<\/p>\n While you\u2019re increasing the amount of fat and omega-3 in your dog\u2019s meals, you\u2019ll also want to take care of the gut. A good daily probiotic with prebiotics is Protect but if your dog needs more help with his gut health, Gut Guard should be given for 30 days, followed by Protect. Gut Guard contains anti-inflammatory herbs and Pediococcus acidilactis, which can help seal leaky guts.<\/p>\n If your dog\u2019s skin is inflamed, he might develop a secondary bacterial infection. Bathing your dog every second day is a good way to reboot the bacteria living on the skin and help restore healthy bacteria populations. You should only need to do this for the first week, then reduce the amount to 3 baths in the second week, then twice weekly for the remaining 30 days.<\/p>\n Make sure you choose a truly natural shampoo, without any harmful ingredients. Here\u2019s a useful guide to finding a good quality shampoo.<\/p>\n After 30 days, most dogs show a dramatic improvement and their skin and coat start to become healthy and shiny again. If your dog suffers from itchy, inflamed skin, try this 30 Day Challenge and let us know the results on Facebook or Instagram. Be sure to use the Hashtag #30DaySkinChallenge<\/p>\n ,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Itchy skin, infected ears, chewing on the feet \u2026 these common signs of dog allergies are one of the top reasons why dogs visit the vet. But while allergies can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allergies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duuvk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Protein<\/h3>\n
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Zinc Deficiency<\/h3>\n
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Copper Deficiency<\/h3>\n
Fat Deficiency<\/h3>\n
Fat Imbalance<\/h3>\n
Lack Of Gut Diversity<\/h3>\n
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30 Day Itchy Skin Challenge<\/h2>\n
Step 1: Increase The Fats and Fat Quality<\/h3>\n
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This will add all three important fats to your dog\u2019s diet: EPA, ETA and GLA.<\/li>\n
<\/strong>This will increase your dog\u2019s fat content with healthy fats that will be used for energy and not stored in fat reserves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nStep 2 \u2013 Support The Gut<\/h3>\n
Step 3 \u2013 Bathe Frequently<\/h3>\n